FACES TELL METHAMPHETAMINE STORY

The faces of meth are not pretty.

A near-capacity audience at The Dalles Wahtonka High School saw a
number of examples of that Tuesday night as part of a town hall
presentation by Multnomah County Deputy Bret King. King has put
together a video showing the effect prolonged use of methamphetamine
has on people.

His pictorial subjects were inmates at the Multnomah County Jail
where he works. The film also includes interviews with some of these
inmates talking about the impact meth had on their lives. King said
it was while working at jails that he noticed the physical changes
that took place with meth users, and he felt shooting a video showing
this might be a way to get the attention of young people, who desire
to look good and make good first impressions on other young people.
The mugs he uses show the before and after of meth use. He has found
that the reaction of young people is that "no one wants to look like
that." He said in showing the video he did not want to make anyone
look bad, but said the people shown in the video were glad to be able
to help others avoid taking the route they had chosen. The people
shown in the video had lost their families, friends, their looks and
their very lives, he said. He sees young people in the jail with
their whole lives ahead of them who are throwing it away on garbage.
Part of the video was a series of mug shots, showing jail inmates
over different time periods, some as short as two weeks and some as
long as 10 years.

The changes were remarkable and some drew gasps from the audience. At
one point in the video that depicted some of the most dramatic
changes, the words "Isn't meth glamorous" flashed across the screen.
Another section of the video was titled "The Mouths of Meth" and
showed what continued meth use does to the users' teeth, and two
Portland area dentists explained why these changes take place. King
said recent laws have brought about some changes in the meth scene,
and there are not as many labs as there used to be now that
pseudoephedrine is not as readily available in some medicine, but
there are still just as many users coming to jail.

"Meth has not gone away," he said. "If it were not a problem, the
room (the high school auditorium) would not be this full."

Later, during a question and answer period, he said that one of the
real solutions would be to ban pseudoephedrine, but opined that this
is not going to happen because the pharmaceutical companies are
making too much money out of it. He said there are cold and other
medications that work just as well without that drug, and then
quipped that no one has ever died from pseudoephedrine deficiency.

He said that one of the attractions of meth is that it is cheap ...
moneterily, but quickly added it is costly in other ways and in
reality "is the most expensive drug we have."

King also said the meth out there now is not as good as it was and so
many other additives are being used.

The people shown in the video were not identified by name, but King
said he grew up with one of them, whom he called Marvin. King went to
grade school, middle school and high school with Marvin and Marvin
"was a good kid" from a good family, but somewhere along the way
hooked up with the wrong people. He said his friend -- and other
users -- didn't start out to be a meth addict.

No one wants that, King said. He said if he polled an audience and
asked who wants to be a meth addict or spend much of their life in
jail, not a single hand would go up. He said he tells kids he talks
to about drug use that "I hope I never see you again" and said me
means he hopes he doesn't see then in his work at jail.

Although the "faces of meth" mostly focused on users who wound up in
front of the camera at jail, others in the video -- Multnomah County
Sheriff Bernie Guisto, another deputy at that office and some very
ordinary young people were seen saying "I am the face of meth." This
shows that the drug impacts everyone, not just those who use it.

King stressed during his presentation that meth use reaches far
beyond just those who use drugs.

He said nine out of 10 people he came into contact with as a jailer
were drug affected and at least 85 percent of property crimes are
meth related.

King, as well as Wasco County Judge Dan Ericken, who opened the town
hall, and Debbie Jones, head of the Wasco County Prevention
Coalition, remarked about the large turnout. King said he had never
seen interest like this and noted the audience included a lot of
parents with kids and "that couldn't be better for what I am going to
show you."

The town hall, put on by the Wasco County Prevention Coalition, saw
the debut of "Crystal Falls," a video the coalition paid on meth use.
Funding came from grant money given to the coalition by the city of
The Dalles. The video was done through the efforts of Scott Abts of
Encore Productions and many from this community were involved.

Several of them were at the forum. A number of local agencies had
booths set up in the halls at the high school, handing out
information about what their agency does in the area of drug problems.

The audience was given a questionaire to fill out and turn in at the
end of the program. High school students were given community service
credit for attending the event and many high school-age people were
in the audience.