TASK FORCE BEING FORMED TO COMBAT METH USE IN BRADFORD COUNTY

TOWANDA - A community-based task force is being formed to work to
eliminate the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine in
Bradford County.

One of the main goals of the Methamphetamine Task Force will be to
enlist the public in becoming the "eyes and ears" needed to address
the methamphetamine problem, said Phil Cusano, director of Bradford
County's drug and alcohol programs. Another goal is to raise the
public's awareness of the harmful effects of using and manufacturing
methamphetamine, said Bradford County Sheriff Steven Evans, who is
helping to organize the task force. "In other communities nationwide,
the only effective means of combating this (methamphetamine) epidemic
is to increase community awareness to the point where individual
communities take the position: this will not happen in my town," said
Evans. The task force is a project of the Bradford County Sheriff's
Department and the Bradford County Drug & Alcohol program, Cusano
said. Methamphetamine is "a very highly addictive drug that can be
manufactured in your neighbor's home at great risk to life and
property," Evans said. Methamphetamine labs put the community at risk
because they can cause fires and explosions, he said. "And the more
people who learn to manufacture and use methamphetamine, the more of a
chance that someone you know will become addicted to it," he said.
During the final part of manufacturing methamphetamine, a lethal but
odorless gas is produced, which is called hydrochloric acid, Evans
said. "You could be exposed to it and not even know it."

Task force membership

Many of those invited to join the task have jobs that might put them
in contact with methamphetamine users and meth manufacturing
operations, or who could help in rallying community support to combat
the drug, Evans said. Among the agencies that have been asked to send
representatives to the task force are: Bradford County Human Services,
the Abuse and Rape Crisis Center, the Sexual Abuse Task Force, school
guidance counselors, the county commissioners, the district attorney's
office, the public defender's office and the state police. A letter
from Cusano and Evans, which invites individuals to join the task
force, states: "We need your input as a community leader to plan the
strategies and programs to educate and motivate the general public to
join this effort (to combat methamphetamine). We believe that this
battle against methamphetamine can only be won through the combined
efforts of all our citizens." One strategy that is planned is to
invite the public to attend educational events in the evenings
throughout the county "so that everyone realizes what a terrible drug
this is," Cusano said. Evans said one of his goals is to teach the
public the signs of methamphetamine labs so that "they can be aware of
them and report them" to the police, he said. The manufacture and use
of methamphetamine has reached epidemic proportions in Bradford
County, with no letup in sight, Evans and Cusano said. The 2003
National Drug Threat Assessment, a publication of the U.S. Department
of Justice, listed Bradford County as a leader in the Northeast for
the production of methamphetamine, Evans and Cusano said. "The
publication said that in Pennsylvania, methamphetamine is not that
much of an issue yet, except in Bradford County," Evans said. "Our
county is a small, rural county. We don't want to be famous for that."
"We have also seen a ten-fold increase in the number of citizens
requesting addiction treatment because of their use of
methamphetamine," states the letter from Cusano and Evans.
Methamphetamine, a stimulant, is commonly known as "meth." The first
meeting of the task force will be held on Feb. 17 at the Bradford
County Human Services office in Towanda.