TASK FORCE AIMS TO FIGHT METH PROBLEM

FLAT ROCK -- Twenty educators, social workers, counselors, nurses, law
enforcement officers and business professionals pledged to join forces
Thursday afternoon in an effort to slow the epidemic growth of
methamphetamine abuse in Henderson County.

The group volunteered to create the task force after discussing the
highly-addictive drug's impact on the area during a lunch meeting at
Highland Lake Inn. Nearly 50 people attended the event, hosted by
Appalachian Counseling and the Henderson County Department of Social Services.

Methamphetamine is an illegal stimulant made with a combination of cold
medicine and household chemicals. It currently makes up 85 percent of the
drug cases investigated by the Henderson County Sheriff's Department, said
Lt. Steve Carter. Addictions, abuse and other incidents connected to the
drug have spiked sharply in the past five years, said those at the meeting,
agreeing that something needs to be done.

Several people who attended the event described problems they are
struggling with because of the drug.

Nearly 1,000 people in Henderson County are on probation as punishment for
some crime and most of those use meth, said probation officer Jessica
Wagner. Officers are frustrated because they have no drug treatment program
to offer those people, she said.

Meth typically makes users hyperactive and paranoid, behaviors that can
pose a potential hazard to law enforcement officers or social workers who
visit their homes, said State Bureau of Investigation agent Mike Sheron.

"Staff are anxious about the fact that they're going into a situation where
they could possibly be exposed," said Karen Couch, assistant director of DSS.

Jane Ferguson, chief executive officer of Appalachian Counseling and
organizer of the meeting, said the newly formed task force would develop
protocols for dealing with Henderson County's meth problem. They will focus
on prevention, identification, education and treatment, she said.

Reducing the impact of meth in the community is a personal interest,
Ferguson said. Her aunt killed herself after nearly 30 years of struggling
with a meth addiction. The drug "decimated" the southern Illinois town she
grew up in, she said.

"When I moved here in 2000, nobody knew what it was," Ferguson said.

Now, 80 to 90 percent of the people in Appalachian Counseling's substance
abuse program are seeking treatment for meth addictions, she said.

The task force will hold its first meeting at 12 p.m. June 9 at Appalachian
Counseling.