FROM MEXICO, MADISON, TO MINONG: STRATEGIES TO FIGHT METH EPIDEMIC

Fifth In A Series On Meth Use In The Area

A photo taken in 2001 of a ditch outside of Tijuana, Mexico, and included
in a June 5 article of The Oregonian offers a clue as to why the
methamphetamine (meth) epidemic is overwhelming U.S. counties like Washburn.

Stretching apparently 20 to 30 feet long is a mound of white medicinal
cardboard boxes flattened out and thrown carelessly, like a pallet had
tumbled off a truck and spilled its contents.

The boxes are for the Mexican drug FERPil, the Mexican version of Sudafed.
The pills, which contain pseudoephedrine, the precursor for meth, were
probably used in what law enforcement refers to as "super labs," large
factory-like operations where meth is made in huge quantities to be
illegally trafficked in the United States.

American law enforcement officials believe super labs are turning 100 tons
of pseudoephedrine pills into 80 percent to 90 percent of the meth used in
the United States, including meth used in Washburn County.

If meth is largely made in Mexico and the key ingredient, pseudoephedrine
pills, is an import, then it would seem logical that the way to control the
production of meth in Mexico would be to limit the amount of
pseudoephedrine to legitimate needs.

The Oregonian, a newspaper that for years has been covering the U.S. meth
epidemic, which largely started on the West Coast, has researched the
imports of pseudoephedrine in Mexico and compared it against legitimate
documented uses of the pills.

According to an article by Steve Suo of The Oregonian, titled "Mexico's
math problem adds up to a U.S. meth problem," June 5, 2005, Mexico imported
224 tons of pseudoephedrine in 2004 but only had a legitimate need for 81
million tons required to make the 140 different cold medicines produced in
Mexico. Add in all other legitimate uses, included those consumed by
Mexican citizens, and the newspaper calculated that Mexico's legitimate use
totals around 129 tons, or 95 tons more than the country needs on paper.

It has long been suspected that one of the primary feeders to the Mexican
super labs has been pills smuggled from Hong Kong. Now it appears that Hong
Kong is probably the second largest source meth precursor behind
established pharmaceutical companies filling import orders.

The U.S. government is looking to hold Mexico and other countries
accountable for the illegal use of pseudoephedrine by slashing foreign aid
to countries that allow the imported pseudoephedrine to end up in the super
labs.

One of the sponsors of the legislation is U.S. Representative Mark Kennedy,
R-Minn. Kennedy said the legislation is meant to put the hurt on super labs
that are beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement.

It is a measure several Western states, who have dealt with the drug for
years, are touting as the critical answer to cutting back the prevalence of
meth, just one of many measure taken in response to the meth epidemic.

Getting Tough

The Bush Administration has been criticized for not taking the meth
epidemic seriously. Critics claim the Bush policy has focused too much on
marijuana which is considered a gateway drug to harder substances like
cocaine, heroin, and meth. Although the projected 8-10 million who have
used meth pales in comparison to the number who use marihuana, experts say
meth is the number one drug law enforcement officials around the country
are struggling with, mainly because of its addictive nature, and the crimes
spawned from users, from stealing to child abuse.

Even though President Bush is taking some hits, Congress is beginning to
focus on meth. Currently there are 15 measures in Congress to address meth,
including the Foreign Relations Authorization Act co-sponsored by Rep. Kennedy.

One recent legislation has allowed local governmental units to take
children out of environments where meth has been used. Washburn County has
exercised that legislation by removing 14 children in the last year from a
meth environment.

Proposed Madison legislation, Bill 213, present even more problems for meth
producers in Wisconsin. The bill goes beyond taking custody of children to
taking away all parental rights where children are in the same environment
that meth is produced. The bill reads, "This bill permits the parental
rights of a parent to a child to be terminated involuntarily on the ground
that the parent has manufactured methamphetamine with a child of the parent
present."

Not In Aisle Five Anymore

If you don't think you are affected by the meth epidemic, just try to buy
Sudafed capsules at your local pharmacy or grocery store.

The TV commercial says Sudafed is "in aisle five" but not in Wisconsin and
not in several states. Sudafed and other medicines using pseudoephedrine as
an ingredient are now only sold behind counters after passage of bill this
summer by the Wisconsin legislature and signed by the Gov. that attempts to
make the drug less available for local meth labs.

The bill tries to prevent a practice called "smurfing," where several
individuals go to a store and individually buy a couple of the
off-the-shelf products, and collectively, after several store visits,
acquire huge amounts of the precursor to meth.

The new law requires those who buy the drug produce identification and sign
for the drug creating a paper trail for law enforcement.

Oklahoma was one of the first states that imposed such requirements and has
seen a noticeable decrease in number of meth labs discovered by law
enforcement.

The state of Oregon has also required behind the counter sales and sign up
but those efforts, although producing some results, have not curb local
meth labs satisfactorily for law enforcement.

Recently Oregon has consider legislation that would require anyone needing
cold medicine to acquire a physicians prescriptions, making it a hassle for
anyone, legitimate or otherwise, to acquire the cold medicine.

Comprehensive Approach

A search on the Internet sites for strategies to fight meth will produce a
number of plans that all start with language "The need for a comprehensive
approach."

The epidemic is so widespread that individual agencies are finding their
resources strained.

In Washburn County several agencies work together to fight meth through
memorandum of understanding called the Drug Endangered Children (DEC) protocol.

