Pubdate: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 Source: Denver Post (CO) Copyright: 2002 The Denver Post Corp Contact: http://www.denverpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122 Author: Coleman Cornelius, Denver Post Northern Colorado Bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) METH LABS TAX RURAL BUDGETS 1 District's Costs Up $1 Million Tuesday, October 29, 2002 - The costs of coping with methamphetamine in seven northeastern Colorado counties increased by nearly $1 million from 1999 to 2001, proving in dramatic dollar terms that the drug has become a scourge in farm and ranch country, a new study shows. Methamphetamine response is taxing rural government agencies from police and fire departments to courts and social services, according to the study released Monday by Colorado State University Cooperative Extension. "People tend to think of drugs as an urban problem, and this clearly shows that methamphetamine is a rural problem as well," said Lilias Jarding, who headed the study, the first to quantify the impact of methamphetamine use and production on the Eastern Plains. The drug's use and manufacture have mushroomed in the state's northeastern quadrant because the activities are more easily hidden, rural highways offer easy trafficking routes and agricultural chemicals are accessible for production, Jarding said. CSU's outreach division conducted the study with the state Department of Local Affairs for a methamphetamine task force in the state's 13th Judicial District, which covers seven counties in northeastern Colorado. Researchers compiled the costs of methamphetamine response from 42 responding agencies in Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington and Yuma counties. It is not clear what methamphetamine response cost agencies at the beginning or end of the study period, but the increase over two years is substantial in poor agricultural counties that are scraping to meet the needs of residents, study participants said. In just three or four years, the addictive drug, a stimulant that typically is smoked or injected, has become a major focus for law enforcement, courts, treatment agencies and social services in northeastern Colorado, said Tom Westfall, chairman of the Finding a Solution Task Force that commissioned the study. Its use cuts across socioeconomic lines, he said. "The problem of methamphetamine has grown in leaps and bounds, and it is stripping our resources," said Westfall, director of the Yuma County Department of Social Services. At least half the criminal cases handled by courts in the 13th Judicial District involve methamphetamine - as do many divorce and dependency and neglect cases, said Chief Judge Steven Shinn, who hopes to form a drug court to address the problems. The Morgan County Sheriff's Office is on pace to double its drug cases from 2001 to 2002, and that increase is wholly due to meth, said Undersheriff John Fryar. The drug is a common denominator in the department's growing caseload in all categories, including assault, domestic violence and burglary, Fryar said. Most alarming to many officials are the drug's youngest victims: the children of those who use methamphetamine and cook it in hazardous home laboratories. Meth addicts are notable for ignoring family responsibilities in pursuit of a drug-induced high, and social workers have seen the results as more and more children are taken from their parents and placed in foster care, Westfall said. In one case, a toddler was put in foster care when the child's mother and father quit their jobs and began manufacturing methamphetamine to feed their habit and earn money to get by. In another case, Westfall said, investigators found a baby's bassinet next to drug-producing equipment. The study's findings will help government agencies understand and deal with methamphetamine, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom