PEARCE REP - JOIN FORCES TO FIGHT METH

CARLSBAD -- A representative of U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M.,
lunched with members of the Carlsbad Community Anti-Drug and Gang
Coalition at the Stevens Inn Monday to discuss methamphetamine
problems and the community's response.

John Lovell, Pearce's district representative, attended the lunch to
prepare for a methamphetamine awareness workshop the congressman will
be hosting from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. July 31 at the Pecos River Village
Conference Center. The workshop will be open to the public. The
congressman is working to spotlight the problems with meth and other
drug addictions and what individual communities can do to alleviate
these problems locally.

Lovell said other New Mexico communities may look at Carlsbad's
coalition as a model for community response, but he also suggested
the community form a similar regional organization with several counties.

Pearce will be visiting several New Mexico towns to ask what each
community is doing to identify and control methamphetamine and other drug use.

Joe Epstein, a member of the coalition, told Lovell there is no
single answer to the problems methamphetamine cause. "There is no
silver bullet solution," Epstein said. "You need to be addressing the
problem from many directions." That's exactly what the community
coalition is attempting to do, Epstein said.

The organization is working in the schools, to create a treatment
facility, to create better ways for the public to help out through
Wise Eyes, and working with law enforcement and in other ways, he said.

District Attorney Terry Haake said meth is not a new problem, but
there have been periods of increased usage, and usage is spiking now
because of the amount and purity of the drug available.

"This problem (methamphetamine usage) is epidemic. There's no way
we're going to get No Child Left Behind done," said Noel Clark, the
head of Carlsbad Mental Health and also a Carlsbad Municipal Schools
board member.

Pecos Valley Drug Task Force Commander Robert Sullivan said meth
alone is almost more than the task force can handle.

"I would say approximately 80 percent of everything we do is meth,"
Sullivan said. But Sullivan said law enforcement is only a component
of the response necessary to fight methamphetamine and other drugs,
not the answer. Three components are necessary, he said, including
intervention, treatment and more meaningful laws that will serve as
deterrents.

Police Chief Darrin McGilvray said he agrees with Sullivan.

"To me, the only process is treatment. It's the only thing that's
working," McGilvray said, calling the current process of arresting
the same people on drug-related crimes "a revolving door process."
McGilvray said police have seen increased crime rates over the last
few years, especially in white-collar crimes and the number of
females involved in crimes. Those can be tracked back to drugs such
as methamphetamine, he said.