METH AMONG US, PART THREE:

The Best Weapon Against Meth? You!

SIREN--The questions concerning methamphetamine production and use in any
given rural area are easy, but as any law enforcement officer will tell
you, the answers aren't as quickly at hand.

Who, exactly, is on meth? White males ages 18 to 25 are typically the most
prevalent users, but the drug's popularity is already pushing up into much
higher age brackets and down into junior high grades. Basically, anyone is
a potential user.

Exactly how many meth labs are hidden, right beneath our noses? Some say
hundreds, others claim the much-publicized statement Burnett and Polk
Counties have more labs than the rest of the state combined is ridiculous.
Nobody really knows.

But ask the same officers what the first and most important step is to
fight the spread of methamphetamines and crack down on existing labs and
they'll tell you essentially the same thing: the general public is the key.

"We need the public. We simply can't do this on our own," said Burnett
County Sheriff Tim Curtin. "We could have 100 deputies out there and not
catch all (the people making meth). You find (labs) in backpacks, we've
found them in trunks of cars at accident scenes ... "Really, it's like a
hit and run. They find a place to cook it, they dump all their supplies,
leave the waste and they're gone. We need help."

Although Curtin will leave his post as sheriff this coming January, his
sentiments on public awareness and assistance will not be put by the wayside.

"Yes, we see this growing," Deputy Tracy Finch said concerning the
burgeoning use and production of meth in Burnett County. She recalled a
former county jail inmate involved in meth production who claimed, where
the drug of choice was once cocaine, meth has taken over.

Even the criminals themselves are amazed how fast meth has taken off.

"It's amazing how many people are on it. People you'd never dream of,"
Finch said. Which reaffirms the notion, she said, common citizens need to
let police in on what they know and hear if the spread of meth is to slow
or stop, especially locally.

"Any information or community involvement helps us. We want people to keep
their eyes and ears open, then realize investigations take time."

According to a web site promoted by the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, a 2001 survey revealed 9.6 million people, 4.3 percent of the
United States' population, said they had tried methamphetamines at least
once during their lifetime.

Among high school seniors surveyed at the same time, approximately seven
percent had tried meth. Sophomores in high school? Eighth graders?
Respectively, nearly 4.5 and 6.5 percent said they'd had lifetime use of
the drug.

As is typically the case with most drugs, the highest rate of use was for
persons age 18 to 25. But for those age 26 or older, the report again said
4.5 percent said they had been lifetime users.

Although the numbers aren't quite staggering at this point, it's clear,
meth is making its presence felt in the nation's schools as well as adult
population.

"Yeah, I know of high school kids involved," said Siren Police Chief Dean
Roland who will supplant Curtin as Burnett County Sheriff next month. "It
used to be they started with alcohol, cigarettes, maybe a little marijuana
in high school, but didn't get into the harder drugs until they were out of
school. That's not the case anymore. Some kids are even lacing marijuana
with meth and inhaling it."

It's not as though everyday citizens are looking the other way concerning
meth use. The stats and facts are readily available, like these from the
nationally-promoted web site, and are often alarming to those who read them:

"Use of methamphetamine can cause damage to the brain that is detectable
months after use. The damage is similar to (that) caused by Alzheimer's
disease, stroke and epilepsy."

"Methamphetamine was ranked sixth out of all drug-related deaths
investigated by medical examiners (participating in DAWN, the Drug Abuse
Warning Network)."

"Almost 25 percent of federal methamphetamine offenders (3,414 were
sentenced during 2001), 18.9 percent had a weapon involved with their drug
offense; one of the highest percentages, second only to crack cocaine
offenders."

However, hand in hand with asking the "common citizen" for information to
fight meth is helping them understand what they should be looking for.

"We've got to do a better job educating people. All over the place there's
been a lack of effort to get that done by (police) agencies," Curtin said.

"(Meth) is something we rarely saw, but now it's much more common. We don't
have the manpower, so we need the community members to be much more aware,"
Roland echoed. "We need store owners to have a better knowledge of what
(meth producers) are going to be buying, we need the public to have a
better knowledge of what things (producers) are discarding, we need our
officers to receive better training.

"Simply, the more people know, the more we can do."

In addition to helping round up the bad guys, Curtin also points out
another important aspect of what meth and other drug education can do; stop
the problem before it starts.

While area schools do have drug-education programs for students to take
part in, such as AODA (Alcohol and Other Drug Awareness), Curtin said a
program he believes strongly in, DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education),
has been taken out of Webster and Siren schools in recent years due to
budget restraints.

"DARE is an excellent program because it takes into consideration a
triangle between parents, students and law enforcement," Curtin said
concerning the program that brings police officers into schools to teach
drug-related classes.

In addition to not being able to afford such officers recently, Curtin also
said Burnett County DARE programs have only involved the core curriculum,
aimed solely at the fifth and sixth grade levels. "They do have a program
that goes all the way through high school, but it takes a full-time
officer. We've only been able to fund the core program here," Curtin said.
"It's great when it's done, any part of it, but it doesn't use it's full
potential."

Part of that ideal ongoing drug education is hammering home to students
that "lesser" drugs lead to harder ones, such as meth.

"What DARE teaches is alcohol, tobacco and marijuana are gateway drugs.
They open the door to other, more serious drugs," Curtin said. "We do have
an alcohol problem in Burnett County, which directly relates to domestic
violence and abuse of other drugs."

Which is why, Roland says, drugs essentially have to be the focus of the
sheriff's department.

"I want the department to think drugs all the time," Roland said. "If we
have a mindset of drugs, we're working everything else. To do that we've
got to put our heads together, pool our officers and talk to all the other
(county police) chiefs and form a drug task force."

In August, Curtin put into affect an hourly, nighttime patrol of the
Burnett Dairy in Alpha, requested by the Wisconsin Division of Narcotics,
to try and prevent anhydrous ammonia theft from holding tanks in the rear
of the Co-op. The ammonia is used to make meth and has been stolen numerous
times during recent months.

Roland said the Bureau wants to continue to work closely with Burnett
County and he hopes to increase intelligence lines with surrounding
counties so, "we know who's who and what's what."

"We need everybody, including people in our communities, to work smarter,
not harder," Roland said. "There's roughly a 90 percent chance everyone
will come in contact with someone who's is involved with drugs or knows
someone who is, so we need them to tell us their feelings, what they see.

"People know more than they think. You get a strong feeling for a reason
and for a prudent person, that feeling is probably 99 percent right