SHERIFF VOWS ONGOING FIGHT TO STAMP OUT METH PRODUCTION, USE

Methamphetamine use is declining in most areas, and is not at an
"epidemic" level described by some law enforcement and news agencies,
according to a study released this month.

"I would estimate there are probably 50 to 100 individuals in this
area addicted to meth," said Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks.
"As long as there is one person producing or using meth I'm going to
dedicate resources toward eradicating the problem."

Mincks said meth use is not a victimless crime.

Meth, which is commonly produced by mixing and "cooking" various
household chemicals, also produces toxic gases. Those gases are
absorbed by carpet, drywall and any other porous material near where
the drug is being made. Coming into contact with the contaminated
materials -- even years later -- poses a serious health threat, he
said.

"There are a lot of people moving into apartments who have no
knowledge of the danger," Mincks said.

He said legislation is being considered that would require landlords
to warn prospective tenants about a meth lab discovery.

Mincks said five meth labs have been dismantled in Washington County
in the past two years, including the most recent discovery in February
of a lab in Reno. Another notable lab dismantling includes one on
Eighth Street in Marietta that resulted in the hospitalization of law
enforcement officers who were faced with broken containers of
chemicals used to produce the illegal drug.

According to a report issued this month, meth is a dangerous drug but
among the least commonly used.

The advocacy group, The Sentencing Project, claims rates of meth use
have been stable since 1999, and among teenagers meth use has dropped.

The report cites statistics compiled by the government to make its
case, including a 2004 survey that estimated 583,000 people used meth
in the past month, or two-10ths of 1 percent of the U.S. population.
Four times as many people use cocaine regularly and 30 times as many
use marijuana.

A separate survey of high-school students showed a 36 percent drop in
meth use between 2001 and 2005.

"The portrayal of methamphetamine in the United States as an epidemic
spreading across the country has been grossly overstated," Ryan King,
an analyst for the project, told The Associated Press.

Tina Nolen, a certified chemical dependency counselor at Marietta
Memorial Hospital, said while other cities may have seen a decrease in
meth use, she's actually seen an increase in the number of patients
seeking treatment for meth addiction.

She said meth first appeared in the community a few years
ago.

"We have seen an increase in the number of people seeking treatment,"
Nolen said.

"One of the problems with meth is that it is one of the cheapest and
easiest drugs to get a hold of," Nolen said. "But drugs seem to make
their rounds. You might see a lot of heroin users for a while, then
all the sudden you'll see a lot of meth users."

The number of patients treated for meth at the hospital was not
immediately available.

Mincks agreed that meth use is not as common as other local illicit
drug use.

"Prescription drugs are our No. 1 problem (when it comes to
overdoses)," Mincks said. "After that you have cocaine and crack
cocaine; then meth; then heroin use."

The study claims overheated rhetoric, unsupported assertions and
factual errors about the use of the drug -- including frequent,
misguided comparisons between meth and crack cocaine -- lead to poor
decisions about how to spend precious public dollars combating drug
addiction.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy did not
immediately comment on the report.

Mincks said there's no reason to back off against meth or other street
drugs.

"The government still needs to apply resources in that direction," he
said. "I don't see how we should back off in this war, raging epidemic
or not."

Treatment programs for meth also have been portrayed inaccurately,
with news reports suggesting that meth users do not respond as well to
treatment as users of other drugs, King said. The Bush
administration's recent methamphetamine control strategy also referred
to a "common misperception that methamphetamine is so addictive that
it is impossible to treat."

"Mischaracterizing the impact of methamphetamine by exaggerating its
prevalence and consequences while downplaying its receptivity to
treatment succeeds neither as a tool of prevention nor a vehicle of
education," he wrote.

King called for a tempered approach to the problem, keeping the focus
on local trouble spots and using federal money to beef up treatment
programs.