This week I joined with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America to kick off an exciting public awareness campaign to better educate Arizonans about the dangers of meth. Over the last year and a half, I have visited communities throughout Arizona to discuss the meth epidemic afflicting our state. The impact of meth on every part of the community – not just law enforcement, but schools, health care providers and businesses – cannot be overstated.

This new education campaign is dedicated to reducing meth use in Arizona. It's a solemn warning from doctors, parents of meth users and former meth addicts. Meth devastates not only those using the drug, but their family, friends and neighbors:

• A meth lab can operate unnoticed in any neighborhood for years, causing serious health hazards to everyone around. For each pound of meth produced, five to six pounds of highly toxic waste are generated, posing immediate and long-term health hazards.
• Cleaning up a meth lab site requires specialized training and costs thousands of dollars per site.
• Hundreds of children are neglected and endangered every year by living with parents who are meth cooks. Children who reside in or near meth labs are at great risk of being harmed from an explosion, as well as from the toxic fumes that can cause skin sores and seriously damage young lungs and brains.
• Cooking meth is extremely dangerous, and labs sometimes catch on fire and explode.
• Children living in labs are known to be harmed from dangerous chemicals left out by parents, suffer from behavioral problems, malnourishment, physical or sexual abuse, and can be burned or fatally injured from a fire or explosion.
• Hospitals and burn units are seeing far more injuries due to chemical burns and toxic explosions where meth is produced. The care required for such injuries is specialized and puts a huge strain on hospitals and state medical programs.
• Meth labs are mini-crime waves; the rate of burglary, robbery, ID theft and even murder in the immediate area is significantly above the area norm. Meth users will do almost anything to pay for their habits.

The Legislature goes into session on January 9. I plan to once again fight to protect our children, neighborhoods, local police and firefighters from the dangers of meth labs. My comprehensive proposal emphasizes prevention, aiming to keep precursor chemicals out of the hands of meth cooks. We also need to fund expanded treatment programs for those already in this drug's pernicious grip and more education efforts to warn all Arizonans about the dangers of meth.

The meth epidemic challenges us all. Working together, I believe we can bring it under control.

Terry Goddard