Pubdate: Sun, 10 Jun 2007
Source: Sierra Vista Herald (AZ)
Copyright: 2007 Sierra Vista Herald
Contact:  http://www.svherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1379
Author: Gentry Braswell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH ADDS TO ABUSE PROBLEMS, AUTHORITIES SAY

SIERRA VISTA - Last summer, Cochise County Sheriff  Larry Dever
estimated 80 percent of all non-drug  related criminal cases
prosecuted locally were directly  related to methamphetamine use.

Sierra Vista police Chief Ken Kimmel correlated  increases in city
property crime to the proliferation  of meth.

Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer's best  description of a meth
user is of a malevolent zombie  one sees in the movies, their former
personalities  decimated by the cycle of addiction.

Criminal justice and health and social services  professionals remain
grim in reflection that a full  recovery from meth addiction is
unlikely, said Troy  Siler, Sierra Vista Regional Health Center
manager of  emergency services. About 10 people a week visit the
hospital expressing some desire to kick a meth or  cocaine addiction,
Siler said.

Historically, substance abuse is the most common  catalyst for
domestic violence, and methamphetamine is  no exception. When families
are destroyed by meth,  innocent children suffer the
consequences.

When people under the influence of meth end up at  Sierra Vista
hospital's Emergency Department, they  often must remain for a few
days until they "come down"  and are no longer a danger to themselves
nor others,  thereby hospital staff is further burdened, Siler said.

"We have to deal with the issue, and it slows us down,"  he said.
"It's become resource intensive for the whole  community."

Darlene Herlinger, the hospital's emergency medical  service base
coordinator and an emergency medical  service trainer at Cochise
College, interjected: "It  ties up the entire staff, and it ties up
law  enforcement, often times, having to stay here."

Police officers and social workers who have field  experience with
meth use and meth houses can tell  stories that are as sickening as
they are  heartbreaking. The stories include those of children
suffering in horrific, poisonous neglect, and the filth  and squalor
of a home-turned-meth-lab.

Children near meth

Like other crime trends, those against children are  aggravated by
meth use, and local collaborative  professionals such as the Cochise
County Children's  Justice Project are working together to improve the
  system insofar as resources and bureaucracy may allow.

It is the legal and ethical obligation of medical  professionals to
notify police if child endangerment,  abuse or molestation is
suspected. When it comes to  suspected drug abuse, the implications
are different,  unless the drug use is combined with child
maltreatment.

As with child abuse, neglect and molestation, there is  significant
public aversion to confronting the meth  epidemic.

"I think the public doesn't realize the overall tragic  effects of
meth and they're afraid to report it to  officials," Herlinger said.
"They don't want to be  involved. They think law enforcement's not
going to do  anything."

It is documented that some 3 or 4 percent of the  children of meth
addicts are physically or sexually  abused, Herlinger said, but that
leaves latitude for  unknown cases.

Meth labs require chemicals that are poisonous, noxious  and
explosive.

Often, neglect issues are observed first, Siler said.  Or it may be
ear infections and respiratory complaints  surface when a youngster is
exposed to meth use or  production in the household.

And it takes usually more time before an illness can be  connected
with a child's exposure to dangerous  surroundings, Siler said.

Similarly, all sorts of mental and physical diagnoses  can arise,
because of meth use that a patient does not  disclose to a doctor,
Herlinger said. Conditions such  as paranoia, anxiety,
schizo-effective disorders, and  incidental physical problems like
oral disease, are  among multiple diagnoses that can stem from meth
use.

 From exposure to secondhand smoke, children tend to  have an increase
in asthma diagnoses, Siler said.

Family members who bring an ill loved one to the  hospital, who, for
example, suffers universal symptoms  such as chest pains, shortness of
breath or fever are  often unaware the root of their loved one's
problem is  meth, Siler said.

About 4 percent of local emergency medical service  calls are for
behavioral issues, much of which, Siler  said, is probably meth related.

Child maltreatment in homes where meth is present is  common, Siler
said.

For example, about three years ago in Huachuca City, a  child got into
the mother's boyfriend's meth stash and  ate it and had to be taken to
the hospital.

The hospital had to call social services, Siler said.  The child had
to be removed from the family and placed  in protective care.

Meth labs can be sophisticated, possibly existing  without the
knowledge of house mates. They can even  present aa health threat to
neighbors.

"Meth is no respecter of persons," Sheriff Dever said,  "and its
victims are clearly some of the most tragic  that you'll ever come
across."

