METH NUMBERS DROP, BUT NOT DEMAND

CASSOPOLIS - Alcohol and marijuana continue to rank first and second
among drugs Cass County residents abuse, with methamphetamine and
cocaine third and fourth.

That's what Jennifer Lester of Woodlands Addiction Center, county
Meth Task Force coordinator, reported Thursday afternoon to the Board
of Commissioners.

Asked by Commissioner David Taylor, D-Edwardsburg, to estimate how
many individuals in the county might be addicted to meth, Lester and
her colleague Steve Lehman said it's difficult.

The main figure they have to go by is a "lagging indicator" - those
who have reached an addiction level where they are willing to receive
treatment.

"Even with the reduction of labs in our county, demand for that drug
remains," Lester said. "Individuals may not create their own
methamphetamine, but they will buy it from someone else."

Lehman added, "Fifty-five percent of our admissions are for alcohol.
Twenty-five, marijuana. Nine percent, cocaine. Meth had risen to
about 9 percent of our admissions. We admit about 350 people per year
to treatment services.

"I can tell you that national statistics suggest that, in general,
four or five percent of the population has a drug problem. (The drug
prosecutor) was telling us that meth lab busts are down 60 percent.
Drug busts are down about 40 percent. I attribute that to the
Sheriff's Office and law enforcement efforts funded through the
millage. There's been a significant impact on the supply. The demand
part is that the addicted population is still out there."

Chris Siebenmark from state Sen. Ron Jelinek's staff, who has
attended task force meetings in both Cass and Van Buren counties
during the Three Oaks Republican's first four-year term (2003-06),
said, "The numbers are down, so the (meth problem) seems to not be
that bad, but it's a huge deal. You saw a huge explosion in the
numbers when legislation first came down on that whole meth culture.
Then numbers fall off because of the aggressive effort, but don't be
swayed into thinking we're safe, we're fine, we're okay because those
numbers are falling off. It slowly migrated east" from western states
such as California, Colorado and Arizona over 40 years.

"As it came into Michigan, it exploded," Siebenmark said. "Southwest
Michigan is the primary manufacture area of methamphetamine in the
state of Michigan. Unfortunately, that's our notoriety. Michigan
seized the moment. We got after it on the fly when it got here. Some
folks wonder why meth got all this attention when heroin and cocaine
are so bad.

"But look at the nature of methamphetamine and how it's manufactured.
Drain cleaner, batteries, anhydrous ammonia - these are lethal
chemicals, then you put them together. No other drug is manufactured
in this fashion. How many places are sitting with no roofs on them
because labs blew up? Also, recidivism is over 80 percent. No other
drug has a return rate like that. We saw what happened to other
states and we got after it early."

"Every time there's a law," Siebenmark said, "somebody will find a
loophole. The marketplace is still there. The concern now is that
methamphetamine is manufactured in other states or outside the United
States in Mexico. Somebody's going to try to fill that marketplace.

"The federal government has been very smart and not done what it
typically does. It actually stopped and looked at what states had
done instead of trampling over them to reinvent the wheel. They've
really been a good partner. Be happy that the numbers show success,
but we continue to work. In 2007 we'll be dealing with the lab issues
of who cleans them up, what clean looks like and who's going to fund it."