Thursday, December 22, 2005
Attacking meth: Our community fights back
Answer to problem goes beyond police
ERIC SAGARA and HEIDI ROWLEY
Tucson Citizen
Third of three parts
Community groups throughout Tucson are joining law enforcement in what is being called an unprecedented effort to combat the growing threat of methamphetamine abuse.
In its six months of existence, the Meth Free Alliance has rallied more than 300 volunteers to its cause.
The predominantly grass-roots group is made up of educators, social and health care workers, church leaders and local and federal law enforcement officials.
Elsewhere in metro Tucson:
• The Pima County Sheriff's Department is hiring 14 more school resource officers to educate middle and high school students and their parents about meth.
• Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry wants a $54 million bond package for new psychiatric facilities at Kino hospital, in part to deal with the meth problem.
• The City Council, using language crafted by a Meth Free Alliance task force, passed an ordinance that allows stores to restrict sale of medications containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine - necessary ingredients in meth - and to refuse to sell them to "suspicious" customers.
• County prosecutors are coordinating with law officers to investigate and prosecute meth dealers under state racketeering laws targeting organized criminal operations. Convictions under that law are treated more severe than those for a typical violation by a meth user, such as for passing a bad check.
Alliance coordinator Javier Herrera said that what makes the Tucson group unique compared with similar groups around the country is its nine task forces, each assigned a responsibility.
Already, other Arizona counties, including Graham and Greenlee, see the alliance as a model to launch a community attack on meth, Herrera said.
Tucson's meth problem is beyond the scope of law enforcement, said police Capt. David Neri, head of the multiagency Counter Narcotics Alliance. He has made eliminating the meth trade CNA's top priority.
"We're a long shot from the answer to this problem," he said. "You can't buy us enough officers to do that."
Getting faith-based communities in on the solution is also an essential step, said Bishop Gerald Kicanas, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, which held a community forum this year on meth.
"It's an international issue that's robbing people of the gift of life they've been given," he said. "We have to join hands with law enforcement and with the medical community."
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