Tuesday night community leaders and members met at Center Lake Pavilion to learn about the meth problem in Kosciusko County.
Tuesday night was the meth workshop sponsored by the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, Serenity House and the Meth Awareness Partnership. At the meeting intended to inform the public about meth and how the county and public is dealing with it were state representative Rebecca Kubacki, Syracuse town Marshal Tony Ciriello and Kosciusko County Prosecutor Dan Hampton.
Mary Gerard, coordinator for the Meth Awareness Partnership, began the evening by introducing Kubacki and reminding the public that during the last session of legislation Kubacki attempted to pass a bill that would make pseudoephedrine a scheduled drug.
Kubacki said that she would attempt to reintroduce the bill this year. The only difference is that the meth problem has grown and the bill is picking up steam.
“The biggest complaint is I don’t want to have to pay $80 to get a prescription. I don’t have the money,” Kubacki said. “What you don’t realize is how much is already coming out of your pocket because of meth.”
Kubacki went on to talk about the issue at hand – making meth a scheduled drug.
“There will always be something else to use, but that doesn’t mean we ignore the problem,” Kubacki said. “It frustrates me to know that there is something we can do about it and we aren’t doing it. I will introduce the bill again. It is gaining momentum and we are starting to get a lot of support.”
At the last legislative session more than 40 people gave testimony that pseudoephedrine needed to be a scheduled drug, but then the lobbyist for the drug companies got up and made a short speech and the assembly voted against her bill.
“We are not going to let six people decide what is good for our community,” Kubacki said. “I am counting on all of you to help me get the bill passed. When the names of the committee members are released I will publish them so that you can contact them and let them know what you want done. They are only hearing one side of the story.”
Continuing with reports from community leaders, Gerard introduced Ciriello. The town marshal informed the public that he was watched the meth problem over the last 16 years and said it has reached epidemic proportions in Kosciusko County.
“The epidemic levels aren’t so much the issue,” Ciriello said. “It’s the health issues. The dangers that are associated with it are real. More and more people are injured from these mom and pop meth labs.”
“Can we stop the meth use? Probably not,” Ciriello said. “But can we stop the inherent danger to our community? Absolutely.”
Ciriello said that his department has worked with the Kosciusko County Drug Task Force and they cannot see an end to the problem.
“I talked to a probation worker. She has 150 people on probation and two thirds of her clients are in jail on probation because of meth related crimes,” Ciriello said. “Sixty percent of those in jail are there for meth related crimes.”
“Just a couple weeks ago we were taking back some stolen property to its owner,” Ciriello said. “While the officer is knocking on the door he said, ‘I know that smell,’ and he found and active meth lab inside the home. It happens a lot.”
Ciriello classified meth as a serious problem in the community and one that will not go away unless there is legislation against it.
“We need to work to gether as a team, not just law enforcement and legislators but all of us,” Ciriello said. “We have a prosecutor that is proactive on this and we have some really good judges. We are going to make a difference in this community and probably everyone else’s too.”
After Ciriello mentioned Hampton, it was his turn to update the community on the meth problem. Hampton let the audience know that they have centralized the drug enforcement program.
“The heads of the departments identified their drug officers to be the lead agencies on the program,” Hampton said. “They meet every Tuesday morning to share information and investigations.”
The three departments designated as lead agencies are Warsaw Police Department, KCSD and Syracuse Police Department. Hampton went on to expand upon the centralization of the drug enforcement program.
“The drug problem does not know jurisdictions,” Hampton said. “The other non-lead drug agencies have an officer that is identified as the drug officer so we can share information throughout the entire county.”
“It starts at the grassroots,” Hampton said. “The police officers get their information from the community, that’s how we get our information. I encourage you to get with your local agency.”
The remaining portion of the workshop was used by the Indiana State Police Meth Suppression Team as an informational session to the public. Part two of the meth workshop will be in tomorrow’s Times-Union.
