If Phil Galeoto has his way, it will become routine for heavily armed methamphetamine "hit teams" to intercept traffickers who use the state's sparsely populated rural areas as distribution centers for the highly addictive drug.

Galeoto, director of the Nevada Department of Public Safety and a former lieutenant with the Reno Police Department, said the teams will rely on intelligence from federal, state and local authorities.

It is, he said, "a targeted step" that must be taken in a state that leads the nation in meth use.

Galeoto was appointed the department's new director in December after serving a yearlong stint training Iraqi police in Baghdad.

He was the one who suggested to Gov. Jim Gibbons that a new tactical interdiction approach must be taken in the state's battle against methamphetamine.

Law enforcement officials estimate that more than half of the state's criminal activity, ranging from child abuse to armed robbery, is related to use of the drug.

"We need resources solely targeted to methamphetamine in the rural areas where no task forces currently exist," Galeoto said. "Las Vegas and Reno have resources already in place, but our smaller counties don't."

In his State of the State speech, in which he called the fight against methamphetamine addiction "the colossal struggle of our times," Gibbons took Galeoto's proposal to heart.

"I have placed in this budget 10 new public safety officers to fight the rise of meth use and distribution in our communities, particularly in our rural communities, where the problems appear to be most acute," Gibbons said.

In Gibbons's initial $17 million drug-fighting proposal "directed toward fighting the scourge of methamphetamine," more than $3 million would be spent on the "hit teams." Galeoto said they would work in groups of five, sometimes in conjunction with other federal, state and local law enforcement personnel.

Though an increase in law enforcement personnel grabbed much of the public spotlight in the governor's proposal in fighting the state's meth problem, most of the money, $14 million, would be spent on educational, prevention and substance abuse programs.

Gibbons also has named Attorney General Catherine Cortez-Masto as the head of a "meth working group" that will include law enforcement personnel, legislators and first lady Dawn Gibbons.

That group has been asked by Gibbons to make recommendations by April 1 for possible new legislation as well as proposals for additional funding to battle methamphetamine.

Dawn Gibbons, who has said she will make fighting meth one of her top priorities, was unavailable for comment. Her chief of staff did not return phone calls.

Although law enforcement officials applaud the governor's initiative, Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, cautioned the proposal "is short on details."

"My major concern with the governor's meth program right now is the insufficient amount of money set aside for treatment," she said. "I hope through the budgeting process we will be able to move more dollars ... to address the waiting list of our citizens who are ready to admit they have a problem and go into treatment but aren't able to access it. We can't enforce our way out of this problem."

Leslie said some money should go into building beds for those in need of rehab. "Inpatient beds do not magically appear. They need infrastructure funding that is extremely difficult to acquire.

"One-time money from the state surplus would be an excellent use of these funds," she said.

Melissa Subbotin, the governor's press secretary, said it is far too early to criticize Gibbons' proposal.

"Some people think he's putting too much money toward it, and others say it's not enough," she said. "But we need to give the working group a chance to come up with some further ideas before we can make real sense of everything."

Cortez-Masto, whose campaign for attorney general emphasized meth addiction as Nevada's "No. 1 problem," said Gibbons is naming members to the working group.

She said the group will undoubtedly include educators, medical personnel, community leaders and pharmacists.

"At this point, I have no idea of what our funding requests would be for," she said.

Cortez-Masto said the business community is consistently being hurt by methamphetamine addiction because addicted employees don't show up for work and overuse health benefits. Methamphetamine use, she said, also contributes to identity theft and property crimes.

Leslie said she was disappointed that Gibbons waited so long to start the working group. "It should have been done two months ago," she said, suggesting that the more time the Legislature has to work with initiatives, the better the outcomes will be.

According to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Nevada leads the nation per capita in the number of people who have used meth in their lifetime, the past year, and the last 30 days. State officials have said as many as 40,000 Nevadans use the drug.

Methamphetamine is commonly made using ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. The necessary chemicals are largely available in household products or over-the-counter medicines. Though the synthesis is relatively simple -- most methods involve flammable and corrosive chemicals -- fires often are started by amateur chemists, a result that often leads to their discovery by police.

The drug, which can be taken by swallowing, snorting, smoking or injecting it, dramatically affects the central nervous system. In the short term, it produces a rush.

In the long term, a person may experience fatigue, irritability, anxiety, confusion, violent rages, sleeplessness, cravings for more meth and depression. Users may become psychotic and experience paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances and delusion. The paranoia may lead to homicidal or suicidal thoughts. Teeth are destroyed.

Not all the news on the meth front in Nevada is bad, according to Mike Flanagan, the government agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's office in Las Vegas.

"Three or four years ago, we had 500 labs in Nevada and now we're down to less than 50," said Flanagan, who said meth now comes largely from Mexico, either by truck or plane.

Flanagan said federal legislation passed to keep cold remedies and other pharmaceuticals used in making meth behind drugstore counters has had "a huge effect."

Now, he said, the small labs in Nevada that law enforcement does find are run by drug users making dope primarily for their own use.

There are indications, however, that drug pushers still want to have so called "super-labs" in Nevada.

In the January 2007 edition of a newsletter published by the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy, there are these cautionary words to pharmacists:

"Board staff has been alerted to a number of pharmacies being contacted by phone to order pints of iodine. The caller claims to own a tattoo shop, needing the iodine for tattooing, when in reality it is most likely being used to make methamphetamine."

Larry Pinson, an administrator with the state pharmacy board, said "there is no way" a tattoo artist would need so much iodine, a key ingredient in the making of meth.

According to Kent Bisko, executive director of the Las Vegas office of the federal HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area), the governor's addition of 10 more officers to fight methamphetamine is welcome. He said there are now more than 100 state, local and federal officers largely dealing with Nevada's problem in this area. He said, however, that the rurals don't have the resources of the state's top two metropolitan areas.

Director Galeoto said that if the Legislature approves funding for 10 new public safety officers people can expect that the hit teams will consist of "well-trained, senior officers."

"We will hire new officers to replace them on the force," he said. Also necessary will be specialized equipment. There could be times, he said, when teams will have to stay in an area for a long period. He also said team members may have to be flown into areas on occasion.

Galeoto said he has 50 investigators, with 12 to 15 permanently assigned to narcotics. There are also special interdiction teams within the Highway Patrol, he said.

But rural areas need a quick response, he said.

"You have to remember that when they fly this stuff into the desert there is nothing saying they have to land at an airstrip," he said. "We have to be ready to go to where our intelligence tells us where we should be."