METH CONFERENCE TEACHES OFFICIALS ABOUT THE DANGERS OF DRUG

BELLEVILLE - Educators, counselors, court personnel and police met
today at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snow for the
Metro-East Coalition Against Methamphetamine Conference.

The coalition's goal is to stamp out methamphetamine to create safe
families and communities.

"People just get engulfed with it," said Illinois State Police Sgt.
Joe Beliveau, head of the Metropolitan Enforcement Group of
Southwestern Illinois. "All they can do is want more and more."

Drug users will do anything to get the drug, causing a spike in
property crime in communities, Beliveau said.

In 2002, Marissa Police Chief Mike Kerperien said crimes such as
theft, domestic batteries and burglaries went up 120 percent in his
small town before 19 residents were arrested by federal agents. They
were charged with conspiring in a drug ring to produce and sell
methamphetamine.

Part of what makes methamphetamine so dangerous, Beliveau said, is
because users display violent and erratic behavior, and because the
drug is so addictive.

"Ten percent of people who use alcohol will become addicted,"
Beliveau said. "Ninety-eight percent of people who use
methamphetamine will become addicted."

Police continue to uncover meth labs -- in barns and sheds, in the
woods, in cars and even in hotel rooms. Each lab costs $3,500 to
disassemble and decontaminate, Beliveau said.

The conference attracted law enforcement, school and courts officials
from around the metro-east.

On Wednesday, the conference also featured Lori Moriarty, of the
National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, who educates the
public on the hazards of labs and the effects on the children living
in dangerous drug environments.

The confernce continues Thursday.