U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

September 8, 2005

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Press Secretary

                        202-228-3630

Jen Clanahan – Deputy Press Secretary

                        303-455-7600

 

SEN. SALAZAR PASSES FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND D.E.A. TASK FORCE TO FIGHT METHAMPHETAMINE

 

WASHINGTON, DC – As part of his ongoing effort to spotlight the special challenges posed to rural communities, United States Senator Ken Salazar today introduced and helped pass an amendment to H.R 2862, the Departments of Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006 to create a first-of-its-kind Methamphetamine Task Force within the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

In addition to the Methamphetamine Task Force, one of Senator Salazar’s first co-sponsorships, the Combat Meth Act was included as an amendment in H.R. 2862. The Combat Meth Act will assist rural law enforcement agencies combat methamphetamine related crimes. The legislation would limit the sale of pseudoephedrine, the primary ingredient used to make methamphetamine, and provide much needed additional resources to help local law enforcement fight methamphetamine.

“For too long, methamphetamine has been a leech on rural communities in Colorado, bleeding dry promising lives. With this amendment, the DEA will be able to bring a special focus and effort to stopping the spread of meth in its tracks,” Salazar said.

Under Senator Salazar’s amendment (S.A. 1649) to H.R. 2862, the DEA would be required to create a Methamphetamine Task Force within six months of the President’s signature. The Task Force would be “responsible for improving and targeting the Federal Government’s policies with respect to the production and trafficking of methamphetamine.”

  • Methamphetamine is of special concern to both rural Colorado communities and urban and suburban areas for a number of reasons:
  • Meth is trafficked from rural areas to the cities. Highway seizures of methamphetamine is up in western Colorado between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs, and Garfield County law enforcement agencies have seen a continual increase in highway seizures.
  • Rural law enforcement is having its resources taxed by meth. A recent study by Colorado State University found that rural communities in Northeastern Colorado – including Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma Counties – have seen the costs to law enforcement agencies in those areas resulting from methamphetamine rise by millions of dollars in recent years.
  • Rural communities lack treatment options. Fewer treatment options mean an even harder time breaking the cycle of meth use. In Moffat County, there is not a single treatment facility. People who need treatment are forced to travel to Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction or Denver, and even then face long waiting lists.
  • Children in rural areas suffer. Just as troubling, this trend has a devastating impact on children. In rural Mesa County, over 80 percent of child-welfare cases involve parents who use methamphetamine.

H.R. 2862 is expected to come up for a final vote on the Senate floor next week.

 

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