STUDENT GROUP PROPOSES METH ACTIONS

SPINDALE -- Members of the Rutherford County Meth Task Force met
Thursday to discuss the ongoing battle against the dangerous drug
methamphetamine.

Linda Carr, of Isothermal Community College's Students Against Meth,
advised the task force on a plan to try to get legislation passed to
put a special tax on over-the-counter medication that contain
pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, key ingredients in the manufacture of
meth. The money raised from the tax would be used to pay for
treatment programs for addicts, according to SAM's plan.

Carr presented a letter signed by 17 students that the group wants to
circulate to local officials who will in turn pass the idea on to
legislators in Raleigh and Washington.

Carr also announced the group's plan to produce public service
announcements for local television and radio stations.

The group was formed last year to spread education and awareness
about the scourge of meth in the area.

SAM will give a presentation to students at Chase Middle School today
at 8 a.m. The group plans to involve the students in skits, give a
presentation and conduct a question and answer session for the
students about the dangers of meth.

The Task force also got an update on the Matrix program, which
includes the intensive treatment of meth addicts through the Western
Highlands mental health management entity.

Leslie McCrory of West-ern Highlands told the group that the program
has been approved for use in Rutherford County, but the entity is
still working to staff the program. The money for the program is
available and officials hope that it will be under way soon.

McCrory said that officials at New Vistas, the mental health company
that will administer the program, are looking for a therapist with a
master's level degree in substance abuse treatment.

The Matrix program is 20-years old and was developed in California
where the meth problem began drawing attention in the late 1970s.

The program boosts a 50 percent success rate in California. The SBI
has estimated that only 6 percent of addicts in North Carolina
recover from their addiction due in part to a lack of treatment
facilities that officials are hoping to increase in the coming years.

Rutherford County will be one of only four counties in the state to
offer the treatment program for meth addicts along with Buncombe,
Watauga and McDowell Counties.

Currently treatment options are limited and the Department of Social
Services is still seeing cases of parents who continue to test
positive for meth use.

Karen Adams, of the Department of Social Services, said that the need
for the Matrix program here is very strong.

Adams said that a lot of the addicts who are referred to treatment by
social workers have already go through the substance abuse treatment
programs that are currently available here du to prior addictions to
other drugs or alcohol.

The Matrix program is more intensive and offers more feedback to the
addicts family.

The task force also discussed the recent meth summit held at Western
Carolina University.

Sheriff Robert Holland, of Macon County, discussed a program there
that he oversees.

The program brings actual inmates, who are doing time for drug
charges, to the schools in the county to educate the students about
the dangers of drug abuse.

The Rutherford County Meth Task Force will consider starting a
similar program here.

Meth is a central nervous stimulant drug with street names like
speed, crank, ice and glass.

The use of meth can result in fatal kidney and lung disorders, brain
damage, liver damage, chronic depression, paranoia and other physical
and mental disorders, according to medical experts.

Officers have busted 18 meth labs in Rutherford County this year.