METH PANEL: 'RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW'

A public forum at Wabash Valley College concerning the problem of meth use
was correctly titled "Right Here, Right Now." The large audience at Brubeck
Arts Center auditorium learned in the three-hour Methamphetamine Panel
Forum last Thursday night that this drug is an increasing problem here.

The forum was sponsored by the Wabash County Health Department in concert
with AOK, Wabash County Drug Recovery Network and the Hope Pregnancy Center.

A current report from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority,
titled "Trends in Measures of Methamphetamine Activities in Illinois'
Second Judicial Circuit" shows a 74 percent and 150 percent increase in
methamphetamine submission cases in Wabash and Edwards counties,
respectively, from 1994 to 2003.

"These data reflect a rapid increase in drug arrests and meth cases that
end up in court both in Edwards and Wabash counties," said a key forum
contributor, James R. Gillespie, Ph.D.

Before the forum and after the public was invited to view exhibits at the
Brubeck Arts Center and ask questions pertaining to the displays. The
exhibits presented information including precursor ingredients for making
of meth, equipment used for production of meth, and information on the
mental and physical effects of addiction to the drug.

The meeting consisted of a panel of speakers ranging from drug treatment
officials, registered nurses, pastors, Southern Illinois Drug Task Force
agents, to Edwards County Circuit Judge David Frankland, former addicts and
farm services workers.

Panelists

The Wilson family, Dr. Grace Fowler, Cathy Ross, D-Ray Etzkorn, Jason
Biggs, Greg Hanisch, Bruce Thomason, Mike Wilson, Kenny Bailey, David
Franklin and Sarah Wiser formed the panel that fielded questions from the
audience.

The first half of the meeting concerned possible ways to treat addiction.
The consensus of the panel was that the best course to take was a regimen
of legal punishment - like jail time - and a rigorous program of
rehabilitation.

One panel member, Kenny Bailey - a zone pastor at the House of Prayer -
also noted the view that "tough love" for addicts was necessary, saying,
"Until these people want to change, they won't change."

The idea of "tough love" was supported by the other members, but they
cautioned against pushing people over the edge. The line between the two is
very fine, it was reported.

Turning the focus from rehabilitation to meth prevention, and the effect
the drug has on the community, the panel discussed application of Glo-Tell,
an organic used to mark anhydrous ammonia and hinder the drug's drying process.

Mike Wilson had mixed reviews about the product.

Glo-Tell, the audience learned, is usually injected at the farm service
depot. When tanks are filled, the pressure must be equalized between the
filling tank and the container. This reportedly leads to cross
contamination of the Glo-Tell product.

While this by itself may not seem like a big problem, Wilson went further
to explain that anhydrous has other uses besides being a fertilizer for farmers

Several power plants use the anhydrous in their scrubbers that clean
exhaust fumes being released from the plant. Glo-Tell can gum up these
machines and put a significant dent in their efficiency or make them
completely inoperable.

On top of these problems, Wilson explained that anhydrous is not actually
defined as a chemical and, therefore, is regulated by the Illinois
Department of Agriculture, which isn't specifically trained to deal with
controlling substances like other government departments are.

Questions next turned to the effects of methamphetamine on the community.

Officer: Users 'unstable'

The most revealing statement of all was perhaps Greg Hanisch's, of the
Southern Illinois Drug Task Force, that, "These folks are unstable... much
like their chemicals."

Hanisch also said that "85 percent of crime is directly or indirectly
related to dope."

Many people voiced concerns over the explosive nature of both the labs and
cooks involved in producing methamphetamine. The chemical and biological
risks involved in the presence of labs is one of the greatest short-term
risks to the general public.

Some long-term risks are addicts passing the addiction along to their
children, and the birth defects that come along with a mother's use.

Depression, fatal kidney and lung disorders, liver damage and permanent
psychological effects are a few of the long term consequences, the panel noted.

Physician speaks

Dr. Grace Fowler, a Mt. Carmel physician, informed the audience on the
complexities of what methamphetamine does to the brain and problems that
can arise from use and addiction.

Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft are all prescription drugs used to treat a variety
of ailments and commonly used to treat depression. They are in a class of
drugs know as special serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, she noted.

When a person experiences something that makes them feel good, that
"feel-good" feeling comes from a release of neurochemicals in the brain,
namely serotonin. The reason a person never feels "good" is that the brain
naturally 'sucks up' or starts the process of reuptaking the serotonin.

In a person experiencing depression, levels of serotonin are drastically
lower, the doctor said. SSRIs work by blocking the reuptake of serotonin,
thereby making the person feel better.

Methamphetamine, it was noted, is a drug that literally floods the brain
with serotonin and other neurochemical producing the intense high, which
leads to addiction.

However, the body adapts to the level of serotonin in the brain from
constant methamphetamine use, so the user doesn't feel quite as good as the
previous time the drug was taken.

When an addict uses the drug constantly for a sustained amount of time, the
body's supply of serotonin lessens and depression is the result.