DELTA COUNTY ADOPTS NOVEL TREATMENT PLAN FOR METH

DELTA -- Like other many other counties in Colorado, Delta has a
problem with methamphetamine abuse and the newly formed Delta Meth
Task Force believes the solution is to get the whole community involved.

The Delta task force is following Mesa County's lead in creating
community-based meth treatment, task force member and clinical
psychologist Nick Taylor said, but it will be tailored more to a
small town because Delta can't afford to build a treatment facility
such as the one Mesa County is planning.

Montrose County also is following Mesa County's lead with a
community-based approach to fighting the meth menace, said Sgt. Paul
Eller of the Montrose Police Department.

The Montrose Meth Coalition formally announced its existence Friday
and will hold its first news conference Monday at 9 a.m. at
Centennial Plaza next to Montrose City Hall in the 400 block of First Street.

"We've met a couple of times, and our first goal is to collect data,"
he said, adding he learned about the "wonderful work" of the Mesa
County Meth Free Coalition at a conference.

Delta County has recruited more volunteers than Montrose because it
got started earlier. But the goal is the same, Eller said, to get
community members involved in a solution.

Several have already signed on, including City Council members,
medical professionals, schools, public health officials, business
people and law enforcement.

Delta County is looking at gathering valid data about meth use, and
Taylor has come up with a new treatment plan he calls the Delta Model.

At a meeting last month at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Taylor outlined
his treatment plan to about 50 people and convinced many, including
Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee, Delta County Commissioner Wayne Wolf
and Judge Sandra Miller, who runs the Delta County Drug Court, that
his plan is worth a try.

Taylor's plan will include drug counseling through public mental
health, but it will depend on volunteers from other organizations,
such as the Lions Club or hiking groups, as well as employers and
families, to include addicts in supervised activities to make them
feel more a part of the community and reinforce healthy activities.

Taylor will detail his treatment plan in a book to be published this
fall titled, "Lost and Found: Communities and Families Saving Meth
Addicts." The Delta Model also is described in a chapter of a
recently published book edited by Herbert C. Covey titled, "The
Methamphetamine Crisis: Strategies to Save Addicts, Families and Communities."

Taylor said his plan is flexible and can be tailored for use by other
small communities. Taylor is a member of the Colorado Methamphetamine
Task Force, formed last year, and he said he gave a presentation on
it two weeks ago to state Attorney General John Suthers, who heads
the task force.

Taylor said his plan was "well received," and he hopes it can be used
in other small, rural counties.

McKee said he's willing to try Taylor's plan and is working with Mesa
County to come up with accurate figures on meth use, one of the goals
of the state task force.

"Our long-term goal is to get people off of meth so they're not
reoffending, but along with rewards there has to be some discipline
involved," he said. "The whole program is not to make it look like
we're soft on crime, because if you are using and commit another
criminal offense, you will be arrested."

Susan Blaine of Delta County Human Services said the number of people
losing their children over meth addiction has doubled in the last
year or so. She said Taylor's plan could be part of the solution.

"This approach wraps services around (meth users), so they get a lot
of support management," she said.

"It's not just treatment, but to manage their day-to-day living and
get people to support them so they become able to redefine themselves."

Miller said she's seeing the influence of meth more and more, even in
civil cases, and was impressed by the Delta Model.

"Frankly, I'm willing to try, and we've got a community of people
saying, 'Let's try and make this work,' " Miller said.

Wolf, who helped form the Delta task force last fall, said there was
a "surprisingly positive response" to the formation of six
subcommittees with an average of a dozen people volunteering for each
one from all segments of the community.

"Our first goal is to work with people we have some hammers with, and
that means people in drug court, getting out of jail on probation,
people we can work with through probation and social services," he
said. "They're easily identifiable and are people who are costing the
taxpayers a lot of money."