To those of us in public health and safety arenas, methamphetamine is an old, familiar enemy. The powerful stimulant lies at the root of an inordinate amount of regional crime, violence and chaos.

From paranoid users on sleepless binges, to stovetop labs in homes where children sleep, to toxic byproducts dumped in public parks, no single illicit drug has drained public resources quite like meth.

Out of a rash of bizarre meth-related incidents in the mid 1990s -- including the separate thefts of an Army tank and a county transit bus by known meth users -- the Methamphetamine Strike Force was born. By pairing the region's top criminal justice minds with leading public health experts, the Strike Force has managed to hold the line against this deadly drug.

After more than a decade, San Diego County has fared much better than many counties currently awash in the social and economic ravages of meth. Our meth-related deaths and arrests are relatively stable. More users than ever are seeking treatment, and the number of labs discovered in our county has dropped dramatically.

Interestingly, our small successes are not the result of working harder. They're the result of working smarter.

As a narcotics officer once observed after years of arresting the same meth user too many times for crimes that increased in severity, "We are not going to arrest this problem out of our region." Enter our multidisciplinary approach.

By expanding the traditional criminal justice circle to include the public health community, the Strike Force gets its ammo against meth from all sides. When you have treatment specialists, judges, deputies, prosecutors, defense attorneys, trauma surgeons, educators, detectives, policymakers, prevention specialists and media strategists meeting regularly at one table and tasked with attacking a common enemy, good ideas result.

Over the years, Strike Force initiatives have reflected our balanced roster of participants and, more importantly, made significant headway against the drug.

The Drug Endangered Children program rescues children from the horrors of meth homes and studies the physical and psychological effects of the drug on small, growing bodies. Law enforcement and social services are working hand-in-hand so that kids are no longer an afterthought at crime scenes.

The successful Drug Court program lets nonviolent lawbreakers earn back their dignity by teaching sobriety and self-sufficiency. The courts and treatment providers have joined forces to keep lawbreakers clean by using consequences for relapse and praise for recovery. Equal parts carrot and stick, success rates are impressive.

We support the Screening and Brief Intervention program, which takes place in a non-threatening health care setting. When a medical professional broaches the subject of substance abuse with a patient, it is an opportunity for that patient to recognize the signs of addiction and seek treatment.

We've prevented clandestine cookers from brewing their deadly product by limiting sales of the over-the-counter ingredients used to manufacture meth. We did it with remarkable cooperation from retailers.

And every day our anonymous hotline -- (877) No2Meth or (877) 662-6384 -- steers users into treatment and helps law enforcement investigate suspected dealers and cookers.

Most recently, the Strike Force nimbly responded to a spike in meth-related identity theft by launching a still-active public education campaign. We continue to promote California's credit card truncation law, which requires merchants to block out all but the last few digits of credit card numbers on receipts, because we want to stop thieves from trading personal information in order to feed their meth habits.

The Strike Force knows the battle against meth is fought on many fronts. Law enforcement fights it on the streets. Parents fight it in the home. Teachers fight it in classrooms. People in recovery face a highly personal battle against the drug.

The interdisciplinary Strike Force model has shown us that eradication strategies are most effective when stakeholders work in conjunction with each other. Fragmented and isolated strategies can only go so far. That's why we will continue to surround meth from all sides.

Bonnie Dumanis is the San Diego County district attorney. A former drug court judge, she co-chairs the Methamphetamine Strike Force. Dianne Jacob represents the 2nd District on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. She initiated the Strike Force in 1996.