He said the meth epidemic spreads across socio-economic  boundaries in
the community, even as far as meth  dealers lacing candy with meth to
market to children.

"The criminal aspect is extremely costly, but the  damage in terms of
humanity is much greater," he said.

Connections are usually made between meth and child  victims after
criminal investigations have begun or  prosecution is under way.

The Arizona Drug Endangered Children  multidisciplinary/integrated
protocol created several  years ago by a state task force bearing a
similar name  is available online at the Arizona Attorney General Web
site, and the task force welcomed implementation of  that protocol
through local jurisdictions.

The ADEC protocol outlines ways Child Protective  Services, law
enforcement and medical personnel can  cope with the meth epidemic as
it applies to child  victims. ADEC protocol lists resources, statutes,
how  to begin a drug-endangered children team, and explains  why
exposing children to drugs and clandestine meth  labs is child abuse.

The task force's 2003 research indicates that a meth  cooker will
train 10 others within the first year.

The Cochise County Children's Justice Project, under  the auspices of
the Cochise County Health Department,  is pushing for stronger
drug-endangered children  protocol, said Renee Lee, the perinatal
outreach  coordinator at the health department.

"There is a push toward that," Lee said. "If there is a  child in a
meth house (and they die), the autopsy needs  to be performed by a
state medical examiner who is  familiar (specifically with meth
forensics) rather than  a local medical examiner."

Urban counties often have a first-response meth team,  which
specifically trains to be the first responders  when a meth lab is
discovered by authorities and shut  down. The team members are trained
in First Aid,  hazardous materials handling, forensics and tactical
police methods together.

In rural counties, meth-team funds and personnel aren't  easily
available. And in Cochise County, there is no  such meth team.

"Whereas, here, it's whoever shows up," Lee said.

Other obstacles

A recent Cochise County Superior Court case  disappointed the
investigating Sierra Vista police  detective and the Cochise County
attorney, as a  misdemeanor plea deal was taken by the parents of a
baby boy who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome after  what
investigators believe was exposure to meth smoke  in the parents'
bedroom. Because of statutory burdens  of proof, the drug evidence was
not legally sufficient  for a felony conviction.

The detective felt the death was connected to the drug  use, and the
county attorney felt the presence of the  drugs around the baby ought
to be a stand-alone felony.

Arizona Attorney General's Office spokeswoman Andrea  Esquer said
there appears to be no discussion about  pending legislation to
strengthen the laws with respect  to children endangered by meth and
meth labs. About two  years ago, a law was created whereby people
cooking  meth around young children could be charged with child
endangerment, even if the child is not in their care,  Esquer said.

Federal law and some municipal laws throughout Arizona  have been
enacted to require certain cold medicines be  stored behind retail
counters because they are used in  homemade methamphetamine recipes.
Esquer said the  Attorney General's Office would like to see a blanket
  state law to provide for stricter enforcement of the
behind-the-counter law.

Sierra Vista police Detective Mertie Stompro said he  also hasn't
heard of any new legislation pending to  strengthen state criminal
laws in regard to  drug-endangered child victims.

When the crack cocaine epidemic was battled by the  nation's police in
the 1980s, legislation was  relatively quickly enacted that required
mandatory  prison for anyone possessing 450 milligrams of crack,
which is a relatively small amount, Stompro said.

But during the meth epidemic, mandatory prison still  only is pursued,
per criminal statute, for offenders  possessing 9 grams of meth or
more, Stompro said.

"They still haven't listed it," he said.

The interagency and interorganizational Children's  Justice Project
meets monthly and consists of  professionals such as police,
prosecutors and social  and health workers.

All agree a health and family advocacy center in  Cochise County is a
logical next step to enhance  Southeastern Arizona's amenities, though
challenges  exist in the funding and staff for such an advocacy  center.

The Children's Justice Project is co-chaired by Lee and  Bob Klein,
the Cochise County Victim Witness program  coordinator.

Klein said awareness is as important as money for  reaching these
local goals.

"If you raise public awareness, then people realize  there's a problem
here and people need to get  involved," he said.

A family advocacy center, Lee said, would take a more  preventative
approach than the one generally taken by  the Cochise County Health
Department.

As a neutral resource coordinated through the Health  Department to
aid situations that have gone beyond  prevention, the envisioned
center would offer easy  access to prosecutors and law enforcement
agencies, Lee  said.
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MAP posted-by: Derek