WALESKA, Ga. (AP)-Anti-methamphetamine laws like the ones passed in Georgia are tamping down the domestic production of the deadly drug, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Monday.

But Gonzales said an increase in the amount of meth being smuggled into the country from Mexico threatens to offset those advances.

Gonzales joined Gov. Sonny Perdue at a town-hall meeting of law enforcement officials, community activists and others on what they called the methamphetamine crisis in the state.

"Meth threatens to turn the American dream into the American nightmare- not just for the users, but for their families ...and their communities," Gonzales said.

The event was held at Reinhardt College in north Georgia's Cherokee County, where there were 490 meth-related arrests and more than $300,000 worth of the drug confiscated by authorities last year, according to Perdue.

The governor highlighted anti-meth measures taken by Georgia's Legislature over the past few years, such as requiring the drug's key ingredients to be moved behind the counter of stores that sell them and making it a felony to cook meth in the presence of a child.

Perdue has requested $1 million in this year's state budget for a new Georgia Bureau of Investigation meth task force and another million for treatment of people addicted to meth.

"We're seeing the spread of meth labs slow down," Perdue said. "We haven't solved this meth crisis by any means, but we are seeing some positive trends."

Gonzales said some of Georgia's laws were mirrored in the federal Combat Meth Act passed recently by Congress.

But he said federal authorities also have tracked an increase in meth production and distribution by organizations based in Mexico. Gonzales said he has planned a May summit with Mexican officials in Dallas to discuss the trend.

Earlier Monday, Gonzales was in Atlanta to announce the launch of a federal initiative to target violent crime in the worst parts of the city.

The Violent Crime Impact Teams initiative is operating in a total of 23 cities across the country, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Tampa, New Orleans and Los Angeles.

Several federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the local U.S. Attorney's Office, will work with local law enforcement agencies on the initiative, which will operate around the city "on any given day, at any given time and in different capacities," said Vanessa McLemore, special agent in charge of the Atlanta Field Division of ATF.

They will use firearms dealer inspection data, gang intelligence information, police call response data and other information to identify crime "hot spots," and the peak times for enforcement actions.

Federal officials declined to identify the "hot spots" they will target in Atlanta.

Associated Press writer Errin Haines in Atlanta contributed to this report.