By Michelle Dynes
The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The images are disturbing.
Men and women modeled the open sores and rotten teeth courtesy of a meth makeover. But the signs of abuse depicted in the ad campaign do not identify every user.
Cheyenne-Laramie County Methamphetamine Coordinator Lisa Scholz said one of the most common questions she hears is whether the drug has infected the community. She added that when people don’t encounter these billboard figures walking down the street, they assume methamphetamine isn’t a problem in their neighborhood.
Scholz joined employers, treatment providers and members of law enforcement Tuesday to discuss the ongoing battle against methamphetamine and a new Wyoming campaign focusing on “Life After Meth.”
Federal Deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns said 10 years ago people thought these addicts didn’t have a chance. And during his time as a county attorney and chief prosecutor in Utah, he agreed.
See METH, page A7"I would take the kids away immediately,” he said. “I was one of those people who said there was no hope. Thank goodness I was wrong.”
Robert Keney said he started using methamphetamine as a teenager. Today he celebrates three years of sobriety, and his experience is one of 22 featured in the “Life After Meth” campaign.
“My story is not about what I did,” he said. “It is about what I am doing.”
The first time he entered treatment, the prevailing attitude told him he wouldn’t succeed. Now Keney tells others that recovery is possible.
A decade ago, there was a single drug court in Wyoming. Today there are 23, said Rodger McDaniel, deputy director of the Department of Health’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse Division. Since 1999, high-school students reported a 30 percent drop in methamphetamine use. The number of recovering addicts citing methamphetamine as their drug of choice decreased 20 percent.
“Although meth remains a big problem, there are signs of hope in Wyoming,” McDaniel said.
Kebin Haller from the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation said the number of methamphetamine cases and laboratories has dropped statewide. Between 2001 and 2005, there were 145 lab incidents in the state. The total peaked at 61 cases in 2002. Last year the number dropped to three.
At the same time, meth-related crime remains high in Wyoming. Nearly 66 percent of federal drug cases involved methamphetamine in 2005.
Burns said now that pharmacy products with pseudoephedrine are located behind the counter, methamphetamine production has moved from U.S. laboratories to sites in Mexico. He added that by Jan. 1, the country will no longer import pseudoephedrine. By 2009, the ingredient will be classified as a controlled substance.
But these efforts will only limit methamphetamine production on this side of the globe. And additional shipments are arriving from China, India and Germany, Burns said.
McDaniel said this is a typical pattern in the drug trade.
“It’s nice to see the downturn, but we can never go to sleep,” he added. “That is drug trafficking. Someone else will pick it up. There will be someone to fill that void. It’s not over, and it never will be. This drug, in my opinion, is the worst I’ve ever seen.”
Burns said many East Coast communities are experiencing the impacts of methamphetamine for the first time. But the decade-old battle against the drug in the West offers new hope for treatment and recovery.
“Wyoming has a level of sophistication with this issue that is born from years and years of suffering,” he said. “Now we are starting to see wonderful results. The message here is we’re not done but there is hope and there is life after meth.”
Copyright 2007 Wyoming Tribune-Eagle