Sixth In A Series On Meth Use In The Area Although admitting methamphetamine or "meth" use and addiction are serious problems, two regional experts -- Carol Falkowski of the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota, and Joyce Allen, Wisconsin's director for the Bureau of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services in Madison -- say the picture of recovery is not as gloomy as some recovery experts and law enforcement report. Falkowski is the director of research communication at Hazelden, a non-profit drug treatment center. She is one of 20 drug abuse researchers in the county who monitors trends for the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She has written on drug trends annually since 1986. She is also the author of the book Dangerous Drugs, a reference book about drugs, and numerous articles on methamphetamine use. [continues 2057 words]
Fifth In A Series On Meth Use In The Area A photo taken in 2001 of a ditch outside of Tijuana, Mexico, and included in a June 5 article of The Oregonian offers a clue as to why the methamphetamine (meth) epidemic is overwhelming U.S. counties like Washburn. Stretching apparently 20 to 30 feet long is a mound of white medicinal cardboard boxes flattened out and thrown carelessly, like a pallet had tumbled off a truck and spilled its contents. [continues 2092 words]
Fourth In A Series On Meth Use In The Area The National Weather Service has advised ..." The short pronouncement is usually all it takes for people to huddle around their televisions and take notice of dark elongated amoebae shapes jerking eastward across the screen. In this part of the country, storms typically move from west to east, a pattern people have come to expect and a direction they face before departing for cover. In some respects, the weather pattern fits an analogy of the methamphetamine, or "meth," epidemic facing Washburn County -- the dark threatening clouds are hovering largely over western counties (with the exception of Barron) -- St. Croix, Polk, Pierce -- and moving this way. [continues 1445 words]
Anyone who has ever have ever seen a photo of a methamphetamine or "meth" lab being cleaned up has probably seen people wearing what appears to be big protective white moonsuits from head to toe. There is a reason for the special clothing -- meth labs are considered toxic waste sites. Experts say 1 pound of finished meth results in 5 pounds of toxic waste. Considering a meth lab can be placed literally anywhere -- a barn, trailer, car, attic, or the room rented beside a city street -- one has to ask what is happening to the waste. [continues 229 words]
Maybe one of the most telling facts reflective of what law enforcement and social service personnel in Washburn County are calling a methamphetamine epidemic is the number 14. It does not sound like a large number, but it is huge when you understand that the 14 are 14 Washburn County children, 14 juveniles who within the last year have been removed from a home where a parent or a guardian has been using the drug methamphetamine, or "meth." Those 14 represent half of the 28 children Washburn County Health and Human Services Department has placed in out-of-home care, according to Washburn County Family Services Supervisor Joan Wilson. [continues 1137 words]
