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." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin