Pubdate: Wed, 27 Apr 2005
Source: Charleston Daily Mail (WV)
Copyright: 2005 Charleston Daily Mail
Contact:  http://www.dailymail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/76
Author: Brad McElhinny, Daily Mail staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

FEDERAL, STATE AGENCIES SPEND $30,000 ON METH SUMMIT

Taxpayers are spending roughly $10,000 a day for a conference in which
citizens fighting methamphetamine addiction are urged to "understand
and build on individual and organizational assets" and "evaluate
long-term outcomes and short-term interventions."

Organizers estimate the overall cost for the West Virginia Summit on
Methamphetamine is about $30,000.

Much of the money goes to the services and staff of facilitator James
Copple, a national consultant who is helping participants to outline
and rank possible ways to fight methamphetamine's affects on society.

"He's the very best in the nation -- nationally known," said U.S.
Attorney Kasey Warner, whose office is a main sponsor of this week's
conference at the Marriott in Charleston.

The cost of the conference is being split among the U.S. Attorney's
Office, the governor's office and several other state and federal
agencies. Warner said that has made the conference affordable and
worthwhile.

"It's not a cheap proposition, but it's a responsible use of money,"
Warner said. "Whatever we're paying is well worth it."

Warner said the conference came about after law enforcement
organizations realized they were fighting methamphetamine bust by
bust, but were having a difficult time getting at the roots of the
problem.

Copple's job is to lead about 300 conference participants through the
process of learning more about methamphetamine, brainstorming ideas
about ways to combat the problem and ranking the possible solutions.

Finally, Copple is supposed to report back to the governor's office
with the results, urging the state to take action.

Copple said he has led 15 such conferences across the
nation.

"The states that have stayed with this process have seen reductions in
the number of meth labs," Copple told a packed conference room of
about 300 people on Tuesday. "When the states have not stayed with it,
you can expect meth to continue to grow."

Copple makes his living through public relations and public policy.
For almost two decades, he has held executive leadership positions in
nonprofit organizations aiming to prevent crime, violence and
substance abuse, according to his published biography.

He has a degree in history from Eastern Nazarene College, a master's
of divinity degree from Nazarene Theological Seminary, and has done
graduate work at Boston College, John Hopkins University and doctoral
work in the history and philosophy of education at the University of
Kansas.

Copple and his wife, Colleen Copple, say they lead seminars across the
country on the topics of substance abuse, gang membership, crime
prevention and homeland security.

They say their background in community service sparks their interest
in those topics.

"Most of us get paid to be in this work, but I like to think we would
be involved in some way, somehow if we woke up and weren't being
paid," Copple told his audience at the conclusion of a Power Point
presentation on Tuesday.

The money being spent on the West Virginia Summit on Methamphetamine
goes to Copple, his wife, their staff of four, additional expert
speakers and for costs such as transportation, space at the Marriott
and food, organizers said.

"It's not accurate to say they're coming in here for three days and
making $25,000 to $30,000," Warner said. "We're getting these guys for
a good deal."

In addition to organizing the three-day conference, Copple has made
several presentations. On Tuesday morning, for example, his speech was
called "Building meth-free communities -- setting the vision."

The speech included points such as "comprehensive vertical and
horizontal planning around sectors of community change" and "build
programs around science-based practice and research." Another bit of
advice was: "Recognize leadership and affirm coalition successes."

Once area leaders set their priorities for dealing with meth, the
conference should pay off, Copple said.

He said a successful effort in fighting meth should result in lower
jail and court costs, better productivity for reforming addicts and
saved environmental costs in cleaning up methamphetamine production
sites.

"For every dollar of prevention you would spend much more money on
incarceration and treatment and remediation," Copple said. "This
$30,000 to $40,000 will save the community millions of dollars."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin