Pubdate: Wed, 15 Mar 2006
Source: Oroville Mercury-Register (CA)
Copyright: 2006 Oroville Mercury Register
Contact:  http://www.orovillemr.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2277
Note: note: email not listed on site, from other listings
Author: Roger H. Aylworth
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

SUPERVISORS GET SNAPSHOT OF FIGHT AGAINST METH

Butte County has the uncomfortable distinction of being  at the front 
line in a battle with a modern scourge,  and Tuesday the Board of 
Supervisors got a snapshot  look at how the fight is going.

During the regular board meeting, Butte County Sheriff  Perry Reniff, 
along with Keith Krampitz, commander of  the south county narcotics 
task force, reported on the  activity of the "Methamphetamine Strike Force."

The strike force is an unusual coalition of law  enforcement, 
education, public health agencies, and  public and private social 
services agencies, joining  forces to "eliminate methamphetamine here 
in Butte  County," said Reniff.

Reniff said it is difficult to quantify the total  impact of meth on 
the county, but some numbers are  easy. According to his figures, in 
2004, 27 percent of  the bookings in Butte County Jail were "for 
production,  possession or (being) under the influence of methamphetamine."

Also during that same year, 14 deaths were directly  attributable to 
meth consumption, but Reniff said that  tells very little of the story.

"What this does not show, and what any street officer  in the county 
will tell you, we suspect that  approximately 80 percent of the crime 
in Butte County  is directly related to methamphetamine.

"What it also doesn't talk about is the effects that it  has on the 
behavioral health, on public health, on our  schools, on every 
segment of our society," said Reniff.

For many years the county has been aggressive in its  law enforcement 
effort to attack meth.

In 2004, 39 labs were seized, nine dumps of lab-related  toxic waste 
were located and 5,500 grams of the drug  were confiscated.

Krampitz said that in 2005, Butte County ranked fourth  in the state 
for labs seized on a per-capita basis, and  sixth in the state in 
total number of labs seized.

On top of that, 331 children were "rescued," according  to Reniff. He 
said the "drug endangered children"  program was initiated in Butte 
County and has since  gone nationwide. It takes kids out of homes 
where meth  is produced or possessed.

The sheriff said meth cookers live in conditions so  fetid and vile 
that they are beyond the imagination of  most people. When law 
enforcement officers locate a  lab, they wear a breathing apparatus 
to avoid the toxic  fumes when they dismantle the equipment and 
remove the  material. Yet the people doing the cooking, and all 
too  often their children, live in this environment.

"Most of us wouldn't have our animals living the way  these children 
are living. They are definitely innocent  victims," he said.

Reniff and Krampitz said the battle against the drug  will be 
somewhat eased due to the passage of federal  legislation authored by 
Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif.,  that, among other things, requires 
that cold medicines  containing ephedrine or psuedoephedrine be kept 
behind a counter. These two chemicals are "precursors" from  which 
meth is made.

However, enforcement isn't the only tool of the task force.

"It is every bit as important to prevent  methamphetamine use as it 
is to enforce it. It is also  every bit as important to come up with 
ways of  treatment as it is to enforce it. We talk about  prevention. 
We talk about treatment. We talk about  enforcement," he explained.

Education is a tool the strike force is using in  prevention.

Like last year, the task force is mounting a public  relations 
campaign this spring to encourage teens to  stay away from the drug.

In December, 300 physicians, social workers and other  people 
involved in treating meth users met in the South  Oroville Community 
Center for a day-long seminar on  treatment, according to Reniff.

This June, another such treatment symposium is  scheduled in Chico.

The strike force also has a Web site at  www.2stopmeth.org that 
provides a host of information  about the drug and its dangers.

Reniff told the board trying to stop meth in Butte  County won't be easy.

"That's a real lofty goal. We know it is going to take  a long time 
to reach anywhere near that goal,"  continued the sheriff.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom