Justice Department gives Missouri $2.5 million to fight meth

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) -- The Justice Department is giving Missouri $2.5 million to fight methamphetamine.

The federal money will support the Missouri Sheriff's Methamphetamine Relief Team Project, which helps sheriffs and rural drug task forces combat clandestine meth labs.

The money brings the total Justice Department funding to the program to $5.6 million since fiscal year 2000. The money can be used for staff, training, equipment and prevention efforts.

One of the goals of the project is to improve the state's reporting of clandestine labs to the El Paso Intelligence Center, which maintains a database of seized labs.