Pubdate: Fri, 27 May 2005 Source: Hendersonville Times-News (NC) Copyright: 2005 Hendersonville Newspaper Corporation Contact: http://www.hendersonvillenews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/793 Author: Harmony Johnson Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) TASK FORCE AIMS TO FIGHT METH PROBLEM FLAT ROCK -- Twenty educators, social workers, counselors, nurses, law enforcement officers and business professionals pledged to join forces Thursday afternoon in an effort to slow the epidemic growth of methamphetamine abuse in Henderson County. The group volunteered to create the task force after discussing the highly-addictive drug's impact on the area during a lunch meeting at Highland Lake Inn. Nearly 50 people attended the event, hosted by Appalachian Counseling and the Henderson County Department of Social Services. Methamphetamine is an illegal stimulant made with a combination of cold medicine and household chemicals. It currently makes up 85 percent of the drug cases investigated by the Henderson County Sheriff's Department, said Lt. Steve Carter. Addictions, abuse and other incidents connected to the drug have spiked sharply in the past five years, said those at the meeting, agreeing that something needs to be done. Several people who attended the event described problems they are struggling with because of the drug. Nearly 1,000 people in Henderson County are on probation as punishment for some crime and most of those use meth, said probation officer Jessica Wagner. Officers are frustrated because they have no drug treatment program to offer those people, she said. Meth typically makes users hyperactive and paranoid, behaviors that can pose a potential hazard to law enforcement officers or social workers who visit their homes, said State Bureau of Investigation agent Mike Sheron. "Staff are anxious about the fact that they're going into a situation where they could possibly be exposed," said Karen Couch, assistant director of DSS. Jane Ferguson, chief executive officer of Appalachian Counseling and organizer of the meeting, said the newly formed task force would develop protocols for dealing with Henderson County's meth problem. They will focus on prevention, identification, education and treatment, she said. Reducing the impact of meth in the community is a personal interest, Ferguson said. Her aunt killed herself after nearly 30 years of struggling with a meth addiction. The drug "decimated" the southern Illinois town she grew up in, she said. "When I moved here in 2000, nobody knew what it was," Ferguson said. Now, 80 to 90 percent of the people in Appalachian Counseling's substance abuse program are seeking treatment for meth addictions, she said. The task force will hold its first meeting at 12 p.m. June 9 at Appalachian Counseling. - --- MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman