Meth use by pregnant women can lead to birth defects, low birth weight babies, children with attention deficit and other behavioral disorders.

More than half of the sheriffs interviewed for a National Association of Counties survey released Tuesday said they considered meth the most serious problem facing their departments.

"We're finding out that this is a bigger problem than we thought," said Larry Naake, executive director of the association. "Folks at the state and federal level need to know about this."

About 90 percent of those interviewed reported increases in meth-related arrests in their counties over the last three years, packing jails in the Midwest and elsewhere. The arrests also have swamped other county-level agencies that assist with caring for children whose parents have become addicted and with cleaning up toxic chemicals left behind by meth cookers.

Nationwide Spread

Meth's nationwide spread has already become abundantly apparent to lawmakers, roughly 100 of whom now count themselves as members of the House Meth Caucus. The proliferation is spurring wider support for a bill co-authored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Jim Talent, R-Mo., which would limit access to cold medicines containing an ingredient used in meth production.

Many states already have moved to restrict purchases of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient used to "cook" meth.

Sheriff Jon Marvel of western Indiana's Vigo County estimates that 80 percent of the inmates in his county's jail in Terre Haute are being held on meth-related charges.

He also points to an operating budget that has risen from $800,000 in 1999 to about $3.4 million last year as the best way to illustrate how meth has sapped the county's resources.

"I want it stopped and I want it stopped now, and there is no way that's going to happen," Marvel said.

Meth is concentrated in certain regions in the nation, the survey finds. Sheriffs in the Upper Midwest, Southwest and Northwest say that in the past five years meth-related crimes have increased by 93 percent. In the Lower Midwest, the figure was 90 percent.

The lowest reported increase in meth-related arrests was in the Northeast at 54 percent.

White House: Marijuana is No. 1

Responding to recent attempts by states to make it difficult to buy large quantities of ephedrine, which is crucial to meth's manufacture, the survey respondents say they are seeing large-scale meth manufacturers going to Canada and Mexico for the raw ingredients for the drug.

There are other costs to meth addiction, the survey found.

Use of the drug by pregnant women can lead to birth defects, low birth weight babies, children with attention deficit and other behavioral disorders.

And county child placement officials in some parts of the nation say that 1 in 5 children taken from parents or parent comes from a family situation where meth use was a factor in the decision to relocate the child.

Tuesday's report comes shortly after the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy restated its position that marijuana is the nation's most substantial drug problem. Federal estimates show there are 15 million marijuana users and 1 million possible meth users.

Dave Murray, a White House policy analyst, said he understood that the meth problem moving through the nation is serious and substantial. But he disagreed that it was an epidemic.

"This thing is burning, and because it's burning, we're going to put it out," he said. "But we can't turn our back on other threats."