AS METH USE CONTINUES TO GROW, WEB SITE GOES ONLINE TO EDUCATE, HELP USERS

Live for yourself ... or die for the drug. The choice is simple. Members of
the Sampson County Methamphetamine Task Force hope that, with the help of
its new Web site, visitors will elect to take a look, learn and, in the
process, choose life.

It is that exact option - life or death due to methamphetamine - that is
posed to visitors of the site, www.methdeath.org, a name used to drive the
importance and seriousness of the issue home. A haunting image in the form
of a look up from inside a grave accompanies the message.
In the site, the public is given statistics and facts on meth, such as the
affects of the drug to the individual, environment and surrounding
community, signs of meth use, dangers of the drug and how to recognize meth
labs.

Also offered on the site are names of places where drug counseling is
offered and numbers to contact them, a forum to give anonymous testimonials
and links to resources such as news articles, legislation - both proposed
and enacted - and studies related to methamphetamine.
The site gives information about the county's task force and its
objectives, along with board minutes and an upcoming schedule.

J.W. Simmons, a member of the task force, said that special thanks was due
to Star Telephone and Interstar, corporate sponsors of the task force, and
Jason Miller, who designed the site.

Simmons said that he believed the "testimonials" section of the site was
the most impressive piece and one that could act to give the community a
sounding board to share concerns, stories and general thoughts on drug use.

Members of the task force hope that the feature will also encourage meth
users, and family and friends of those who know users, to share their stories.

"These are real people that have their own individual stories," said
Simmons, who noted that information sent via the site will be confidential
and anonymous. "There are no secret police."

Prevention, education and rehabilitation are the key goals of the task
force in an effort to combat a problem that is not getting any better, said
Simmons.

The illegal drug's highly-addictive nature, toxic ingredients and volatile
affects both during manufacture and once consumed, have made it one of most
dangerous substances in society today - and not just to users.

"The victims of methamphetamine are far-reaching," said Dan Heinz, senior
coordinator at the North Carolina Justice Academy, at a training session
Wednesday night he conducted for emergency responders. "We need enforcement
.. but one of the things we've realized, we can do all this enforcement,
but it's going to take more than putting them in jail or toting them to the
hospital. These people need help."

This year, Sampson County has the most meth lab busts in North Carolina
east of Hickory with 10, state statistics show.

"Nobody will deny that we have a meth problem here," said Heinz. "Nobody
will deny that we have a meth production problem here."

Last year, North Carolina had the most meth lab busts on the East Coast
with 322. This year, that number will likely be far surpassed.

It is a problem, one that needs more than one alternative, task force
members say.

"You've got to do something else than arrest and incarcerate," said
Simmons, advice that he said he was given by Jason Grellner, a member of
the Franklin County Sheriff's Department in Missouri. Grellner has had more
than his share of experience in dealing with meth, which has ravaged
Missouri more than any other state in the United States.

In 2004 alone, there were 2,707 clandestine laboratory incidents reported
in Missouri, according to the National Clandestine Laboratory Database. The
second largest number was in Iowa, which had less than half the incidents,
at 1,300.

There needs to be other alternatives than putting meth users behind bars,
said Simmons. More than anything, Simmons stressed the importance of
attacking the meth problem through a "multi-faceted kind of approach."

"We've got to look at these other avenues," he said. The drug, he said, is
destroying human beings and use of it has been "demonized" to the point
where it is not looked at as being something that is "disease-oriented,"
which it needs to be.

Drugs laws still need to be enforced and are going to be a critical part of
the process, but cannot be the only method in dealing with meth in the
community, task force members say.

It should not - and cannot - be the only reaction we have to an epidemic
and disease we are talking about," Simmons remarked. "We have to look for
alternatives."

The Web site provides a look at some of those alternatives.

"I think it can be used as a valuable resource," said Dr. Stewart Hobbs,
superintendent of Sampson County Schools. He said that the site will be
used as a tool to inform parents, teachers, students and members of the
community on recognizing the drug and signs of the drug's use. In addition,
nurses, social workers and guidance counselors can get an insight into the
drug, said Hobbs, also a member of the task force.

The superintendent said that, before recently, he "had no clue" what the
drug was. At the first task force meeting, he found out how readily
available the drug can be made and the dire affects the drug has on its users.

That is something that Hobbs said is eye-catching about the Web site. Along
the top of the home page, there are real pictures of meth users in a
before-and-after motif. Several people are shown, the first picture
depicting a relatively normal-looking person and the second displaying the
same person, almost unrecognizable from the first picture, their face
destroyed by repeated use of the toxic drug.

"It's amazing to see the ill affects that methamphetamine can (have on)
one's body," said Hobbs. "It catches your eye, makes you look further and
learn more."

Sarah Bradshaw, director of Sampson County Division of Social Services and
a member of the task force, said that she thought the site would be a good
forum by which the task force could pull all of its work together and the
general public could have something where all that work could be at their
fingertips.

Bradshaw stressed that the Web site is a work in progress that "will
continue to be improved upon," with changes still to be made. Simmons said
that the site would be a fluid one, that would constantly be updated and
given additional links.

"With this site, we're trying to reach everybody," said Bradshaw. It will
be a locally-maintained site, one where people can learn about the drug and
about what the task force is doing to combat the problems surrounding the
drug in the county. "I thought it would be the way to increase public
awareness in dealing with the crisis in this county."

That crisis can be seen in the drug's affects on others just as well as it
can be seen on users, she said.

Of the approximately 80 children in foster care in Sampson County
currently, more than 10 percent have been removed from meth-addicted
parents, said Bradshaw.

Children are being removed from parents who thought that they would use the
drug socially, but are then getting hooked on it, she said. Substance abuse
is at the heart of nearly all of the cases DSS deals with, and meth has
become the main problem, says Bradshaw.

Recovery rates for meth addicts is very low, at 6 to 7 percent. And,
Simmons said, that statistic cannot improve unless different alternatives
are offered.

The problem of meth is a prevalent one in Sampson County and one that may
only be getting worse, according to state statistics.

According to the State Bureau of Investigation, as of May 2005, there were
five meth labs busted in Sampson County. Now, there are 10.
"That's a pretty staggering statistic," said Bradshaw. "We can't let this
continue."