Agencies involved include the Washburn County health and Human Services
Department, Washburn County Sheriff's Office, Department of Corrections -
Probation and Parole, Distract Attorney, Spooner Health System, and the
police departments of Spooner, Birchwood, Minong, Shell Lake, and Spooner.

The primary goal of the cooperative effort is to "minimize the
re-victimization of drug exposed children and improve the health and safety
of those children by providing treatment and appropriate services to the
family."

The secondary purpose is to address the epidemic itself, the more elusive
goal by all measure.

Not only is there cooperation on the county level, but also between the
counties through regional drug task force, like the Northwest Area Crime
Unit, which consists of 14 law enforcement agencies in seven counties,
including Washburn. This task force focuses largely on law enforcement and
the sharing of resources and information in the prosecuting of meth users
and sellers.

Legal Gets Lethal

On the legal side, one strategy to deal with those convicted of all drug
crimes, including meth, is a drug court that features close and frequent
follow-up visits and court appearances for those in the system.

Pierce County already has a drug court and St. Croix County is looking
closely at implementing one.

However, like any new initiative there are cost. In St. Croix it means
adding a fourth judge and spending $160,000 to train and hire a drug court
coordinator and drug abuse counselor.

In Washburn County, with already tight budgets which will only getting
tighter after projected finance committee cuts this fall, the concept of a
county-wide drug court may be an unreasonable expectation, but growing
number of meth cases may force county officials to look at this as a future
option.

Another area that the legal system can have apply pressure is sentencing.
Observers say St. Croix judges are issuing some of the heaviest sentencing
in the state to those selling meth in the county, discouraging those who
bring the drug from the Twin Cities.

Information And Education One refrain heard often by those fighting the
meth epidemic is the need for more public awareness and education.

Washburn County Law Enforcement officials have been active in giving
educational presentations about the dangers of meth, but the comments by
Sheriff deputies and police officers around the county is that turnout to
these presentations have been small, making them wonder if the public is
truly aware of the scope of the epidemic.

In St. Croix County were meth use is estimated to be two to threes ahead of
Washburn County, an ad-hoc committee has formed to fight meth.

Lori Bernard is a St. Croix County supervisor and also a member of the
committee committed to fighting meth.

"The sooner a county starts dealing with this problem, the better," she said.

The committee just formed this summer and has already set in motion
initiative to educate the public.

"We have already done a lot of education," said Bernard. "We travel to
different events and show a video tape that focuses on public outreach."

Bernard said even though St. Croix has some of the worst meth problems in
the state there are still many in her county who are still unaware of the
problem and unconcerned.

Soon those traveling through St. Croix county will see the second
initiative sponsored by her committee: large signs asking citizens to call
law enforcement and offer information leading to the arrest of those
illegally using or making meth.

Another common response is reaching youth, sooner rather than later, is
necessary.

Washburn County Chief Deputy Michael Richter said he was shocked to learn
after a presentation at a Spooner eight grade that two students indicated
they had used the drug at least three times.

Ricther said this eight-grade encounter made him think that the meth
awareness needs to start even sooner in the elementary grades.

Washburn County Investigator Pete Fry said some drug awareness already is
offered in the fifth grade and he said talking to kids. younger tends to
create more confusion than understanding.

Recovery Besides the importance of awareness and education, those fighting
the meth problem say, ultimately, the users have to be helped to get off
the drug.

There is some disagreement amongst local law enforcement officers, humane
service providers and those providing professional treatment on the
effectiveness of treatment for meth users.

Many in fields says meth users need 90-120 days to detox, to let the drug
leave their system, before in-patient treatment can be effective. An once
in treatment, cost can soar up to $6,000 a month and often taking two to
three months to be complete. After all that, much of the published
literature states the success rate is 5 percent or less.

Carol Falkowski is director of research communications at Hazelden
Foundation in Minnesota and author of the article, "Methamphetamine Across
America: Misconceptions, Realities and Solutions." She was recently
interviewed for the Newsweek magazine issue dealing with the meth epidemic
in America.

Falkowski is not nearly as pessimistic about meth users recovering as most
Washburn County law enforcement officials and drug counselors. She said
whenever there is new drug surge there is always a lot of pessimism. She
agrees that meth is one of the most dangerous drugs and not one the
government can ignore in fighting, but she said even out-patient treatment
can be effective, even before detox has fully set in, in the right
environment. (An interview with Falkowski will be featured in next week's
Spooner Advocate.)

She said the key is accountability for users, keeping them away from others
using and selling meth while they are receiving treatment.

Washburn County Mental Health/Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (AODA)
Supervisor Jim Le Duc said outside of incarceration, it is very difficult
to keep meth users from other meth user and off the drug.

One local volunteer effort that may make the difference for recuverying
meth users is a program called "Meet Me at the Gate," sponsored by Tom
Terrell of the Washburn County Chaplain program.

Terrell said he is coordinating with local churches an effort to match
people coming out of the criminal system, many who are also meth users, and
those coming out of drug programs like Teen Challenge with a network of
mentors that will help individual readjust to civilian life and be
successful outside the system.

Terrell, who son is a recovering meth user, said he is looking churches
coming up with at least three mentors and one host family for each person,
an ambitious goal for rural congregations, but maybe the kind of measure
needed to turn an epidemic around.

(More about the Meet Me at the Gate program will be in next week's Spooner
Advocate.)