AREA METH USE ON THE DECLINE

As Eau Claire County Sheriff Ron Cramer was leaving a restaurant
Thursday night, a man approached him and proudly told the sheriff he
had been clean and sober for four months. He thanked Cramer for his help.

"It's a good feeling that they want to share their success stories
with you," Cramer said.

Several law enforcement officials from around the Chippewa Valley met
last week, and they talked about which drugs are hot and which are
not, Cramer said. The consensus was that methamphetamine use is down
but that other drugs are taking its place.

Meth arrests have dropped significantly since 2005 in the Chippewa
Valley. After a high of 28 arrests in July 2005, the numbers fell to
two arrests in October, one in November and none in December,
according to West Central Wisconsin Drug Task Force figures covering
2005 through 2007.

Cramer said legislative changes, which made it more difficult to
accumulate large supplies of drug precursors such as Sudafed, are a
reason for the drop.

"That has really worked," Cramer said. "The mom-and-pop labs have
really gone down. It has slowed down immensely."

While the Chippewa Valley is seeing a drop in meth use, Cramer heard
from officials in the Duluth, Minn., area that use is rampant there.

Chippewa Falls Police Chief Wayne Nehring agreed that meth arrests
are down, but that doesn't mean it's gone.

"We are probably still seeing meth use, not to the degree we did two
or three years ago, but it's still there," Nehring said. "The drug
that has probably replaced it is cocaine. I think people are lulled
into thinking meth has disappeared because you don't hear as much
about it anymore, but that's not necessarily true."

The Chippewa Falls Police Department made a huge push in the spring
to get area residents to clean out their medicine cabinets and get
rid of old prescription medicine.

"I still think our number one drug problem is the prescription
abuse," Nehring said.

Kirk Olson, an investigator with the drug task force, agrees with
Nehring that legal prescription drugs like methadone and Oxycontin
are a big concern.

"There seems to be a lot of that going on," Olson said. "And you get
some of these people who go 'doctor shopping,' going from one doctor
to another."

For instance, a person who gets a prescription filled for methadone
in Altoona one day might try to get another prescription for the drug
filled in Whitehall the next day, Olson said.

Olson said teens are getting their hands on prescription drugs and
selling them to friends, and they might not even know the effects of
the pills, such as anti-depressants and diuretics.

"We'll arrest people who have 12 pills in their pockets, and there
will be three or four different types," Olson said. "(They have) no
idea what they'll do to you."

Cramer said the key to reducing drug use is education about the
dangers involved.

"I hate the phrase 'the drug war,' " Cramer said. "It's constant drug
education."

With the drug task force, which covers six area counties, Olson has
seen a continued drop in meth arrests so far this year. The task
force has seized more meth this year, however, because of one large drug bust.

Heroin use nationwide is up, but that doesn't seem to be the case
locally, Olson said.

"We're seeing a little bit of it," Olson said. "It is greater than it
was five, 10 years ago, but it isn't as widespread as in other
places, like in bigger cities."

Marty Folczyk, an investigator with the Menomonie Police Department
assigned to the drug task force, said marijuana remains the most
abused drug in the county. Meth use declined two years ago but
gradually is rising again, she said. The majority of meth found in
Dunn County comes from the Twin Cities, he said.

Folczyk estimated about a dozen meth cases have been reported in the
county this year, but he has seen little or no heroin use.

Cramer said heroin use hasn't been a big issue. "We're not seeing
it," Cramer said. "It's mostly out of the Twin Cities or mailed in
from Thailand. It used to be used for medicinal purposes from the
elders (there)."

Chippewa County Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk used to work on the drug task force.

"In the three years I was in there, we never (saw) heroin," Kowalczyk
said. "I'm not saying heroin isn't available here, but it's not the
drug of choice."

Marijuana use remains prevalent, Cramer said, and it's more powerful
than what was being sold years ago.

"What we are dealing with is the high-grade marijuana that they call
'nuggets,' " Cramer said. "They are going out to the West Coast or
from Canada (to get it)."

Menomonie Bureau reporter Pamela Powers contributed to this report.