METH TASK FORCE DISCUSSES TREATMENT, PRIVACY ISSUES

Watauga County's methamphetamine response team continues to make progress
toward a number of goals in the face of the county's multiple challenges
related to child safety, decontamination and adult offender treatment.

Chad Slagle, treatment worker for the Department of Social Services Child
Protective Services, told the group that DSS substantiated the 17th Watauga
County child in a meth situation during the week of November 3. However,
Slagle also acknowledged the work of local Girl Scouts who have held
fundraisers to purchase items for children who are found in homes with
methamphetamine labs. Current protocol calls for all the children's
belongings to be left behind because of the possibility of contamination,
and replacing clothes and toys for those children has created financial
problems for the department. Slagle told the group that his office is
packed with items for children, including stuffed animals and toys, and
that the Girl Scouts are currently raising funds to purchase jogging suits
for the children to wear after they are decontaminated.

Mike Vannoy of the Watauga County Criminal Justice Partnership Program had
mixed news for the group on the treatment progress of meth offenders.
"We've had some successes and we've also had some failures," Vannoy said.
While some offenders who are participating in intensive outpatient programs
and one who was hospitalized but is now in an aftercare program are "doing
quite well," Vannoy said, "I have had some who totally refused treatment."

Slagle pointed out that the highest success rate is in cases "where people
have lost everything - their children, their homes, their jobs and their
families."

In terms of providing treatment, Vannoy said, "We have to be open-minded
with each case because every case is different. Every circumstance is
different. We have to be tolerant of some of the situations that go on. We
look at relapse as part of treatment."

Boone PD's Tom Redmond explained that the court calendar reflects a lot of
repeat cases. "Alcoholism is bad," he said, "but I think this is going to
top alcoholism. Repeat offenders are very, very common." Sherry Nohr of the
district attorney's office agreed, "If they get out of jail, they're going
to start cooking again."

"I've seen them - with crack cocaine in years past - give up their kids.
They don't give a dern. I think this meth is stronger.," Redmond said.

Vannoy added, "They don't know how bad their lives are. The drug makes
their brain like Swiss cheese." After explaining that some people are so
badly damaged by the drug they will require medication for life, Vannoy
said, "It's a difficult population to work on, to say the least." The first
thing out of a meth addict's mouth, Vannoy said, is "I don't see anything
wrong with it. It helps me work more; I can stay up longer."

Denise Presnell, social worker for the Watauga County Schools, told the
group that she is aware of students who are using methamphetamine and
students who are buying products - such as Red Devil lye - that are used in
the production of meth. Presnell asked the group for tips on how to
recognize students who were exposed to meth production at home. Several
attendees had suggestions: children with unkempt and dirty clothes, red
eyes from exposure to fumes, older children who are taking care of younger
ones and the sudden onset of health problems - such as asthma - that the
child never had before. In short, said DSS Director Jim Atkinson, look for
the classic signs of neglect." Signs of drug use include agitation, loss of
perspective about time and a absence of appetite.

Presnell's request for a heads-up to the schools about children found in
meth environments so school administrators can be alerted to the
possibility of behavioral changes and so the children can receive
therapeutic support right away stimulated a discussion of privacy issues.
The group members agreed that privacy laws prevent DSS from passing along
such information to the schools except in cases in which DSS has custody of
the child and has substantiated abuse.

Slagle explained that DSS is passing the reports its workers receive about
children who might be living in a meth production environment along to the
Sheriff's Office rather than investigating the cases themselves. Slagle
pointed out the reasons for this procedure: DSS workers are not certified
to identify a meth lab, the potential exists for the workers' contamination
and a visit has the potential to disrupt a Sheriff's Office investigation.
Consequently, DSS is now only taking cases from law enforcement offices.

"The Sheriff's Office is getting reports from us in truckloads - that's how
many reports we get," Slagle said.

The discussion then turned - as it has in all the previous meetings - to
the lack of statewide standards for cleaning up property where meth has
been produced. Redmond said that he is a member of a group working to
prepare legislative recommendations for the General Assembly and that he
hopes that cleanup legislation will be passed in January. In the meantime,
local law enforcement officers and DSS workers have no way to determine if
a dwelling is safe for children to reenter. Consequently, children in DSS
custody are currently not allowed back into any home where meth has been
produced, even if the parents are back in the house and able to take the
children.

Another ongoing topic is the development of a pediatric protocol for
children found in homes where meth is produced and taken to the emergency
room. Because a standard protocol has yet to be developed, the evaluations
and tests administered at the hospital may vary from child to child
depending on the doctor. Slagle has been working with area pediatricians to
develop a standard, but the group has not reached consensus agreement.
Slagle said that he would ask three pediatricians to prepare draft
protocols and then asking emergency room doctors to combine them into one
ideal protocoal.

The next meeting of the Meth-Lab Response Team for Children and Families is
December 5 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in the DSS conference room.