METH USE IS OVERBLOWN? IF ONLY THAT WERE TRUE HERE

Group's Report Says Use Is Rare In Most Of U.S.

This month, a nonprofit organization called The Sentencing Project
came out with a much-hyped report that said methamphetamine use is
rare in most of the United States -- not the raging epidemic that
politicians and the media claim.

Could it be true? We would gladly apologize for overstating the case
if only we could wake up and find that the past few years in the
Mid-Valley have been a bad dream.

Sadly, no.

Children are being removed from area meth homes at the same pace as
last year. Thirty-nine drug-affected babies have been born at local
hospitals this year.

Foster homes still fill up as fast as parents can be trained. Leaders
from the faith community and No Meth -- Not in My Neighborhood
persuaded 70 new families to open their homes this year. They soon
will seek 70 more.

Caseworkers still struggle to place siblings together when authorities
close down a meth house. Ground has been broken for a second
"receiving home" to buy workers some time to arrange foster placements.

There still are 150 infants and toddlers on the waiting list for
Family Building Blocks' therapeutic classrooms. The program helps
traumatized babies bond for the first time with parents who are trying
to get off meth.

The Marion County district attorney still has more cases involving
drug-endangered children than he can prosecute. Jail staffers still
must release low-level offenders quickly in order to hold big-time
meth makers and dealers accountable.

It's true that seizures of meth labs are down sharply in Oregon, as
they are nationwide. That might be because cold remedies containing
pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient for meth, have become more difficult
to purchase. Meth from Mexican-based superlabs seems to have filled
the void, however, and cops say it's as easy as ever to find meth on
the street.

This editorial won't use words such as "raging epidemic" or "crisis"
or "sweeping across America." It simply will note the Mid-Valley's bad
luck at being one of the "selected areas" of the country that have
experienced what the report calls "higher rates of use."

And with those "higher rates" come trouble out of proportion to what
any other drug has dealt.

If other parts of the country have foster families or prosecutors or
jail beds to spare, they are welcome to send them here.