BUTTE TACKLES METH 'HEAD ON'

But More Work Is Needed, Attorney General Tells Summit

Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath brought plenty of bad news
about the state's methamphetamine problem to Thursday's Butte-Silver
Bow Meth Summit in the Butte Civic Center annex.

"It's easy to make, easy to market and difficult to treat," McGrath
told several hundred concerned citizens. Meth consumes a huge
proportion of the state's police, correctional and health resources, he added.

Yet, McGrath also noted the progress Montana is making against meth.
That progress starts with communities, like Butte, acknowledging the problem.

"The good news is this community knows it has a problem, and it is
taking it head on," McGrath said.

Other progress Montana has made includes passing laws to limit access
to ingredients needed to make meth, educating the public and funding
drug task forces, McGrath said.

But more work is needed.

"It's easy to feel we are not getting anywhere," he said.

Future goals must include a focus on long-term drug treatment and
continued efforts to generate public awareness, McGrath said.
Increasing law enforcement simply isn't enough.

"We can't keep hiring more and more officers to address the problem," he said.

McGrath was one of 10 people who spoke at the meth summit. It was a
follow-up to commission district meetings held throughout Butte last
spring. Other speakers included local politicians, law enforcement
officials, health professionals and social workers.

Butte Chief Executive Paul Babb moderated the summit, and he summed
up one theme that emerged: "This is a community problem, and
something that we will only be able to solve with help from each and
every one of you," he said.

Here's what other speakers said:

Butte County Attorney Bob McCarthy said virtually everyone in the
Butte jail last week was there because of a meth-related crime. Those
crimes vary from identity theft to domestic abuse, and they are so
pervasive even he has been a victim (someone attempted to use checks
stolen from him).

"This is a complicated problem, and under our system of laws people
have a lot of protections," McCarthy said. "Just because we are
dealing with meth doesn't mean we can suspend the Constitution."

Butte Sheriff John Walsh said Butte police have made 140 drug arrests
in the last six months. Most of them are meth-related. The solution
is a combination of drug prevention and hiring more police officers.

"We need the manpower to try to get this to work," Walsh said. He
wants to hire 10 to 15 more officers if he can secure more money
through a mill levy.

Ralph Boerner, a chemical dependency specialist at the Butte health
department, asked the audience not to forget the human side of the
meth problem. And he urged them to help find more money for
prevention and treatment.

"We are not here because of a drug," Boerner said. "We are here
because of people that take a drug and get into trouble with it."

Brook Palmer, a community social worker, discussed the impact meth
has on children. Meth increases the likelihood of sexual and physical
abuse. It prevents foster kids from being reunited with birth
parents. And it can create severe developmental disabilities when
babies are born with it in their bodies.

While discussing these impacts, Palmer listed statistics from Butte.
For instance, two to three children are born in Butte every month who
test positive for meth. Furthermore, 87 percent of foster kids from
Butte are taken from their homes because of meth.

Even though the speakers noted dire circumstances, they also seemed
to be optimistic about controlling meth eventually. But it will take
an even greater understanding of its impacts and even more people
working together.

"We won't stick our heads in the sand and let our problem rule us," Babb said.