SENIORS GET THE DOPE ON DRUGS

Crime Prevention Academy Discusses History Of Problem

When he grew up in Birmingham, Joe Black, 75, says he can't remember ever
hearing anything about all the different illegal drugs he hears about today.

Things like marijuana and cocaine either weren't around, or just not
popular with his crowd. But on Thursday, Black finally got a chance to ask
a question he's been wondering about for quite some time: "When did these
drugs get to be such a problem?"

Black and his wife, Nancy, 69, of Huntsville, are participants in the fall
session of the Huntsville-Madison County Seniors Crime Prevention Academy.
For 11 weeks, classes are held on Thursdays at the Thomas W. Davidson
Senior Center on Drake Avenue.

The goal of the program, said Pat Colson, its coordinator, is to teach
senior citizens about law enforcement and how to keep from becoming a victim.

On Thursday, Huntsville police Sgt. Jim Winn was one of the guest speakers.
He supervises the Huntsville-Madison County Strategic Counterdrug Team,
known as the STAC Team, as well as the Madison-Morgan County High Intensity
Drug Trafficking Area Unit.

That's when Black and his classmates finally got a chance to find out how
the drug problem got to where it is today.

Illicit drugs have always been around, Winn said. For example, he said,
opium was popular in the early 1900s. But it wasn't until marijuana gained
popularity in the 1950s and '60s and started to become a profitable
business that the problems started.

"People have always had their vices," Winn said. But with today's illegal
drugs comes massive amounts of money, addiction and violence. Between 60
and 70 percent of dealers have some type of weapon with them at all times,
he said.

"Illicit drugs are such a lucrative business that entire countries are
involved in it today," Winn said.

By the 1980s, illegal drugs became big business, he said. When cocaine
became popular in the late 1980s, especially crack cocaine, things changed
for the worse. For example, in 1989, Winn said, local police had never seen
a rock of crack cocaine. The next year, drug agents obtained warrants for
90 searches for the drug.

"It took us by storm," he said. "It's still a big problem, probably making
up 60 to 70 percent of our agents' work."

Crack cocaine is more potent than powder cocaine and is highly addictive.
Usually a person is hooked after just one try, he said. Other dangerous,
illegal drugs have emerged since crack cocaine, such as methamphetamine,
GHB and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.

Winn compares the drug problem to the war on terrorism. "You'll never stop
it, but you can't turn your back on it either or they'll take control."

Both Joe and Nancy Black were impressed by Winn's presentation and said
they learned a lot. "It's been very interesting and informative," said
Nancy Black, who was "amazed" by the risks some people take "to fry their
brain, basically."

The Huntsville-Madison County Seniors And Law Enforcement Together, or
SALT, Council was formed in May 1995, based on an agreement between the
Madison County Sheriff's Department, the Huntsville and Madison police
departments and AARP.

The Madison Police Department has stopped participating within the past two
years, while several other agencies have come on board, Colson said. The
academy has been lengthened from eight to 11 weeks.

Madison Police Chief Dan Busken said his department started its own academy
to meet the needs of his city.

"We had participated in a couple of sessions in the program in Huntsville,
and we saw very little participation by Madison residents," he said. "We
have started our own academy here, and we thought we could reach more
people in Madison and do more for the people of Madison in our program."