City takes on meth in visit to Las Vegas

http://www.ddtonline.com/articles/2006/01/26/news/news2.txt

By ELORIA NEWELL JAMES - Delta Democrat Times

GREENVILLE - City and community officials have vowed to address the rising national concerns about crystal methamphetamine on the local level.

Because of that commitment, Greenville Mayor Heather McTeer Hudson, Greenville police Chief Lester Carter, Police Sgt. Xavier Redmond, head of the department's special operations unit, investigator Anthony Ferguson and community worker Audine Haynes attended a conference last week highlighting the dangers of the drug.

Local participants say the 2006 National Summit on Methamphetamine and the Epidemic was an informative and exploring opportunity for them.

“It was something we had to go to due to us receiving the federal funds, but it also allows us to be proactive,” Hudson said. “Meth is a serious national problem and Greenville is an entry point for the drug in this area. We are the biggest city in the Mississippi Delta, and we are on the Arkansas-Mississippi Line. So, we are vulnerable to the production and trafficking of this drug and we want to take a stand against it.”



Haynes, executive director of the Washington County Anti-Drug RADAR (Regional Alcohol and Drug Resource) Center, said it was important for her to attend the meeting because of her law enforcement experience and her work with the community partnership.

Haynes is also a former member of the Greenville City Council.

“This allowed me to keep up with the latest drug abuse and prevention and any possible funding being made available to community partnership and preventon efforts,” Haynes said.

Hudson said it was important for the police chief to attend the meeting “to be aware of the different areas and how to manage the problem.” She said the narcotics agents were given an opportunity to learn how to recognize the drug and how to handle those manufacturing and using the drug.






The mayor said the conference “allowed her to learn more about policy management and where we are taking this issue as a nation, state and community.”

Officials confirmed that the drug is an issue in this area.

“It's a rural issue facing rural areas,” Redmond said. “It's a major issue that we have to address and know the health hazards involved.”

The mayor said methamphetamine “is worse than crack cocaine in some places and we have to take action against it.”

Hudson said although the city has been approved for approximately $1 million in federal funding through a combined Science, State, Justice and Commerce Department bill for its drug interdiction efforts, it's not enough.

“We got around $1 million for this project, but we learned this past week that it takes about $20,000 to clean up one meth lab,” the mayor explained. “In Mississippi in 2004, 267 labs were discoverd. So, you see the expense involved.”

All participants agree that methamphetamine “is a major, major problem.”

“It's a dangerous drug and there are a lot of people involved in using it,” Hudson said.

Others agreed.

“I've seen the results of what crystal meth has done to some people here in Washington County,” Haynes said. “During the conference, I learned more about the impact drug abuse has on children, because there's so many women who use that meth and there's no one to care for the children.”

Officials said they will now be carrying the message of “stay away from methamphetamine