WRIGHT COUNTY METH PROGRAM GETS STATEWIDE, NATIONWIDE ATTENTION

Wright County Commissioner Karla Heeter didn't have a county board
meeting to attend Nov. 1 - it was cancelled due to five Tuesdays in
the month of November. But Heeter could use the break, since she
attended five county board meetings in October - four in Buffalo and
one in South Florida.

Heeter represented the MEADA (Meth Education and Drug Awareness)
Coalition of Wright County at an Oct. 17 meeting before the Orange
County Meth Task Force, the latest body to seek out the help of
Wright County to get its own awareness program off and running.
Heeter said being at the meeting was a honor, since Wright County's
program - only two years old itself - is being viewed as a
standard-bearer throughout the state and the country.

"I was surprised and proud," Heeter said of the invitation, which was
set up by a former Monticello resident in Florida who had heard of
the county's program. "It's gratifying to know that people as far
away as Florida have heard of our work. The day was amazing. I put
out the things we use to promote our program and increase awareness -
T-shirts, water bottles, pens, bags. They were in awe of how many
different ways we were working to get the word out and what we've
been able to accomplish in less than two years."

The MEADA program in Wright County has been a collaborative effort
that has focused on one simple premise - lives are ruined and altered
forever by the ills of methamphetamine use. While drugs like crack
and cocaine have been viewed largely as urban drugs found in bigger
cities, meth has taken on a life of its own as a drug that has begun
in the rural heartland of America and is making its way to the larger
urban centers.

"It's a strange phenomenon," Wright County Sheriff Gary Miller said.
"Because the ingredients are easy to come by, it doesn't take much to
be able to produce meth. Because of that, all of us have a meth
problem. You may have never used meth or even heard of it, but if
somebody strung out on meth for three days falls asleep at the wheel
and runs into your car, then you have a meth problem. If a meth user
needs money to buy more and breaks into your house, then you have a
meth problem."

The decline in health of meth users hasn't seemed to make much of a
difference. In a recent speech to a methamphetamine awareness
conference in St. Cloud Nov. 2, Heeter told the meeting that of the
prisoners currently in the Wright County Jail, between 70% and 90% of
them have some involvement with the meth trade, adding that they're
the reason Wright County is in the process of building a new jail.

When the program first began, like many others like it, there was
enthusiasm and a willingness to work. But, often times, that energy
doesn't sustain itself and tends to fizzle out. Heeter said just the
opposite has happened with the MEADA group. If anything, it's getting stronger.

"We have been off the charts as far as momentum goes," Heeter said.
"We've been able to keep building on the program. The most difficult
part wasn't starting the program up, it has been maintaining that
initial momentum. It's easy to come out of the chute fast.
Maintaining it takes work."

On her Florida trip, Heeter brought all of the start-up materials
Wright County had - posters, brochures, public service announcements,
press releases, CDs and DVDs. There isn't a sense of taking credit
for the program among the Wright County volunteers that have made
their program a success. Instead, they are willing to share the
information with whomever is interested - be it a governmental group
or a private company looking to educate its employees - to know what
a meth user looks like, what a meth lab looks and smells like and
what signs you can pick up in case a friend or loved one becomes a meth abuser.

Heeter said that in a one-week period in October in Wright County
alone, three children turned in their parents to social service
employees for being methamphetamine addicts. While the MEADA group
and the many private and public organizations that have banded with
them have made a dent in the meth numbers - a reduction in meth labs
is the most telltale statistic they can use - awareness is the key,
according to Heeter, who summed up the MEADA effort with an analogy.

"Meth is like having dandelions in your yard," Heeter said. "We can
treat it, but they won't go away. We have to continue to work
overtime to make sure they don't take over the entire lawn."

Some MEADA events scheduled in the next couple of weeks include a
public meeting in Cokato at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, and a weeklong
program Nov. 14 to 18 at Buffalo High School. For more information on
the program, how to get speakers to come to make a presentation to
private groups or civic groups or to offer help to join in the fight,
people are urged to check out the MEADA Web site at www.meada.org or
to call the information resource hotline at 763-682-7713.

While the MEADA group has made strides much bigger than even the
founding members could have anticipated, their work is far from over
as long as meth continues to dig its ugly claw into the lives of both
adults and children.

"If you hear the stories in this county that we hear every week, you
would understand why so many of us are so passionate about it,"
Heeter said. "We're going to use every vehicle at our disposal to
keep getting the word out. We have to keep taking care of our
dandelions close to home."