Pubdate: Thu, 15 Jun 2000
Source: Deseret News (UT)
Copyright: 2000 Deseret News Publishing Corp.
Contact:  http://www.desnews.com/
Author: Jennifer Dobner

VIDEOTAPE ON METH IS AIMED AT PARENTS

SANDY (UT)- Has your kid got a secret? Is it about methamphetamine
use?

That's the question the Sandy Police Department wants every parent in
its city to be asking. To help them get at the answers, the department
has produced a 21-minute video about the highly addictive drug.

"Your Kid May Have a Secret" will be distributed free to all the homes
in Sandy, police chief Sam Dawson said. The nearly $30,000 video was
funded by the department with help from the Sandy City Council and
donations by private citizens and Sandy businesses. Feature Films for
Families provided the filming and production work, Dawson said.

Hollywood star and Lehi resident Wilford Brimley, Dawson's longtime
friend, narrates, as police officers, DEA agents, physicians and
counselors talk to parents about the signs of methamphetamine use and
manufacturing.

But the real stars of the video are a pair of Sandy families who share
their own painful story of how the drug got a stranglehold on their
children and unraveled their family life.

"These are very brave people to come forward and allow their faces to
be seen and have their whole ordeal laid bare for the community,"
Dawson said. "But they tell it so much better than we could. Through
them, I think we are going to do some good."

Both families that appear in the video talk about the progressive
withdrawal of their children --a teenage boy and a teenage girl. Their
grades slipped, their friends and clothing choices changed. Their
behavior was either withdrawn or defiant. And they both wove a web of
lies and secrets around their lives.

"Parents, you've got to get out of the state of denial that you may be
in," federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent Mike Dur says in
the video.

Methamphetamine is one of the most addictive drugs ever produced. Made
from ordinary household chemicals, like drain cleaner and over-the
counter cold medications, it is easy and inexpensive to manufacture.
It is so toxic that most dwellings where the illegal drug is found in
production have to be condemned, police say.

Most parents don't realize that the average age when people begin to
experiment with meth is 13, Dawson said.

Meth users are rapidly addicted to the drug's intense effects. Initial
experimentation typically produces a feeling of alertness and high
energy, but repeated uses of the drug overload the brain with the
chemical dopamine and eventually, the body is no longer able to
experience normal feelings of pleasure. Users become paranoid and
self-destructive, forgoing food and sleep.

Meth use appears to be rampant in the Salt Lake Valley. In the past
three years, the number of clandestine labs seized by local and
federal law enforcement has earned the region a spot in the top five
of the labs-per-capita statistical listing by the DEA. Police also say
meth use is clearly connected to almost all other types of crime.

Brimley said he had heard of the drug but didn't realize the magnitude
of its danger until the video was being made. A longtime friend of
Dawson's, he is always eager to help the police department, he said.

"At the root of my motivation to get involved was the desire to maybe
help a kid pass this by," Brimley said. "I'm a parent and a
grandparent of seven and I've probably lived inside a big tortoise
shell like most other parents. Statistics don't really mean a lot
unless you're one of them. I don't want my grandchildren to be one of
them."

Sandy police are working with area churches of all denominations to
distribute the videos free to every home in the city, Dawson said.
Families without a church affiliation can contact the police
department in order to get a video.

To contact the Sandy Police Department, call 568-7200.
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