METH ED

Students Take Cameras To Statehouse To View Fight Against Drug

INDIANAPOLIS - Matt Warner's trip to the Indiana Statehouse earlier
this month was a productive one.

Warner, a Paoli High School sophomore, made the Statehouse stop with
television production students looking for footage to help them tell
the story about the prevalence of methamphetamine in Orange County
and the dangers associated with drug and alcohol abuse.

" It really helped us a lot," Warner said. " It gives us a lot of new
information that we didn't have. We've only been talking to people
around here in the county, mostly in Paoli. ...

Now we have perspectives ( from) people higher in the decision making."

Among the sources the students met in Indianapolis was State Rep.
Eric Koch, R- Bedford.

Koch was the primary author of a law that restricts the sale of cold
medicines containing ingredients that meth manufacturers use.

The students, working under the direction of TV production teacher
Royce Turner, are developing a documentary that examines the
emergence of meth as a serious threat and explores how authorities
are dealing with the issue.

Koch told the students the new law has made a dent in meth
production, but another problem has intensified. " We are seeing a
decrease in those kind of homegrown meth labs," Koch said. " And
replacing that supply are drugs coming from super labs, from out of
state, even Mexico. That kind of traffic is easier for law
enforcement to identify and ... shut down than those homegrown labs."

Koch said he wasn't sure whether legislation related to meth would be
introduced this year.

" We're so very early in the process," he said.

But that doesn't mean some kind of new laws aren't in the works. They
could be made at the federal level because the drugs are crossing state lines.

" That's one reason Congress is taking a look that's national in
scope," Koch said. " It's because of states like ours that haven't
become a haven for the meth cookers."

He added, " Congress is taking a look to see if we need a more
national strategy to deal with meth. But, in the meantime, I'm very
proud that we have kicked out the meth cookers that we have."

The students ( Warner, Ian Newton, Casey Ellis, Zach Brown, Dustin
Coulter, Daniel Rojahn and Joe Blankenbaker) also met with State Rep.
Jerry Denbo, D- French Lick, whose district includes Paoli.

" It's a major problem in our area of the state," Denbo said of meth.
" Any of us who live in Orange County should be majorly concerned
about this because the drug is so cheaply produced. ... A few years
ago, we never dreamed that it would be possible that we would have
drug labs, in our own neighborhoods even. Yes, it's there and we need
to recognize that fact."

While in Indianapolis, students talked with Indiana State Police
Capt. Mark Hartman, who addressed the relationship meth use has to
police duties. " A large majority of the police work that the Indiana
State Police does is tied directly to the current methamphetamine
problem," he said. It's a factor, he said, in police pursuits,
domestic situations and break-ins.

Chief Deputy Richard Dixon, from the Orange County Sheriff's
Department, said, " As far as what we're seeing right now, presently
they tell us approximately 74 percent of the prison population is
drug-related and mostly methamphetamine-related.

We're seeing the same thing here locally."

Ellis, another PHS student, joined Warner in believing the
conversations were worthwhile.

" We got to hear ... what got them inspired to come up with the bill
and what kind of effects it might have in the long run," he said.

There are measurable effects already. Information provided by the
Indiana Criminal Justice Institute shows the number of meth labs
seized from July through November 2005 was down 28 percent from the
comparable period from 2004.

Koch told the students, " Drugs, unfortunately, are a problem that's
never going to go away.

It's going to be a constant struggle, but we are beginning to see
results from last year's legislation."