While I in no way advocate the use of meth or other illicit drugs, I at times wonder how much of this is event and agenda-driven....If a mayor, chief of police, sheriff, etc. tells his personnel to 'crack down on left turn violations,' or 'I want an increased effort on prostitution,' etc. the mere allocation of additional resources and command emphasis will generate a 'rise' in stops for illegal left turns and prostitution arrests...a locality may even report an 'epidemic' of left turn violations and prostitution based on the statistical rise...
This is a HUGE problem in AZ. Law enforcement and the media are NOT making this up. I have lived in the mid-west and on the east coast and I had no idea what was going on here until I saw it myself.
The documentaries that I have seen don't spend enough time covering the devastating effects that the use of this drug has on children. In January a 7 week old baby was starved and dehydrated until he died. His parents were doing meth and that is all they cared about. He had a 15 month old sister who the state took immediately into foster care to save her life.
This is not being hyped. In Arizona it is a real problem.