Pubdate: Sat, 22 Oct 2005
Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Copyright: 2005 St. Paul Pioneer Press
Contact:  http://www.twincities.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/379
Author: Mary Bauer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

NEW TACTIC IN METH FIGHT

DARE Offers Seminars To Educate Communities

Methamphetamine use is growing so quickly that fighting it is 
straining government budgets at all levels and across department 
lines, from police to social services. Many counties inundated with 
illegal labs are left to their own devices.

Yet education efforts are hodgepodge, some say.

"The problem is that methamphetamine is becoming an epidemic, and 
it's taken everybody by surprise," said James Gilbert, a former 
Minnesota Supreme Court justice and a board member of Minnesota DARE. 
"There's no coordinated leadership at a statewide level."

On Nov. 1, Gilbert will be the keynote speaker for a two-day session 
in Columbia Heights geared to Anoka County on the growth of 
methamphetamine use.

The special meeting, the second so far in the state, is the fruit of 
a new collaboration between Minnesota DARE, the Minnesota National 
Guard, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and several other state 
agencies, said Kathi Ackerman, executive director of Minnesota DARE.

The effort aims to provide consistent information to communities and 
officers about the quickly morphing world of meth, Ackerman said. 
Public officials and citizens can attend a presentation the evening 
before a longer training session for DARE law enforcement officers 
who speak at schools and community events.

State agencies will provide drug expertise, speakers, current 
information and materials such as brochures. Deputies from other 
counties will speak to officers during the training session, and 
officers will get information about treatment options.

Minnesota DARE is coordinating the seminars. Because it's a 
nonprofit, DARE can accept donations from private businesses to pay 
for the sessions, which cost between $16,000 and $20,000 each, 
Ackerman said. The Vikings, a longtime Minnesota DARE supporter, are 
sponsoring the Anoka County sessions.

"Everybody was doing their own thing and reinventing the wheel, and 
none of us have the funding for that," Ackerman said.

If all goes well, the Minnesota venture could become a model for 
other states, Ackerman said. The group plans another six seminars in 
the coming months.

The public presentations are a new approach for DARE, which usually 
deals directly with kids and teens. The community events are geared 
to adults, with more data and research.

"Everybody thinks it's not their kid," Ackerman said. "This drug 
means your kids. This drug means every income level. This is the 
first drug affecting 50 percent women."

Parents and community leaders are hungry for such information. The 
first two-day session in the Crow Wing County community of Emily drew 
200 people. At a separate speech at Longville in Cass County this 
week, Gilbert drew 135 attendees. Ackerman expects up to 400 people 
in Columbia Heights.

Anoka County was chosen as the first metro site for the sessions 
because of the large number of meth labs dismantled there in the past 
two years. Gilbert said that Anoka County ranks first out of 
Minnesota counties in terms of the number of meth labs and 
meth-making arrests. The scenario is typical of urban areas in other 
states, Gilbert and Ackerman said.

"Meth is coming in from the outer suburbs, and here, Anoka is the 
one," Ackerman said.

Meth got specific mention in the Anoka County budget for 2006, when 
county commissioners approved more spending for human services. The 
extra funding was in part to help kids coming out of meth homes and 
also to contract jail space from a neighboring county to alleviate 
crowding, much of it due to increased meth use.

The county is hardly alone. Gilbert estimated that Minnesota law 
enforcement agencies spent $200 million last year fighting meth, 
which doesn't include the costs of treatment, social service expenses 
such as foster care or lab cleanup. In the last year, 1,086 people 
went to Minnesota prisons on meth-related charges, he said.

"Our fear is that if we don't get in front of this problem, it will 
take us over," Ackerman said. "How can we financially handle it?"

Mary Bauer can be reached at  or 651-228-5311.

IF YOU GO

The public presentation on the growing methamphetamine problem is 
from 7 to 9 p.m. Nov. 1 at Columbia Heights Senior High School, 1400 
49th Ave. N.E. Doors open at 6 p.m. for coffee and informal 
discussion. To make reservations, contact Minnesota DARE at 
952-903-9224 or  ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman