Pubdate: Wed, 28 Dec 2005
Source: Idaho Mountain Express (ID)
Copyright: 2005 Express Publishing, Inc
Contact:  http://www.mtexpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2296
Author: Matt Furber
Note: First in series of 2
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

THREAT OF METH--'THE DEVIL'S DRUG'--INCREASES

'It's A Growing Concern In The Wood River Valley'

It would be convenient to think of crystal methamphetamine use as 
just another moral panic, such as the one epitomized by the 1936 film 
"Reefer Madness"--a cult classic for young pot smokers widely 
recognized as a propaganda film documenting the "evils" of smoking marijuana.

A humorous footnote to an era of prohibition on pot, the film is no 
longer considered an accurate depiction of the social scourge 
marijuana was once pegged to be, although pot is still the first 
priority of the ongoing war on drugs.

Today, though, court judges and emergency room doctors are reacting 
to Internet links that publish gut-wrenching images of the "Faces of 
Meth" found on Web sites like www.oregonmethwatch.org 
(http://www.oregonmethwatch.org) when they discuss detrimental health 
effects related to meth use. In the minds of users the current 
campaign could even be viewed as part of the same 1936 tactic 
revisited as "Meth Madness." Yet, most claim that meth addiction is 
altogether a different animal and users often recognize that their 
health is slipping downhill due to their abuse of volatile chemicals, 
which pose both environmental and safety threats.

However, "scare tactics are not the key to success," said Chief 
Probation Officer Teresa Espedal with the Blaine County Probation 
Department. She said that although the chief problem her office faces 
is youths using marijuana, meth use is on the rise. "We've seen an 
increase in positive meth tests."

The drug, which can be ingested, injected or inhaled, is known to 
lead to major organ failure, including heart attacks, even in 
children, said Jan Rosenquist, an emergency room physician. She 
recalled one meth-related death at St. Luke's Wood River Medical 
Center and another Lifeflight to Boise for emergency treatment for 
the effects of the drug.

With such dire consequences related to meth use, it seems unfair to 
relate marijuana and methamphetamine use at all. However, 
"permissible pot," like alcohol, is typically a precursor to using 
meth, according to Espedal, healthcare workers, legal counsel, police 
and judges alike.

"It's really a problem everywhere," Rosenquist said. "It's so 
prevalent we're seeing two (cases) a day with something related to 
meth in a recreational drug use history or someone who is currently using."

Although it is still illegal to grow or possess in most states, 
marijuana is a commonly accepted drug. In mountain resort towns it is 
arguably as much a part of the culture as beer and sunglasses.

Partaking in a joint and a few beers after a day on the slopes may 
seem like a harmless form of relaxation, but chemical permissiveness 
may be a major factor behind problems associated with meth. And, the 
problems are showing up in all sectors of the Wood River Valley, said 
Eric Thomas, a youth worker with the Blaine County Probation Department.

In addition to showing up in the emergency room, meth is impacting 
schools and law enforcement workloads. Not unlike drug-related crime 
traditionally associated with heroin, meth is also known as a 
catalyst for theft to cover a score and increases in sexual 
promiscuity and violence. In fact, all corners of the community have 
felt some effect, including the county indigent fund and some 
employers who have lost employees to addiction.

"We're definitely seeing younger kids using or trying meth," said 
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Warren Christiansen, who hears juvenile 
court cases on Tuesdays and has identified another emerging trend 
with meth. He said seeing 15- and 16-year-old youths who are using 
the drug is not uncommon.

"What is blowing me away is young girls who are using it," he said. 
"It's a growing concern in the Wood River Valley."

Certainly, using pot is socially acceptable, whereas being labeled a 
"speed freak," someone who is "addicted to amphetamines or 
methamphetamines," according to a dictionary published in 1975, has 
not had the same panache. But, the popularity of meth as a way to 
lose weight and fit in socially seems to be gaining ground.

"They were excluded," Thomas said, explaining that in his opinion as 
his office is struggling to address increasing meth use, meth addicts 
should not be ostracized, but brought into the community.

Dealing with the problem has much to do with how a community wants to 
see itself, Thomas noted.

"This isn't a social worker or law enforcement problem. It's a 
community issue and we need the political leaders here."

Espedal and treatment counselors such as Nancy Kneeland, with the 
Hailey branch of The Walker Center, a drug and alcohol treatment 
facility, said that in almost all cases meth users began with alcohol 
and pot. Therefore, some community leaders, including Wood River High 
School Assistant Principal John Blackman, believe marijuana is a 
"gateway drug" and still part of the meth problem, which Magistrate 
Judge John Varin of Fairfield has called an epidemic in the state.

