Numbers of Children Exposed to Meth Climbing

From KATV:
Numbers of Children Exposed to Meth Climbing
Location: Little Rock, AR
Posted: January 22, 2006 4:42 PM EST
URL: http://www.katv.com/news/stories//296219.html


Little Rock, AR (AP) - Methamphetamine remains the number one concern among Arkansas law enforcement agencies.

Often produced in makeshift labs, the drug and its components pose life-threatening dangers to anyone nearby.

But neither law enforcement nor social services has solid data on how it affects children.

Nationally, police seizing meth labs find children present about a third of the time. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration says 840 children were present at Arkansas meth labs seized over the past five years.

But state Drug Director Keith Rutledge believes the figure is much higher than that. Social workers estimate that thousands of Arkansas children have been put in foster care because of meth and that the numbers are growing each year.