Pubdate: Tue, 10 Apr 2007
Source: Daily Review (PA)
Copyright: 2007 The Daily Review
Contact:  http://www.thedailyreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1015
Author: James Loewenstein
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH ABUSE DECLINING IN BRADFORD COUNTY

At a town hall meeting Monday in Towanda hosted by U.S. Rep. Chris 
Carney, local officials discussed how methamphetamine is becoming 
less of a problem in Bradford County, while crack cocaine and 
prescription drug abuse are on the rise locally. Much of the 
discussion at the town hall meeting was on the local drug problem and 
what to do about it.

Bradford County Drug & Alcohol Program Director Phil Cusano, Bradford 
County Children & Youth Services representative Kelly Smith and 
Bradford County Commissioner Janet Lewis sat alongside Carney at the 
front of the meeting, and offered their views on the drug problem.

Cusano said the methamphetamine problem has peaked in Bradford County.

In 2001 in Bradford County, only 1.9 percent of the admissions to 
drug and alcohol treatment programs were for methamphetamine. By 
2004, the number of meth abusers had increased to 13 percent of the 
admissions, and the percentage of such admissions remained the same 
in 2005, he said. However, largely due to the efforts of the 
CommUnity Against Methamphetamine, which is the local 
anti-methamphetamine task force started by Cusano and county Sheriff 
Steve Evans, the problem then "started to turn (the corner)," he 
said. By 2006, the number of Bradford County meth abusers decreased 
to less than 11 percent of admissions, "and this year it is only 8 
percent," Cusano said. "The Community Against Methamphetamine has 
pretty much turned it," he said, adding that the task force has 
taught thousands of Bradford Countians about the dangers of meth and 
how to detect it. "We saw (with the local meth problem) that if there 
is education and strong prevention programs, you can turn it (so that 
the problem decreases)," Cusano said.

But officials at the town hall meeting said that other drug problems 
are on the rise in Bradford County. Bradford County Commissioner 
Janet Lewis said she had talked with the state police earlier this 
week "and learned that crack cocaine and heroin are becoming a 
problem in Bradford County," she said.

Smith said she does drug and alcohol assessments on students in the 
public schools in Bradford County and found that abuse of 
prescription drugs is also now a problem.

"Prescription medication seems to be the next wave for a lot of these 
kids," Kelly said. "It's very easily accessible."

Parents need to lock up prescription medications so that their 
teen-age children cannot get their hands on them, Kelly said.

"How many of us can say we have locked them up from our teen-age 
children?" she asked rhetorically.

And yet many parents will lock up such medications so that young 
children cannot find them. Plans are in the works to have the 
anti-meth task force address issues besides methamphetamine, Cusano said.

"We're looking to expand CommUnity Against Methamphetamine into these 
other issues," such as the types of drugs that are on the rise 
locally, as well as alcohol abuse, Cusano said.

Cusano also indicated that the methamphetamine problem may become 
worse again at some point in the future in Bradford County. Carney 
said that even though meth may be on the decline in Bradford County, 
a bill he had co-sponsored to address part of the meth problem is 
still important. The bill, HR 365, would provide resources to 
communities to clean up the homes where meth labs had been located.

The labs leave behind dangerous toxins, he said. Carney said he 
agreed with Windham Township resident Gale Bowen, who said at the 
meeting that more should be done to help kids before they are at the 
point that they are at risk for developing drug problems.

"We need to put more money in early childhood education," the 
congressman said. "If we can start them off in the right way, they 
can avoid a lot of the problems we're mentioning today," Carney said,
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman