Pubdate: Tue, 29 Nov 2002 Source: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) Copyright: 2002, Denver Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371 Author: John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News METH-USE COSTS SLAM STATE'S RURAL COUNTIES Methamphetamine use is costing Colorado's northeast counties nearly $1 million more in prosecution, enforcement, incarceration and child neglect costs than it did three years ago, a study released Monday estimated. A survey conducted in the largely rural communities of Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington and Yuma counties asked agencies to estimate what they were spending on meth-related consequences. Counting indirect costs such as extra staff or jail space, the survey found that agencies spent $916,850 more in 2001 than they did in 1999. The estimate, however, is inexact. For example, nearly half the increase includes higher jail and prison costs, which rose by $426,335 during that period. But corrections officials could not pin down how much of the increase was linked to methamphetamine. The impact is clearer, however, when it comes to costs such as child abuse and neglect programs. Human service officials in the seven counties figure that roughly a third of their increased costs - or $222,520 - are tied to meth use. And that does not include the human toll of suicide, lost jobs and broken marriages, said members of a task force set up last spring to deal with the problem. "I call methamphetamine the walk-away drug," said Tom Westfall, director of Yuma County Human Services and chairman of the task force. "People walk away from their families, their homes, their marriages, their jobs." Westfall cited one case in his county where a woman brought her baby to a party and left the child with people she had just met. The woman left and disappeared for six months, until she was arrested in another state. In the meantime, Human Services placed the child in foster care. Eventually, the county moved to terminate the mother's parenting rights and put the child up for adoption. Methamphetamine use has been on the rise throughout Colorado over the last five years. But rural areas have been particularly hard hit, said Lilias Jarding, who conducted the study for Colorado State University's Cooperative Extension program. Drug-processing ingredients such as fertilizer are plentiful, as are remote areas where the drug can be manufactured without arousing suspicion, he said. Jarding said the survey obtained responses from about 27 percent of the agencies surveyed. Morgan County Undersheriff John Fryar first noticed the increase about a year ago, when drug cases began piling up. Last year, the sheriff's office investigated 37 methamphetamine cases. So far this year, the number is at 61. Judge Stephen Shinn said he started noticing the change about three years ago. Meth cases started filling his general docket. The same people would often be back before him on child neglect charges. Shinn would like to see the counties obtain funding for a separate drug court. The task force plans to apply for a federal drug court grant later this year. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart