LEADERS AIR ATTACK ON DRUGS

"We can sit back and say it is not our problem, but I have news for
you. It is your problem!" So said District Attorney Mike O'Dell as he
addressed a good crowd of local political leaders, business leaders,
law enforcement personnel and others at a community meeting held last
week at the Centre First Baptist Church Recreation Outreach Center.
The meeting was arranged by local business leaders to address the
ongoing drug problem in Cherokee County. "Jerry Culberson, Dub Ellis
and others have worked very hard to get this group together," said
Cherokee County Representative to the Alabama Legislature Richard
Lindsey. "We have a large crowd today and I think it is some of the
best talent, a very diverse group, across the county.

At the end of this meeting, if we are not motivated enough and
organized enough to get something done about this problem, I would be
surprised because we do have, I think, the best talent in the county
here in this room today.

I hope that each of you will be impressed with what you are about to
see and also, I hope that you will take this message and do something
about this serious problem." The problem affects everyone in one way
of the other, O'Dell said. Approximately 90 percent of the major crime
in Cherokee County can be attributed to meth sale or manufacture.
"When people are addicted, they will steal anything they can get their
hands on to pay for their habit," said O'Dell. "They will clean out
their children's' piggy banks.

They will sell every piece of stock they have. They will pawn or sell
their TV, VCR, they will steal their wife's jewelry and then when that
is gone, they will go to their parents' house and steal anything they
can get their hands on. We've had meth addicts who will wait until
their parents or in-laws go to church on Wednesday night and then they
will break in and burglarize the homes and make it look like somebody
else did it and sell everything they have." Just more than two decades
ago, some of the drugs of choice by users, O'Dell said, were cocaine,
heroin and LSD. "We are now being besieged by a drug that is more
deadly, more dangerous, more devastating in the lives of its addicts
than any other drug we've ever seen," said O'Dell. "For Dekalb and
Cherokee County last year, we busted 127 meth labs in our two-county
circuit.

That was more meth lab busts than the entire state of New York. It's
more meth lab busts that the entire state of Virginia. In fact, it was
more meth lab busts than Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Virginia,
Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire combined." Methamphetamine, O'Dell
said, is a rural phenomenon, distinguishable by its odor. Some of the
items used in methamphetamine production include electrical tape,
aluminum foil, tubing and Red Phosphorus. The drug is so dangerous,
O'Dell said, that Rolling Stone Magazine is campaigning against its
use and manufacture. It can be smoked, ingested orally, snorted or
injected. "Methamphetamine is a drug that goes straight to the brain,"
said O'Dell. "It is not filtered through the body, the kidneys, the
liver, If you snort it or inject it, it only takes eight seconds.

Medical experts tell us that if you are smoking or it, you only have a
15 percent chance at rehabilitation. That's critical. That's why we
are all here today." A cocaine high, O'Dell said, lasts only 30
minutes, while a meth high (from just one gram) can last from 12 to 24
hours. "It is the only drug we are aware of that, because of the toxic
chemicals that go into its competition and manufacture, absolutely
cannibalizes the body. It eats fat and muscle tissue from the inside
out." Users, Odell said, often go for 10 to 12 days at a time without
sleep. "It gives the user a supercharged high unlike any high he/she
has ever known," said O'Dell. "We have people mowing their grass at 2
in the morning.

Sexually, users show a tremendous increase in proclivity and ability."
Methamphetamine also diminishes the ability of the body to heal, even
from minor sores and injuries and causes tremendous increases in blood
pressure and body temperature. And unfortunately, many manufacturers
die from making the substance since the chemicals used are so explosive.

The morning of the meeting, O'Dell pointed out, the Cherokee County
Commission agreed to be the host agency for a drug court in Cherokee
County. "We have already started the process of trying to get a
federal grant," said O'Dell. "It will cost about $84,000 for start up
funds.

We are going to be looking for the community to help anti-up and get
us started on the drug court route." Congressman Robert Aderholt and
Congressman Mike Rogers helped to secure $200,000, including $100,000
each for Dekalb and Cherokee Counties through the Omnibus Bill, which
will be used to purchase equipment used by law enforcement personnel
in searching and destroying meth labs. O'Dell urged those in
attendance to help out by mentoring at-risk children, possibly working
with DHR and serving as foster parents for children who have been
removed from homes because of meth dealing/manufacture and also by
providing information to help law enforcement agents in shutting down
meth labs. "If you see a house that has windows and doors all covered
with black plastic, quilts or something like that or traffic going
back and forth day and night," said O'Dell. "Or you smell the most
obnoxious smell you've ever smelled, you need to call law enforcement
and give a confidential referral.

My office has a referral number and it is 927-6666. I promise you that
any referral you make day or night will be left confidential. It does
not have to be disclosed to anyone at any time." As for those who may
be using, O'Dell said, "You come to us with a problem and we guarantee
you we will do everything we can to help you. If we have to come to
you, we guarantee you the penitentiary." At one time, O'Dell admits he
thought the answer was putting drug dealers in prison and throwing
away the key. But that isn't working! "We have to stop it through
education and prevention," said O'Dell. "We have a concerted effort
going on, but we are going to have to have your help. This is like a
cancer.

If we don't stand up and be counted now, we will lose thousands of
people in our two-county circuit.

The very fact that you are here today lets me know that you are
willing to stand up and move forward."