SUPERVISORS GET SNAPSHOT OF FIGHT AGAINST METH

Butte County has the uncomfortable distinction of being at the front
line in a battle with a modern scourge, and Tuesday the Board of
Supervisors got a snapshot look at how the fight is going.

During the regular board meeting, Butte County Sheriff Perry Reniff,
along with Keith Krampitz, commander of the south county narcotics
task force, reported on the activity of the "Methamphetamine Strike Force."

The strike force is an unusual coalition of law enforcement,
education, public health agencies, and public and private social
services agencies, joining forces to "eliminate methamphetamine here
in Butte County," said Reniff.

Reniff said it is difficult to quantify the total impact of meth on
the county, but some numbers are easy. According to his figures, in
2004, 27 percent of the bookings in Butte County Jail were "for
production, possession or (being) under the influence of methamphetamine."

Also during that same year, 14 deaths were directly attributable to
meth consumption, but Reniff said that tells very little of the story.

"What this does not show, and what any street officer in the county
will tell you, we suspect that approximately 80 percent of the crime
in Butte County is directly related to methamphetamine.

"What it also doesn't talk about is the effects that it has on the
behavioral health, on public health, on our schools, on every
segment of our society," said Reniff.

For many years the county has been aggressive in its law enforcement
effort to attack meth.

In 2004, 39 labs were seized, nine dumps of lab-related toxic waste
were located and 5,500 grams of the drug were confiscated.

Krampitz said that in 2005, Butte County ranked fourth in the state
for labs seized on a per-capita basis, and sixth in the state in
total number of labs seized.

On top of that, 331 children were "rescued," according to Reniff. He
said the "drug endangered children" program was initiated in Butte
County and has since gone nationwide. It takes kids out of homes
where meth is produced or possessed.

The sheriff said meth cookers live in conditions so fetid and vile
that they are beyond the imagination of most people. When law
enforcement officers locate a lab, they wear a breathing apparatus
to avoid the toxic fumes when they dismantle the equipment and
remove the material. Yet the people doing the cooking, and all
too often their children, live in this environment.

"Most of us wouldn't have our animals living the way these children
are living. They are definitely innocent victims," he said.

Reniff and Krampitz said the battle against the drug will be
somewhat eased due to the passage of federal legislation authored by
Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., that, among other things, requires
that cold medicines containing ephedrine or psuedoephedrine be kept
behind a counter. These two chemicals are "precursors" from which
meth is made.

However, enforcement isn't the only tool of the task force.

"It is every bit as important to prevent methamphetamine use as it
is to enforce it. It is also every bit as important to come up with
ways of treatment as it is to enforce it. We talk about prevention.
We talk about treatment. We talk about enforcement," he explained.

Education is a tool the strike force is using in prevention.

Like last year, the task force is mounting a public relations
campaign this spring to encourage teens to stay away from the drug.

In December, 300 physicians, social workers and other people
involved in treating meth users met in the South Oroville Community
Center for a day-long seminar on treatment, according to Reniff.

This June, another such treatment symposium is scheduled in Chico.

The strike force also has a Web site at www.2stopmeth.org that
provides a host of information about the drug and its dangers.

Reniff told the board trying to stop meth in Butte County won't be easy.

"That's a real lofty goal. We know it is going to take a long time
to reach anywhere near that goal," continued the sheriff.