The Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force consists of members from state & local law enforcement agencies in every community in Tennessee, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee National Guard Counterdrug Division, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the District Attorneys of Tennessee, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Tennessee. The Task Force has been funded by federal grants obtained with the assistance of the Bureau of Justice Assistance and COPS with bipartisan support of our Tennessee Congressional delegates. As a result of these efforts, since 1999 the United States Department of Justice has awarded in excess of $10 million to underwrite the training, investigation, prosecution and educational efforts of the Task Force. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation serves as the grantee agency for the funding of the Task Force and has been instrumental in supporting the Task Force’s training and operations throughout Tennessee.

Other Task Force personnel are first responders of all disciplines, social service workers, educators and health care professionals. These individuals have received training and helped establish protocols for the care and treatment of children found at clandestine lab sites or children who have been exposed to the manufacture and use of methamphetamine. Personnel from law enforcement agencies receive training, equipment, overtime compensation and continuing support from the Task Force while they continue to work for their local departments. In this way the Task Force supplements and enhances existing law enforcement presence throughout the state. In addition to providing the necessary equipment, the task force has also conducted training for local law enforcement officers to effectively respond to, investigate, process and dismantle clandestine methamphetamine laboratories. Judges and prosecutors from throughout the state have also been trained on methamphetamine prosecutions.