Series: Meth: Shattering Lives In Northern Nevada

A three-month Reno Gazette-Journal investigation found that
methamphetamine's grip on the Truckee Meadows has become a stranglehold.

GROUP URGES COMMUNITY TO SAY 'NOT IN MY TOWN'

Everyone was talking about it.

Meth destroyed this life, meth contributed to that tragedy.

Jails were filling with meth addicts, their children were being
placed in foster care and school children were becoming the latest meth users.

So representatives from law enforcement, drug prevention and
treatment, schools and public health came together to do something
about a drug many feel has taken over the community.

In September, the Meth Community Response Alliance was born. It meets
monthly, and its goal is to educate the public about the dangers of
meth in hopes it will decrease demand for the drug.

In March, the group held town hall meetings at several high schools
for the first time to specifically address methamphetamine abuse, and
in May it held a public meth summit to raise awareness. Group members
also arranged for two nationally known experts on methamphetamine to
conduct training sessions for local law enforcement and related
professionals as well as the community.

Since meth was getting attention nationwide, and spreading from the
West Coast to the East Coast, the group said it knew the time was
right to strike the public with its message.

The alliance had agreed that most Truckee Meadows residents are
unaware of meth and how it affects everything -- from their homes and
vehicles being burglarized, to children being placed in foster care,
to burdens on the legal system.

"We know in Washoe County that meth is growing," said Kevin Quint,
executive director of Join Together Northern Nevada. "It's like what
happens in every drug epidemic. There comes a tipping point. It's a
problem that has gone from a poor man's drug to being used by
middle-class kids.

"It's hitting more demographics, and with crystal meth, the turbo
meth, you go downhill faster," he said.

Quint said the drug has gained attention because of its devastation
to children, its effect on crime and violence.

"I think that if the community doesn't act now and put substantial
effort into stopping this, the strain on our legal, social service,
treatment, medical and education systems will be overwhelming.

"In essence, meth will take over the community."

Community should fight

Mark Snyder, supervising special agent of the Reno DEA office and an
alliance member, said the community needs to come together and say
"not in my town."

"The community has to stand up and say 'No,'" he said. "This is a
small town with a small town feel which helps us with the problem
because people love this place and care. Meth is killing our economy,
our community and our environment."

Snyder said residents are exposed to meth every day in some form,
from a meth addict walking around downtown Reno to HAZMAT workers
dismantling a meth lab in their neighborhood and cleaning up toxic chemicals.

"If the community doesn't believe it's a problem, we need to educate
them," Snyder said.

Alliance member Katherine Loudon said meth is a huge problem,
especially for area students.

"Its crossover is everywhere """" with suicide, (sexually transmitted
diseases), crime and child abuse. It goes beyond the school
district," said Loudon, coordinator for the Safe and Drug Free
Schools Substance Abuse Program at Washoe County School District.

The group also is working on public service announcements and media
campaigns, collecting data and determining how to target children for
drug-prevention messages.

Quint said that Reno's 24-hour lifestyle and casinos, along with the
volume of tourists, allows drug activity to blend with the area.

"It takes a community to solve this," Quint said. "Money is needed,
but more than that, the community has to rise up and say they don't
want meth in their neighborhoods."