CHEYENNE -- State officials credit a number of factors for an apparent decline in methamphetamine use in Wyoming.

They include expanded drug treatment capacity, improved drug treatment standards, restrictions on meth "precursor" drugs, more drug courts and a community-based approach to fight meth.

The Legislature has pumped millions of dollars into anti-meth campaigns, starting with the Wyoming Meth Initiative in the late 1990s, and continuing with an additional $12 million a year in 2006 to increase drug treatment beds across the state.

In 2005, lawmakers restricted the sale of over-the-counter "precursor" drugs used to make meth, resulting in a sharp decrease in small, clandestine labs. They injected additional funding to vastly expanded the number of drug courts in the state.

At the community level, about a dozen autonomous community groups have formed to coordinate local anti-meth efforts.

Every county has a state-funded citizen group working on substance abuse and prevention issues.

"We have seen communities rally together and work toward a common goal: keeping their communities meth free," said Rodger McDaniel, Wyoming Department of Health deputy director for the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Division.

State officials released numbers Tuesday showing a decline in meth lab busts, meth investigations and first-time meth use among high school students. At the same time, they said abuse of "crack" cocaine and prescription drugs is on the rise.

Terry Myers of Lander, a critic of state efforts to fight meth, said he is somewhat skeptical of the new state figures.

Myers said major meth busts in Fremont County in the last two years have discouraged some of the biggest dealers, but he said addicts are turning to other drugs.

"I think the looming problem in Wyoming now is (abuse of) prescription drugs," said Myers, who coordinates Wyoming Meth Defense, an anti-meth community group in Lander.

Meth continues to be the drug of choice in some regions of the state, including parts of southwest, central and northeast Wyoming, Division of Criminal Investigation Director Forrest Bright said.

He also confirmed that prescription drug abuse is on the rise, and expressed concern about the continued popularity of marijuana, which is widely available in increasingly potent strains.

Bright said the increase in crack cocaine consumption is "alarming."

Asked about the uptick in those drugs, McDaniel said he wants to get away from a focus on individual illegal substances. He said a more prudent approach is a statewide fight against all harmfully addictive substances, including tobacco and alcohol, which continues to be the state's biggest problem drug.

"I think what we need to get away from is the Drug of the Month Club," McDaniel said. "We seem to focus on whatever drug seems to be getting today's headlines."

Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.miller@casperstartribune.net.