METH IS A PROBLEM FOR US ALL

Methamphetamine use is epidemic here. And increasingly so are crimes
associated with it.

Today The Sun is beginning a series of articles on meth use and its impacts
here. The series will appear in The Sun occasionally between now and the
end of the year.

That's a big commitment of newsroom staff and newspaper space.

But meth is an even bigger problem in our community

So far this year the West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team -- WESTNET --
has raided 50 methamphetamine labs in Kitsap and Mason counties, compared
to 67 for all of 2001.

The news gets much worse. Washington state ranks No.1 in the nation in
numbers of meth lab busts per capita -- and among our state's 39 counties,
Kitsap is close to the top.

According to the Kitsap County Prosecutor's Office, virtually all property
crimes, crimes of violence and burglaries are related to drugs. Most of the
time, those drugs are methamphetamine.

That takes a personal toll on meth users' victims in emotional and even
physical harm. Those who have been burglarized may lose thousands of
dollars in possessions, including some cherished keepsakes which cannot be
replaced. Victims of violent crime may need hospitalization and
rehabilitation. Some may permanently lose their good health. Some lose
their lives.

Our community pays countless other tolls to the meth monster

On a typical day at least one seriously disturbed methamphetamine user
arrives at a Harrison Hospital emergency department. By "seriously
disturbed" we mean screaming, cursing, disruptive, sometimes violent. Not
the sort of person you want in the same room with your child who just broke
her ankle.

The meth user is detoxified -- then he's released back onto the street.
Cost to the public: more than $1,000.

Major stakeholders in the problem want to build a crisis emergency room
where medical, mental health and addiction treatment professionals can
assess the meth user and devise a plan to help.

The facility would be staffed 24 hours a day and cost about $750,000 to
build. On balance, that's a small price to pay for taking even a few meth
users off the street.

We -- all of us -- also pay indirectly for the meth epidemic in health care
and health insurance, higher premiums for homeowners and auto insurance and
tax dollars used to deal with this many-faceted problem.

And, every day we carry the burden of knowing that we, our families and our
homes may be brutalized by a meth user to pay for his $50-a-day addiction.

Schools and police have anti-drug programs. Conscientious parents do what
they can -- what they must -- to keep their children away from drugs. Alert
residents report suspicious activity in their neighborhoods.

Police, prosecutors, health and mental care professionals try to step up
enforcement, seek specialized grants and do whatever they can to slow the
nieth epidemic and reduce its tolls.

So what are we in West Sound to do?

Together with our readers the next few months, The Sun will be exploring
the meth epidemic: what it is, what it's doing and what hope there is for
the future.

We welcome your comments on the series and your insights into the problem.

There are no easy answers. Even hard ones are elusive.

But maybe all of us here in West Sound, pulling together, can find a few.