One of the federal government's top drug fighters Thursday praised Utah's efforts to combat methamphetamine.
    Data on whether meth use in Utah has declined is mixed, but Scott Burns, National Drug Control Policy deputy director and former Iron County prosecutor, appeared with state leaders at the Capitol to extol two figures they say point to gains in the drug war.
    Burns cited a dramatic decline in the number of meth labs in Utah and federal reports that traffickers have increased the price of meth to $1,200 to $1,500 per ounce. The drug cost about $700 per ounce in late 2005.
    "The data shows you that something is working," Burns said.
    It's less clear whether Utah has reduced the use of meth. As of October 2007, the number of workplace positive tests conducted by Quest labs for the Western region of the United States, including Utah, was about 50 percent higher than five years earlier. But that October 2007 rate was about half of what it was 18 months earlier.
    Utah is among the states that in recent years began regulating the sale of over-the-counter medicines that can be used as ingredients in meth - most notably the cold medication pseudoephedrine. Police have credited the regulations for the reduction of meth labs in Utah but have said it created a meth-making market in Mexico.
    Increased patrolling on the U.S.-Mexico border has made it more difficult to smuggle drugs into the United States. With financing from the United States, Mexican President Felipe Calderón has deployed soldiers to fight drug cartels and disarmed police forces suspected of working for drug traffickers.
    Rick Van Schoik, director of North American Center for Transborder Studies at Arizona State University, said it's too early to say U.S. foreign aid or domestic regulation is impacting the price of illegal drugs. Many factors can influence the price of drugs, he said, such as problems within the cartels, unannounced law enforcement operations or transportation problems.
    "There's a million things that affect it," Van Schoik said. "It's things that you and I would not be aware of."
    Lisa-Michele Church, director of the Utah Department of Human Services, says she thinks meth use is tied less to price than it is to availability. Her department recently has focused on providing help for mothers using meth and Church said many of those mothers have said they began using the drug as a stimulant and a weight-loss solution.
    "A lot of the people will tell you it was readily available," Church said.
    ncarlisle@sltrib.com