Pubdate: Sun, 31 Jul 2005 Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY) NEWS02/507310511/1025 Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal Contact: http://www.courier-journal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97 Note: Source rarely prints LTEs received from outside its circulation area Author: Grace Schneider Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) HARRISON LAUNCHES ANTI-METH CAMPAIGN During a morning raid on a Harrison County methamphetamine lab last March, police were stunned to discover a huge stockpile of dangerous chemicals. Amid the squalor -- where two young girls lived with their mother -- authorities found gallon upon gallon of explosive, highly toxic substances and even an open tub of acid that, if spilled, could have sparked a huge explosion. "It's unreal how big that (lab) was, and how dangerous it was," recalled Harrison County Police Chief Gary Gilley, a veteran drug investigator. In a separate incident linked to meth, Gilley rushed to Corydon Central High after an 18-year-old student collapsed in gym class from a drug overdose. The boy was revived and taken to a hospital. The two incidents -- along with the deaths this year of two young adults whom police believe were meth users -- have led Harrison County officials to rank the drug as the community's top problem. And now a large and diverse force of police, prosecutors, social-service agencies and government leaders has begun working on a grassroots campaign that will begin battling the drug next month . The project, funded with $48,000 from local sources and $83,000 in grants from the Indiana Association of United Ways, will attempt to raise awareness and educate youth, families and other residents about meth and its risks. Part of the effort also will focus on ways to improve coordination among police, courts, child-protection authorities and other key agencies. "Everyone agrees meth is at an epidemic proportion," said Debbie Heazlitt, a Corydon resident and part-time project coordinator who was hired in June. "Something has to stop." WHAM, or War in Harrison County Against Meth, is thought to be a first in the region. It's modeled in part on a community program in Wright County, Minn., which experienced a sudden influx of meth in the late 1990s. Preliminary plans in Harrison call for a two-year awareness project, starting with a billboard campaign, surveys of students and a blitz that may include "scratch and sniff" items to help the public identify the odors commonly rising from meth labs. Eventually, the effort could extend beyond awareness and education to a treatment program for addicts. For now, the focus is education. "Hopefully, this can have a big impact," said Lauren Wheatley, a deputy Harrison County prosecutor working under a federal drug-prevention grant. Meth is a highly addictive stimulant that can be manufactured using common household items and medications found in drugstores. Most "cooks" use pseudoephedrine-based cold-medicine tablets and anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer used by farmers. Users who smoke, snort, inject or swallow the drug can suffer brain damage, insomnia and psychotic episodes. They ride highs that can extend over several days. Earlier this year, Kentucky and Indiana legislators passed laws aimed at curbing meth production. They restrict sales of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine. It's unclear how those measures will work to reduce meth production when the numbers of raids on clandestine labs and law-enforcement costs have climbed dramatically in the last four years. In 2004, for instance, Indiana had about 1,129 meth-lab raids, compared with 450 in 2000. A statewide meth task force estimated this year that the annual cost of meth abuse -- for jail space, treatment, social services and lab cleanups -- will be $100 million. In Harrison, Heazlitt and others are still pulling together county statistics. But state police have told them that the county ranks among Indiana's top five or so in meth-related problems. In addition, they know that 17 children were removed from homes in the last fiscal year because of meth, Heazlitt said. In 2002, there were 22 search warrants related to drugs, most of which involved meth. The numbers rose to 57 in 2003 and 86 in 2004. So far, this year, 60 search warrants have been issued, and the number of drug-lab raids is on pace to exceed last year's 38, Wheatley said. Police and prosecutors began to see an increased prevalence about four years ago. At the same time, confidential informants warned police that the drug was no joking matter, Gilley said. "It's like chatter on a radar screen. Some activity comes up and gradually goes away. With meth, the chatter came up and stayed up," he said. "Reformed dopers told us, 'This is bad stuff. You can't let this (get out of control).' " It's too early to measure the influence of the Minnesota program, said Deborah Durkin, meth programs coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Health. While meth lab busts have declined in each of the last two years there, authorities wonder if "cooks" actually are becoming more savvy about staying on the move to evade detection. There's also evidence that some drugs found in the state are being produced elsewhere, she said. But it's crucial for communities to find ways to raise the awareness and improve collaboration among law enforcement, county agencies, businesses and schools because the Midwest is the nation's hottest meth-production area now, Durkin said. When she was told of Harrison County's effort, she said: "It's good that they're doing this now." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth