Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jun 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, staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

COMMUNITY LEADERS DISCUSS SOLUTIONS TO METH PROBLEM

Twenty people whose jobs are affected by methamphetamine use met for
the first time Thursday in an effort to combat the highly-addictive
drug's impact on Henderson County.

In an hour-long meeting at Appalachian Counseling on Williams Street,
the newly formed Methamphetamine Task Force discussed some of the
meth-related problems facing Henderson County and began looking at
ways to slow the drug's epidemic growth.

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.

The task force was created after nearly 50 educators, social workers,
counselors, nurses, law enforcement officers and business
professionals met May 26 at the Highland Lake Inn to discuss meth's
impact on the area.

At Thursday's meeting, the group split into two subcommittees. One
will develop protocols for agencies that deal with meth users. The
other will focus on public awareness, education, training, prevention
and treatment.

Both groups plan to model their efforts after strides made in other
communities to combat meth. Thursday, they reviewed information about
the Kansas Methamphetamine Prevention Project, a statewide task force
that saw a decrease in the number of meth users after its first year
in existence.

For many who joined the task force, the initial meetings have been an
eye-opener.

Debbie Ward, a pharmacist at Eckerd Drugs on U.S. 25 North, said she
was unaware of the county's meth problem until she attended the
meetings. When she heard about a law under consideration in the
General Assembly that would require pseudoephedrine and ephedrine --
common ingredients in some over-the-counter cold remedies and key
ingredients in meth -- to be sold behind a pharmacy counter, she said
her initial reaction was, "Why should I be so inconvenienced?"

The law likely would cut into profits for some drug stores, Ward
said.

"I didn't see all these people that use it," she said.

Thursday's meeting, Ward said, "totally changed my views." She would
support a law that limits the purchase of pseudoeph-edrine and
ephedrine, she said.

Jane Ferguson, chief executive officer of Appalachian Counseling, said
she was "blown away" by the group's interest in finding solutions to
the meth problem. Ferguson organized the meetings in May and on Thursday.

"I just want our community to come together to do something proactive
that will make a difference," she said. "This task force will make a
difference."

Organizers are seeking legislators, firefighters, paramedics, doctors,
business people, school officials and others affected by meth use to
join the task force. The protocol committee will hold its first
meeting at noon, July 19, in the Mountain Laurel training room off
Fleming Street. The public awareness committee will meet at noon, July
11, at Appalachian Counseling.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin