COUNTY BRACES FOR GROWING BURDEN OF METH EPIDEMIC

Fourth In A Series On Meth Use In The Area

The National Weather Service has advised ..."

The short pronouncement is usually all it takes for people to huddle around
their televisions and take notice of dark elongated amoebae shapes jerking
eastward across the screen.

In this part of the country, storms typically move from west to east, a
pattern people have come to expect and a direction they face before
departing for cover.

In some respects, the weather pattern fits an analogy of the
methamphetamine, or "meth," epidemic facing Washburn County -- the dark
threatening clouds are hovering largely over western counties (with the
exception of Barron) -- St. Croix, Polk, Pierce -- and moving this way.

Washburn County Chief Deputy Mike Richter has said Washburn County is two
to three years behind the western counties in the amount of meth usage, in
particularly St. Croix, which most law enforcement feel is the epicenter of
meth in Wisconsin.

A search of meth-related news articles from two of the St. Croix county
papers -- the Hudson Star Observer and the New Richmond News -- provides
some snapshots of how the far western county is faring with meth:

* St. Croix County has established an ad hoc committee that works on
nothing else but reducing the meth problem in the county. ("Committee to
fight meth seeks volunteers," May 26, 2005, Hudson Star Observer).

* From 2000 to 2005, St. Croix had more than 300 meth cases; Milwaukee had
fewer than 40 in the same time period. (Doug Stohlberg, "Governor comes to
Hudson to sign meth bill," June 9, 2005 Hudson Star Observer).

* Sixty to 70 percent of county inmates are involved with using meth,
according to St. Croix Sheriff Dennis Hillstead. (Helen Clark, "Forum
offers info about meth problem," June 24, 2005, Hudson Star Observer).

* Serious consideration is going into establishing a special court just to
prosecute drug cases, primarily meth, and to better track those convicted
and streamline resources.

The St. Croix County's human services supervisor estimates the county will
have to spend $160,000 to hire and train a drug court coordinator and drug
bust counselor to work with the court. Pierce County already has a drug
court. (Judy Wiff, "Judges ask for money for drug services," July 29, 2005,
Hudson Star-Observer).

One recent article by Karl Puckett, "Terrorism of the worst kinds," Aug.
19, 2005, New Richmond News, provides several poignant insights:

* The St. Croix sheriff says $2 million of his budget is related to dealing
with the meth epidemic.

* The St. Croix District Attorney Office spends more than $100,000 on meth
cases a year, with one district attorney dedicated to prosecuting meth cases.

* St. Croix County increased its 2005 budget by $330,000 to address
inpatient and related treatments largely attributed to the meth crisis,
according to the supervisor of mental health.

* St. Croix had 68 meth cases leading to prosecution in 2003 and 80 in
2004. Barron County had the most cases leading to prosecution in 2002 (91
cases).

* A more potent form of meth, crystal meth, is becoming more common in law
enforcement drug busts, and the same officers say they are finding larger
quantities of meth available for sale.

Growing Burden To The County

Just a casual search of the Hudson Star Observer news stories on its web
site using the word "methamphetamine" turns up 83 hits from August 25, 2005
to August 25, 2002.

A similar search for the same period on the Spooner Advocate website,
representing news coverage of Washburn County, reveals 54 hits, including
the last three articles of this series on meth usage.

A comparison of a search engine hits between newspapers can only provide
anecdotal perspective. However, when taken into account that St. Croix
County has 75,000 residents and Washburn County only 16,000 the number of
meth stories in Washburn County, one-fifth the population of St. Croix,
could be telling that the storm everyone is fearing is already here.

According to Washburn County Mental Health/Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse
(AODA) Supervisor Jim LeDuc there is good reason for the number of Washburn
County stories -- the county ranks third in meth use per population in the
state, according to the Department of Corrections.

