Pubdate: Fri, 02 Sep 2005
Source: Sampson Independent, The (NC)
Copyright: 2005, The Sampson Independent
Contact:  http://www.clintonnc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1704
Author: Chris Berendt

AS METH USE CONTINUES TO GROW, WEB SITE GOES ONLINE TO EDUCATE, HELP USERS

Live for yourself ... or die for the drug. The choice is simple. Members of 
the Sampson County Methamphetamine Task Force hope that, with the help of 
its new Web site, visitors will elect to take a look, learn and, in the 
process, choose life.

It is that exact option - life or death due to methamphetamine - that is 
posed to visitors of the site, www.methdeath.org, a name used to drive the 
importance and seriousness of the issue home. A haunting image in the form 
of a look up from inside a grave accompanies the message.
In the site, the public is given statistics and facts on meth, such as the 
affects of the drug to the individual, environment and surrounding 
community, signs of meth use, dangers of the drug and how to recognize meth 
labs.

Also offered on the site are names of places where drug counseling is 
offered and numbers to contact them, a forum to give anonymous testimonials 
and links to resources such as news articles, legislation - both proposed 
and enacted - and studies related to methamphetamine.
The site gives information about the county's task force and its 
objectives, along with board minutes and an upcoming schedule.

J.W. Simmons, a member of the task force, said that special thanks was due 
to Star Telephone and Interstar, corporate sponsors of the task force, and 
Jason Miller, who designed the site.

Simmons said that he believed the "testimonials" section of the site was 
the most impressive piece and one that could act to give the community a 
sounding board to share concerns, stories and general thoughts on drug use.

Members of the task force hope that the feature will also encourage meth 
users, and family and friends of those who know users, to share their stories.

"These are real people that have their own individual stories," said 
Simmons, who noted that information sent via the site will be confidential 
and anonymous. "There are no secret police."

Prevention, education and rehabilitation are the key goals of the task 
force in an effort to combat a problem that is not getting any better, said 
Simmons.

The illegal drug's highly-addictive nature, toxic ingredients and volatile 
affects both during manufacture and once consumed, have made it one of most 
dangerous substances in society today - and not just to users.

"The victims of methamphetamine are far-reaching," said Dan Heinz, senior 
coordinator at the North Carolina Justice Academy, at a training session 
Wednesday night he conducted for emergency responders. "We need enforcement 
.. but one of the things we've realized, we can do all this enforcement, 
but it's going to take more than putting them in jail or toting them to the 
hospital. These people need help."

This year, Sampson County has the most meth lab busts in North Carolina 
east of Hickory with 10, state statistics show.

"Nobody will deny that we have a meth problem here," said Heinz. "Nobody 
will deny that we have a meth production problem here."

Last year, North Carolina had the most meth lab busts on the East Coast 
with 322. This year, that number will likely be far surpassed.

It is a problem, one that needs more than one alternative, task force 
members say.

"You've got to do something else than arrest and incarcerate," said 
Simmons, advice that he said he was given by Jason Grellner, a member of 
the Franklin County Sheriff's Department in Missouri. Grellner has had more 
than his share of experience in dealing with meth, which has ravaged 
Missouri more than any other state in the United States.

In 2004 alone, there were 2,707 clandestine laboratory incidents reported 
in Missouri, according to the National Clandestine Laboratory Database. The 
second largest number was in Iowa, which had less than half the incidents, 
at 1,300.

There needs to be other alternatives than putting meth users behind bars, 
said Simmons. More than anything, Simmons stressed the importance of 
attacking the meth problem through a "multi-faceted kind of approach."

"We've got to look at these other avenues," he said. The drug, he said, is 
destroying human beings and use of it has been "demonized" to the point 
where it is not looked at as being something that is "disease-oriented," 
which it needs to be.

Drugs laws still need to be enforced and are going to be a critical part of 
the process, but cannot be the only method in dealing with meth in the 
community, task force members say.

It should not - and cannot - be the only reaction we have to an epidemic 
and disease we are talking about," Simmons remarked. "We have to look for 
alternatives."

The Web site provides a look at some of those alternatives.

"I think it can be used as a valuable resource," said Dr. Stewart Hobbs, 
superintendent of Sampson County Schools. He said that the site will be 
used as a tool to inform parents, teachers, students and members of the 
community on recognizing the drug and signs of the drug's use. In addition, 
nurses, social workers and guidance counselors can get an insight into the 
drug, said Hobbs, also a member of the task force.

The superintendent said that, before recently, he "had no clue" what the 
drug was. At the first task force meeting, he found out how readily 
available the drug can be made and the dire affects the drug has on its users.

That is something that Hobbs said is eye-catching about the Web site. Along 
the top of the home page, there are real pictures of meth users in a 
before-and-after motif. Several people are shown, the first picture 
depicting a relatively normal-looking person and the second displaying the 
same person, almost unrecognizable from the first picture, their face 
destroyed by repeated use of the toxic drug.

"It's amazing to see the ill affects that methamphetamine can (have on) 
one's body," said Hobbs. "It catches your eye, makes you look further and 
learn more."

Sarah Bradshaw, director of Sampson County Division of Social Services and 
a member of the task force, said that she thought the site would be a good 
forum by which the task force could pull all of its work together and the 
general public could have something where all that work could be at their 
fingertips.

Bradshaw stressed that the Web site is a work in progress that "will 
continue to be improved upon," with changes still to be made. Simmons said 
that the site would be a fluid one, that would constantly be updated and 
given additional links.

"With this site, we're trying to reach everybody," said Bradshaw. It will 
be a locally-maintained site, one where people can learn about the drug and 
about what the task force is doing to combat the problems surrounding the 
drug in the county. "I thought it would be the way to increase public 
awareness in dealing with the crisis in this county."

That crisis can be seen in the drug's affects on others just as well as it 
can be seen on users, she said.

Of the approximately 80 children in foster care in Sampson County 
currently, more than 10 percent have been removed from meth-addicted 
parents, said Bradshaw.

Children are being removed from parents who thought that they would use the 
drug socially, but are then getting hooked on it, she said. Substance abuse 
is at the heart of nearly all of the cases DSS deals with, and meth has 
become the main problem, says Bradshaw.

Recovery rates for meth addicts is very low, at 6 to 7 percent. And, 
Simmons said, that statistic cannot improve unless different alternatives 
are offered.

The problem of meth is a prevalent one in Sampson County and one that may 
only be getting worse, according to state statistics.

According to the State Bureau of Investigation, as of May 2005, there were 
five meth labs busted in Sampson County. Now, there are 10.
"That's a pretty staggering statistic," said Bradshaw. "We can't let this 
continue."  
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