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Albuquerqe's war on methamphetamine is going well, officials say
Meth initiative effort paying off
The methamphetamine initiative undertaken in 2005 is showing results, Albuquerque Police Department officials say, including:
• So far in 2007, more than 100 meth-related offenders arrested.
• A Meth Alert Tip Line was created, at 764-6384. The hot line has received about 800 calls this year in Albuquerque.
• APD recently obtained a $446,000 grant to further track purchasers of cold medication used in the production of meth.
• APD joined the Southwest Meth Initiative, which covers New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.
• In September 2006, APD made a case against seven people buying chemicals used in meth production. One of the offenders was Raymond Lollis, the man charged with the Oct. 18 death of Highland High School student Ryan Vigil.
Source: Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz
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The photographs of about 12 men and women were posted on the board at Albuquerque police headquarters as examples of local law enforcement officials' war on methamphetamine.
The pictures represent only a fraction of the more than 100 people arrested in meth busts this year in Albuquerque, Mayor Martin Chavez said Monday at a three-agency presentation on the "Meth'r Initiative."
Chavez, along with Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz and Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg, says the initiative is making some headway against the highly addictive drug, but that much work remains to be done.
Brandenburg said it is important to realize meth connects a wide range of criminal activities.
"The meth problem is huge," she said. "Forty percent of cases coming into our office through property crimes, white-collar crimes and narcotics - they have a common thread of methamphetamine use.'
Schultz said methamphetamine accounts for about one-third of all narcotics arrests in the city.
Chavez said methamphetamine use is part of a broader criminal enterprise in the city.
"There's much more going on," he said, referring to the connection between meth abuse and other types of crime.
The city has helped fund the Meth'r Initiative through a $250,000 grant to the District Attorney's Office. The money was generated by the city's red-light camera program, he said.
Brandenburg's Meth Prosecution Unit was formed in September 2005 to help police draw connections between suspects under investigation for meth-related crimes.
By tying methamphetamine possession to other crimes such as auto theft, forgery and fraud, some offenders can be sentenced to as much as 20 years.
"People that might have gotten probation are getting nine, 10, 20 years," Brandenburg said.
Meth users also tend to be more prolific criminals than other drug users because of the drug's effect of keeping people awake.
"Getting them off the streets makes our community a successful community," Brandenburg said.