Officially, Washburn County may not be at the leading edge of the pending
meth storm, but the winds are picking up and the clouds are hinting of dark
a outline, an ominous position for county officials already working under
strained budgets. One of hardest hit areas of the county budget and
predicted to grow rapidly is the Sheriff's budget.

According to Washburn County Sheriff Terry Dryden and Chief Deputy Mike
Ricther both estimate at least 50 percent of those in county's custody are
meth user, although the reason for their confinement may not be directly
related to meth, such as burglary or physical/sexual abuse.

Richter said a recent jail study put the cost of taking care of one
prisoner in the Washburn County jail as high as $126 a day, when including
such expenses as medical and dental care.

According to Richter, half the county's inmate are actually housed out of
the county -- in Barron and Rusk counties -- for daily cost that are
dramatically lower than what Washburn County expends -- somewhere in $40-50
day range.

In 2004, the county spent $365,000 for those out-of-county jails. Ricther
contends one conservative conceptual frame of reference in establishing the
cost meth user place on the county should be the $365,000, which he said
does not including the cost to investigate or process charges against a
user or medical, dental or human service cost for prisoners or the cost of
the district attorney prosecuting cases.

Nor does the $365,000 take in account the loss suffered by private citizens
at the hands of meth users. If the 50 percent rule also applies to those
committing all crime in the county, then half of the 107 theft cases, 54
burglary, 6 stolen vehicles, and two robberies resulting in stolen property
the sheriff estimates at $171,062 in 2004, then $85,531, of damages could
be attributed to meth users.

Another cost to Washburn County government is expense of home placement for
children taken out of a meth environment: close to $120,000 from January to
July 2005 and at the current rate growing to $240,000 by the end of 2005.

Just the two most obvious county expenses related to the meth epidemic
(confinement and home placement), conservatively, suggests county
government will easily spend over $600,000 in 2005.

An additional expense in 2006, some would argue, is the recent addition of
another patrol deputy for the Sheriff's Office in 2006, reflecting rising
concern over officer safety, largely in the context of the meth epidemic,
costing taxpayers $106,000 in 2006 and at least another $65,000 a year for
salary thereafter.

As the meth epidemic continues to expand and move eastward, it appears, not
too far in the future, county government will be expending over $1 million,
not to mention the cost experienced by private citizens for property damage
and personal suffering.

State's Help Needed

Administrative Coordinator and Washburn County Administrator Michael Miller
said the county is eventually going to have to receive state aid if it ever
is going to get a handle on the meth epidemic.

He said the recently formed Criminal Justice Committee is looking for ways
of pooling county resources for the most judicious use in addressing the
increasing number of meth user, by considering other forms of punishment
other than incarceration, but he said no plan is without cost.

And Miller said, alternative punishment may not work if meth users are
released back into the community without adequate supervision only to begin
using again.

"My suggestion is we look at working with other counties and ask help from
the state, especially for the rehabilitation ," he said. Those fighting the
meth problem agree that in addition to early education of children the way
to attack the meth problem is getting users off the drug and rehabilitated.

However, most experts say that users take from 90-120 just to detox from
the drug before inpatient treatment is effective. Once in inpatient
treatment, the cost soar, as much as $6,000 a month, taking as much as
three months to be effective.

Le Duc said the county only has $22,000 set apart by state and federal
funds to help meth addicts.

"That would take care of one addict for one year," he said.

He said if the meth user has insurance, the policy usually only covers
eight to 10 days of inpatient-treatment, hardly enough to have any impact
at all.

Miller said the state is beginning to respond to a problem that is largely
a northwestern Wisconsin issue but he said more would have to be done.

"The legislature can try to contain the problem now in the north or it will
travel south on I-94 and east on I-90," he said. Miller said besides
passing legislation that makes drug labs harder to operate in Wisconsin,
the state needs to consider pumping serious money in getting people off the
drug.

"We could easily quadruple our current funding [for rehab] and it would
just be a drop in the bucket," he said.