Pubdate: Thu, 01 Mar 2007
Source: Dalles Chronicle, The (OR)
Copyright: 2007 Eagle Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thedalleschronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3382
Author: Kathy Gray
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

FACES TELL METHAMPHETAMINE STORY

The faces of meth are not pretty.

A near-capacity audience at The Dalles Wahtonka High School saw a 
number of examples of that Tuesday night as part of a town hall 
presentation by Multnomah County Deputy Bret King. King has put 
together a video showing the effect prolonged use of methamphetamine 
has on people.

His pictorial subjects were inmates at the Multnomah County Jail 
where he works. The film also includes interviews with some of these 
inmates talking about the impact meth had on their lives. King said 
it was while working at jails that he noticed the physical changes 
that took place with meth users, and he felt shooting a video showing 
this might be a way to get the attention of young people, who desire 
to look good and make good first impressions on other young people. 
The mugs he uses show the before and after of meth use. He has found 
that the reaction of young people is that "no one wants to look like 
that." He said in showing the video he did not want to make anyone 
look bad, but said the people shown in the video were glad to be able 
to help others avoid taking the route they had chosen. The people 
shown in the video had lost their families, friends, their looks and 
their very lives, he said. He sees young people in the jail with 
their whole lives ahead of them who are throwing it away on garbage. 
Part of the video was a series of mug shots, showing jail inmates 
over different time periods, some as short as two weeks and some as 
long as 10 years.

The changes were remarkable and some drew gasps from the audience. At 
one point in the video that depicted some of the most dramatic 
changes, the words "Isn't meth glamorous" flashed across the screen. 
Another section of the video was titled "The Mouths of Meth" and 
showed what continued meth use does to the users' teeth, and two 
Portland area dentists explained why these changes take place. King 
said recent laws have brought about some changes in the meth scene, 
and there are not as many labs as there used to be now that 
pseudoephedrine is not as readily available in some medicine, but 
there are still just as many users coming to jail.

"Meth has not gone away," he said. "If it were not a problem, the 
room (the high school auditorium) would not be this full."

Later, during a question and answer period, he said that one of the 
real solutions would be to ban pseudoephedrine, but opined that this 
is not going to happen because the pharmaceutical companies are 
making too much money out of it. He said there are cold and other 
medications that work just as well without that drug, and then 
quipped that no one has ever died from pseudoephedrine deficiency.

He said that one of the attractions of meth is that it is cheap ... 
moneterily, but quickly added it is costly in other ways and in 
reality "is the most expensive drug we have."

King also said the meth out there now is not as good as it was and so 
many other additives are being used.

The people shown in the video were not identified by name, but King 
said he grew up with one of them, whom he called Marvin. King went to 
grade school, middle school and high school with Marvin and Marvin 
"was a good kid" from a good family, but somewhere along the way 
hooked up with the wrong people. He said his friend -- and other 
users -- didn't start out to be a meth addict.

No one wants that, King said. He said if he polled an audience and 
asked who wants to be a meth addict or spend much of their life in 
jail, not a single hand would go up. He said he tells kids he talks 
to about drug use that "I hope I never see you again" and said me 
means he hopes he doesn't see then in his work at jail.

Although the "faces of meth" mostly focused on users who wound up in 
front of the camera at jail, others in the video -- Multnomah County 
Sheriff Bernie Guisto, another deputy at that office and some very 
ordinary young people were seen saying "I am the face of meth." This 
shows that the drug impacts everyone, not just those who use it.

King stressed during his presentation that meth use reaches far 
beyond just those who use drugs.

He said nine out of 10 people he came into contact with as a jailer 
were drug affected and at least 85 percent of property crimes are 
meth related.

King, as well as Wasco County Judge Dan Ericken, who opened the town 
hall, and Debbie Jones, head of the Wasco County Prevention 
Coalition, remarked about the large turnout. King said he had never 
seen interest like this and noted the audience included a lot of 
parents with kids and "that couldn't be better for what I am going to 
show you."

The town hall, put on by the Wasco County Prevention Coalition, saw 
the debut of "Crystal Falls," a video the coalition paid on meth use. 
Funding came from grant money given to the coalition by the city of 
The Dalles. The video was done through the efforts of Scott Abts of 
Encore Productions and many from this community were involved.

Several of them were at the forum. A number of local agencies had 
booths set up in the halls at the high school, handing out 
information about what their agency does in the area of drug problems.

The audience was given a questionaire to fill out and turn in at the 
end of the program. High school students were given community service 
credit for attending the event and many high school-age people were 
in the audience.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman