WARN PEOPLE ABOUT METH, TASK FORCE TOLD

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Educating the public about the dangers of
methamphetamine abuse should be a major thrust of any effort to combat
abuse of the homemade drug, the Governor's Task Force on
Methamphetamine Abuse was told yesterday.

"One of the things I've found out in talking about meth is that
people constantly say they didn't know about it, or that it was as big
a problem as it is," said Dr. Sullivan Smith, a member of the task
force and an emergency room physician in Cookeville.

"We've got to get this information out. Education is vital to this
kind of initiative," he said.

The task force, which has been mandated to make recommendations on a
comprehensive methamphetamine policy to Gov. Phil Bredesen by Sept. 1,
heard yesterday about two educational tools that have been developed
for the Upper Cumberland region. That section of Tennessee has been
the site of hundreds of methamphetamine arrests in the past decade.

The first is a 35-page meth prevention handbook published by the 13th
Judicial District Drug Task Force. Several thousand copies are being
distributed through local law enforcement, youth organizations,
churches and civic groups.

The 13th Judicial District is made up of Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb,
Overton, Pickett, Putnam and White counties.

Task force members received a preview of an interactive CD-ROM
produced by the Tennessee Tech Business Media Center in conjunction
with the Putnam County Health Department.

"It's an educational toolkit," said Kevin Liska, director of the
Business Media Center.

"It has a total of five hours of content on the CD that should answer
just about any question about meth for people from a wide range of
kinds of jobs," Liska said.

For instance, law enforcement officers can use the CD to watch digital
video clips of interviews with people in that field who have
"front-line experience with meth," Liska said.

"We've tried to find experts in every field to talk about meth. We
need to get people listening and talking about meth in a way that we
haven't up till now," said Jerrod Wright, a public health educator
for the Putnam County Health Department.

"It's going to take everybody - law enforcement, prosecutors, people
in the mental health field - to work together to try and come to a
solution on this growing problem," he said.

Wright said the price of the interactive CD will be kept to a minimum
so the CD can be used beyond the boundaries of the 13th Judicial District.

Methamphetamine is a homemade drug manufactured using household
chemicals such as lye and brake fluid. Its primary ingredient is
pseudoephedrine, which is found in many over-the-counter cold remedies.

According to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, more labs - in
excess of 1,100 - were seized in Tennessee last year than in the rest
of the Southeast.

The Governor's Task Force on Methamphetamine Abuse met at Tennessee
Tech University, marking the first time it has convened in Middle
Tennessee since its opening session in Nashville.

The task force's next meeting will be in Tullahoma on July