THE WAR ON METH, DOOR TO DOOR

Granite Falls Students Take To The Streets To Educate Residents About The
Dangers Of Drugs.

GRANITE FALLS -- Tyler Anderson was determined to knock on every door.

The 17-year-old Granite Falls teen-ager had a message to deliver to local
residents. It began with the sentence, "There's a real problem with
methamphetamine here." It ended with the words, "We're trying to do
something about it today."

More than 150 teen-agers from across the state and Granite Falls met at the
Pilchuck Valley Chapel Monday morning to distribute 2,000 skinny yellow
folders crammed with information about methamphetamine. By the end of the
day, they had spread out across town and talked face-to-face with local
residents, young and old.

The daylong event was sponsored by the Granite Falls Community Coalition, a
citizens group that formed in November to fight the town's growing
methamphetamine problem.

The coalition's members include local teachers, counselors, firefighters
and Jim Romack, pastor at Father's House Church in Granite Falls. Romack
coordinated Monday's event. He met with teens in the church sanctuary
before sending them out on the streets. But first he introduced the group
to two teen-agers whose lives had been damaged by drug use.

A 15-year-old girl, who only gave her first name, told the group she began
using methamphetamine two years ago. "My name is Rita and I started using
when I was 13. I've been in two inpatient lockdown facilities in the last
six months," she said.

Some teen-agers were shocked by her admission, but not all.

Neither Tyler nor his friend Matt Ferguson, 15, flinched when they heard
her story. Why should they be shocked? After all, Tyler and Matt attend
Granite Falls High School, where scores of teens struggle with addiction,
Tyler said.

"I've heard kids at school talk about how they're cooking (making meth) at
home," Tyler said.

It takes 30 to 40 minutes to cook meth, said Tony Mace, who accompanied a
group of six teen-agers as they walked door-to-door. Mace, a Snohomish
County firefighter, lives in Granite Falls. "You can get all the
ingredients you need at the drugstore or the hardware store," he said.

In Granite Falls, nearly 6 percent of 10th-graders admit to having used
methamphetamine -- more than twice the state average. By eighth grade, a
quarter of the town's students say they use tobacco products, 25 percent
say they have smoked marijuana, and 10 percent have used inhalants --
airplane glue or aerosols -- to get high. In each instance, the percentage
is almost twice the state average. Drug use begins early and remains above
average through high school, according to a state Substance Abuse Survey
conducted in 2000.

"That's where were at, guys," Romack told teens. "Let's go do something
about it."

When asked why methamphetamine use is so prevalent in Granite Falls,
Tyler's response was twofold: Kids are bored and meth is easy to get.

"Kids don't feel like there is anything to do around here except party,"
Tyler. "They go to parties, and that's what's at the party."

Margee Lopez, a Granite Falls resident, thanked Tulla Landis, 17, for the
information packet.

"There are a lot of kids in this area," said Lopez, whose house sits next
to 75th Street NE, a narrow, two-lane county road. "The cars in this area
fly. I worry the kids involved are high on drugs."