Recently released statistics have Kosciusko County ranked second in the state for methamphetamine lab seizures.
According to the Indiana State Police Methamphetamine Suppression Section, the county had 85 meth labs seized in 2010. Vanderburgh County topped the list with 95, while Elkhart County had 71, and Marshall County seizing 53.
Of ongoing concern is the disagreement of how to handle the problem: Should medications, which contain pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in methamphetamine, become prescription only, or can a point of purchase tracking system curtail the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine?
Mississippi made cold medication with PSE prescription only and saw a 68-percent drop in methamphetamine use. Oregon did the same, and within the first six months saw a 72 percent decline in meth activity, followed by a further 40 percent reduction during the next six-month time period.
By comparison, the state of Kentucky saw a 248-percent increase in meth lab seizures after implementing a meth check system of tracking.
Kosciusko County Sheriff Rocky Goshert sees the results of methamphetamine manufacture and use on a daily basis.
"We'd like to see anything with PSEs become prescription only," he said. "We're backing that idea in this department and in this county. The fact is that it does cut down on meth labs and all that goes along with them."
Goshert said the Indiana Sheriff's Association favors the tracking method.
"While there are good aspects of tracking that can be used for investigative purposes, I believe the only way we can truly fight it is making the main ingredient prescription only," he said.
According to Goshert, his department is not afraid to face the problem head on.
"Are we the worst county? No. And we're definitely not afraid to report about what's going on," he said. "We see what we're doing as part of educating the public. And it's working because the best assistance we get comes from citizens who call in and who know what to look for. And we check out every call. I think of our citizens as our eyes and ears when it comes to this problem."
When Drug Task Force officers respond to calls, areas are checked out thoroughly, which includes keeping track of any discarded elements of the methamphetamine manufacturing process, or "meth trash".
Officers also will keep track of who is in and out of any given area, who actually lives in the neighborhood and who doesn't.
Goshert stressed that that no traffic stops are made unless there is probable cause, such as a traffic violation, and it's through something as simple as a traffic stop that has taken many dealers and meth "cookers" off the streets.
"We want to see meth gone," Goshert said. "It has ramifications for every citizen of this county. The citizens pay through their tax dollars to deal with this problem on a daily basis."
It costs roughly $100 a day to keep a person in the county jail, and, on average, 220 to 230 are incarcerated on any given day.
In 2010, the Drug Task Force managed 128 cases. Forty-seven of these were active meth labs, ones that were "cooking" or in production at the time they were found. This figure does not represent all meth labs seized, though, and it's not the total number of arrests. According to Goshert, there were 173 felony arrests and 14 misdemeanor arrests involving methamphetamine for 2010.
Goshert is unsure of the exact amount of methamphetamine taken off the streets, but by comparison, in 2010, one-and-one-half pounds of cocaine were seized, with only 35 ounces of that drug seized in 2009. Eleven pounds of marijuana were seized in 2010, with 20 ounces seized in 2009.
Along with the cost of incarceration, Goshert said, most often people brought in on meth charges who have been long-time users have severe, ongoing medical needs, which will be taken care of while they're in jail.
"It's expensive to take care of the medical needs of these inmates as well as house and feed them," Goshert said. "A good example of a cost most people would never think of is when a person is burned in a meth explosion and has to be transported by Life Flight helicopter to Fort Wayne. It's between $10-15,000 just for that ride. That's not even the cost of their treatment once they get there. Who's going to pay for that if they don't have any kind of insurance?"
In spite of the tremendous stress and cost of dealing with Kosciusko County's methamphetamine problem, Goshert is extremely proud and thankful for the Kosciusko County Prosecutor's Office, and all local police departments countywide.
"Everyone in all branches of law enforcement in this county has been working together as a community," Goshert said. "We're not afraid to admit that we have a problem here."Indiana House Bill 1030, a bill to require scheduling of pseudoephedrine - requiring prescriptions for cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine - may be dead this legislative session.
Sherry Beck, legislative liason for the Indiana State Police, said this morning that the House Committee on Public Health "held" the bill Wednesday.
That means the bill was essentially tabled, with the committee taking no action.
In order to meet a Monday deadline for a committee report, the bill would have had to come out of committee Wednesday. The committee will not meet again before Monday.
Committee members said they were waiting to see the outcome of a bill traveling through the Senate.
The bill coming out of the Senate is an electronic tracking bill, Beck said, and does not include a provision for returning PSE cold meds to prescription status.
The Senate bill could be amended to include a scheduling provision, but that outcome is viewed as unlikely.
