EXPERTS TALK ABOUT IMPACT OF METH ON SOCIETY

CHICO -- Fighting methamphetamine's persistent grip was the topic at a
Methamphetamine Awareness Town Hall held Thursday.

The forum, sponsored by the University of Phoenix, brought together
public officials and emergency services personnel from throughout the
north state, who compared notes on what works, and hasn't worked, in
the areas of meth education, rehabilitation, and prosecution.

Keynote speaker McGregor Scott, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District
of California, called methamphetamine the greatest threat to law
enforcement in the state, and recognized its manufacture and use
affects everyone.

He referred to what Oregon called its "meth tax." He said a study done
in the Portland area concluded that meth cost each household in Oregon
an average of $5,000 per year.

Scott said the startling figure has prompted the state to adopt the
strictest controls on ingredients needed to make meth, and said
clandestine laboratories in Oregon have virtually disappeared.

Although meth use is figured to be on the decline in Butte County, and
throughout the state, District Attorney Mike Ramsey said the number of
small labs has quadrupled since 2006.

Despite that, officials say meth is getting harder to find, the price
has doubled, and the potency has diminished.

Scott said the scarcity of what pushers call "product" is so severe
that many show up at drug deals with up to $1 million in cash, hoping
to corner a local market.

Chico Police Chief Bruce Hagerty Advertisement Sutherland Landscape!
noted his officers, during the course of routine investigations, made
178 arrests last year connected with methamphetamine use.

Scott said many meth labs can ultimately be tied to Mexican drug
cartels, which moved into the U.S. in the 1990s.

He said Mexico, with the help of the U.S., has made giant strides in
stopping the importation of pseudoephedrine, a main meth ingredient.

California adopted federal guidelines in 2006, restricting
pseudoephedrine. Scott said that has helped, but California still has
a long way to go in keeping tabs on would-be meth cookers buying large
quantities of cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine.

The experts agreed education is the key to prevention, especially
since meth lifestyles are often passed on from parents to children.

Most on the panel hailed drug courts as the best route for
compassionately prosecuting meth users, and placed Proposition 36
guidelines a distant second.

Butte County Sheriff Perry Reniff said Proposition 6, a law
enforcement funding initiative on the November ballot, will help
ensure money for proactive policing.

The initiative requires a minimum of $965 million per year be
allocated to police, sheriffs, district attorneys, adult probation,
jails and juvenile probation facilities and makes approximately 30
revisions to California criminal law, many of which cover gang-related
offenses.

It was recognized that Butte County's Drug Endangered Children
program, perhaps the first in the U.S., remains one of the most
effective and a model many others copy.

Ramsey called children the true victims of methamphetamine, noting
than many rescued from homes where meth is made test positive for the
drug just by being around it.

Marian Gage, a health and safety program director for the Butte County
Office of Education, said studies show that fewer than 10 percent of
high school students have experimented with meth.

Addiction to the drug, according to Scott, often comes at a slightly
older age.

On the Internet:

2stopmeth.org