"This is just a huge issue. We didn't understand what we were dealing 
with 12 years ago," said Varin, following a meth subcommittee meeting 
in Boise earlier this month. Varin, who has focused a great deal of 
time on the front lines of meth addiction, working extensively in 
drug courts, said an obstetrics doctor testified that five out of the 
past 50 mothers he saw were meth-addicted. "It's just gotten worse in 
my mind. It's right behind alcohol now. I'm just dealing with the 
results of it and it's not nice. These kids are horribly addicted."

Meth drug cases are very difficult to handle with juveniles, Espedal 
said, in part because children living at home still have their basic 
needs met even if they are highly addicted to meth.

"One of the frustrations is how hard it is to get somebody into the 
right treatment center," Christiansen said, explaining that even in 
juvenile court the case load includes a lot of felony and battery 
cases. "There are so many people who have their head in the sand. 
(Battery charges) we're getting are meth related. There is a lot of 
anger that accompanies meth use. If they start directing that in the 
wrong way ... we have a big problem."

Lt. Dan Thornton, a drug investigator with the Idaho State Police, 
pointed out that "parents are dumbfounded by how their kids get so 
involved with (meth)." He said a tendency is for families to avoid 
the need to make their children accountable for their actions, 
naively chalking petty theft up to normal adolescent behavior, which 
he said in many cases leads to more serious crimes as addicts strive 
to feed a meth habit.

Thornton, who came from northern Idaho, where police discovered a new 
meth lab every week, described trafficking in the Magic Valley as a 
more loose affiliation of dealers where the substance is distributed 
in small quantities. Police busts where pounds of meth are found in 
one take are rare, although southern Idaho seems to be a hub for 
distribution to other parts of the state, he said. Wood River Valley 
police have found a similar situation locally with traffickers 
equally decentralized and difficult to track.

According to 5th Judicial District Court records, of the 247 charges 
filed for possession of controlled substances over the past three 
years and the 288 charges for possession of drug paraphernalia in the 
same period, statistics do not specifically cite the percentage in 
terms of methamphetamine use. However, where three charges were filed 
in the period ending this month for marijuana trafficking, eight 
charges were filed for trafficking in methamphetamine or amphetamine.

Thornton said street dealers also tend to be users, therefore there 
is a high burnout rate and trails to specific drug sources can fizzle quickly.

"The higher-level dealers realize the dangers and use less," Thornton 
said. "A street-level user--we could arrest them all day long."

Thornton explained that in traditional drug investigations the goal 
is to go after the original source, but with meth the impact is so 
quick and the supply lines so loose that new approaches to policing 
the drug are required.

Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said his January outreach letter 
will focus on meth use in the valley. The drug was also the focus of 
December's quarterly meeting of the Blaine County Community Justice 
Council, which reviewed a Lincoln County newsletter that focused 
entirely on the problem of meth use in that community.

The group, which includes probation staff and was joined by Blaine 
County Commissioner Chairwoman Sarah Michael, discussed the 
possibility of organizing neighborhood watches, establishing safe 
houses and finding ways to boost access to treatment resources and funding.

The trend toward meth use is also hitting the county pocketbook in 
the form of medical expenses paid for health care of prisoners. The 
state is seeing an increase in demand for child protective services 
for children discovered in the dangerous environment of a household 
ensnared in meth use or manufacture, said Tom Shannahan, public 
affairs officer for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

"It's what's on everybody's mind because it's so prevalent," said 
Dawn Anderson, the District 5 state probation manager, who has been 
with the department for 17 years. "When I started we had some people 
who were on meth, but it's growing. It don't think it knows 
socio-economic boundaries."

At of the end of November, there were nearly 1,400 adult offenders 
managed by probation and parole professionals in the Twin Falls area, 
including Twin Falls, Cassia, Minidoka, Jerome, Gooding, Camas, 
Lincoln and Blaine counties. There are about 11,000 adults under 
supervision in communities statewide.

Ellery Summer, a senior state probation and parole officer, 
reinforced Anderson's evaluation of the meth problem in the county he 
has served since the 1980s.

"Ten to 15 years ago the only people using (meth) were bikers. Now 
it's everyone," Ellery said, as he went through his clipboard of 
cases at the judicial building in Hailey last week. His list included 
Damika Goodenough, 16, who has been charged as an adult with a felony 
violation of trafficking methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of Hailey 
Elementary School. Goodenough was arrested Dec. 2 with Wessler 
Corrales-Castro, 24, at a home on Pine Street in Hailey. Police 
confiscated about 400 grams of methamphetamine from the home, said 
Prosecuting Attorney Jim Thomas.

Corrales-Castro is still being held in the county jail on $100,000 
bond. However, Goodenough's whereabouts are unknown, although a 
transcript of Corrales-Castro's arraignment hearing when he was bound 
over to 5th District Court for trial indicates that the teenage girl 
asked police for help with her methamphetamine addiction. Stricken 
from the record was also an indication that the pair has a 
6-month-old child who was put into child protective custody.
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