Pubdate: Tue, 31 May 2005 Source: Jackson Sun News (TN) Copyright: 2005 The Jackson Sun Contact: http://www.jacksonsun.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1482 Author: Larry Bivins, and Pamela Brogan Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) METH TAKING TOLL ON LOCAL BUDGETS WASHINGTON - The methamphetamine epidemic is draining money and resources from communities large and small. Local officials who had not even heard of the drug five years ago are being forced to shift budget priorities to pay for everything from dental care for meth-addicted jail inmates to foster care for children whose parents have been arrested for running a meth lab. The additional financial burden comes at a time when many states are struggling to balance their budgets and the federal government is cutting back funding for local drug-fighting programs. The Bush administration, which has recommended cutting money for local anti-meth programs, does not have national figures on the drug's economic toll. ''We just don't track this data,'' said Jennifer DeVallance, a spokeswoman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. But officials in communities where meth is a problem have a clear idea of what it's costing them. A few examples: Meth cost Portland and the rest of Multnomah County, Ore., $102.3 million in 2004, according to an economic analysis by ECONorthwest. That amounts to $363 per household in a county where the average tax payment was $355. ''Meth is an involuntary tax dumped on you,'' said Robert Whelan, co-author of the ECONorthwest report and the single father of an adopted son whose birth mother used meth. In Crow Wing County, Minn., meth costs taxpayers about $1.8 million a year, or $33.50 for each county resident, said Terry Sluss, a county commissioner and the county's methamphetamine prevention coordinator. Meth costs Indiana at least $100 million a year, including $4.5 million spent cleaning up former meth labs, according to the state's Methamphetamine Abuse Task Force. Methamphetamine is the fastest-growing drug threat in the nation, according to federal officials. As the meth epidemic has swept eastward from California and the Pacific Northwest, it has created unique - and expensive - problems in a variety of areas. ''It impacts lives in so many more ways than we've seen happen with other drugs,'' said Colleen Landkamer, a county commissioner in Blue Earth County, Minn. Jails are overcrowded with meth-addicted inmates, many of whom require special medical care. Meth labs quickly become toxic waste dumps that must be cleaned up at great expense. Home values take a beating in neighborhoods where meth is manufactured, and property crime in those areas often is rampant. In Madison County, Sheriff David Woolfork expects costs to rise as the years go on. ''In the next year or so, we will start to feel the (financial) effects as we lock more people up for meth-related crimes,'' Woolfork said. ''It is a serious strain,'' said Will Pinkston, a spokesman for Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has earmarked $7 million for anti-meth programs. ''The resources we have to spend cleaning up the (meth) problem takes away from the amount we have available to spend on preventing the problem.'' Meth's impact on local economies extends even to the youngest Americans. Children in homes where meth is used or made are more likely to be abused or neglected and are exposed to highly toxic chemicals. ''You're looking at neglect beyond anything you could ever imagine,'' said Betsy Dunn, a children's protection services case manager in Putnam County. ''These children are living in environments that are highly toxic. I often say these children are living in gas chambers.'' In testimony presented at a March 5 congressional hearing, Tennessee Technical University President Robert Bell cited estimates that state officials will take more than 700 children into custody this year at a cost of more than $4 million. And the ECONorthwest study estimated that foster care for children of meth-addicted parents in Multnomah County, Ore., cost $6.1 million in 2004, or $21.75 per household. Meth has been a particularly serious problem for rural communities, many of which have reported increased thefts of anhydrous ammonia, a crop fertilizer that is a key ingredient in meth. ''All of our fertilizer companies now have Cyclone fences... with high barbed wire,'' said Bill Hansell, a county commissioner in Umatilla County, Ore. In Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves blames meth-related crimes for severe overcrowding in the county jail. ''We've got 16-man cells with 30 people in them,'' Graves said. ''We've got people sleeping on mattresses on floors.'' Many of those inmates have serious medical problems related to prolonged meth use. County officials recently spent $100,000 for emergency colon surgery for one meth-addicted inmate, and vanloads of prisoners are frequently ferried to the dentist for treatment of ''meth mouth'' - severe tooth and gum decay, Graves said. Some states are targeting meth in their budget plans. A group of Republican state legislators in Illinois, for example, has proposed spending $39 million on anti-meth efforts. Environmental damage is one of the costliest consequences of the meth epidemic. Cleaning up the toxic chemicals at a meth lab - acetone, Freon, anhydrous ammonia, red phosphorus, lithium metal, iodine - typically costs between $3,000 and $20,000. In Indiana, law enforcement officers shut down 1,500 meth labs last year and have busted 460 so far this year, said Eric Lawrence, director of forensic analysis for the Indiana State Police. He said officers are aggressively identifying and closing labs because of the potential impact on property values. ''If you leave this problem unchecked,'' he said, ''it could bring economic ruin to a community.'' Nationally, hospital admissions for methamphetamine abuse increased fivefold between 1992 and 2002, according to recent congressional testimony. But other information about meth's economic toll nationwide is elusive. Republican Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri recently asked the White House for that information but instead received only figures showing the economic impact of all drugs. ''It's useless; I was appalled,'' Talent said. ''I don't know how they can recommend cuts if they are not aware of the costs of methamphetamine.'' DeVallance, the spokeswoman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the meth cost breakdown Talent requested ''just doesn't exist.'' On the Web: www.kci.org, KCI anti-meth site. Contains methamphetamine-related facts and Web links. www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/amphetamines.html, Drug Enforcement Administration facts on meth. Jackson Sun reporter Tiffany S. Jones contributed to this report. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin