[Vision2020] Is Meth my Neighbor? PSA

[Jennifer McFarland]

Visionaries:

I will attempt to answer each of Mr. Hanson's questions as best I can:

How prevalent is meth in Latah County?
	It is difficult to judge prevalence of a particular drug since usage
is normally covert.  That is, people don't generally smoke/inject/insufflate
meth in public venues.  A lot of how we (on the front lines in law
enforcement) judge prevalence has to do with what we see on a daily
basis--which most of us thinks speaks louder than statistics, etc.  Our
deputies have seen meth in every community in Latah County; from Genesee to
Bovill, Potlatch to Juliaetta, to only about a block away from my mother's
house in a nice neighborhood in Moscow, our deputies have confronted meth
use, abuse, and production.  Not a single community is untouched by meth.  


What has been the trend over the past five or ten years?  Has its use and
sale increased?
	I do not have statistics as far back as ten years.  Looking at our
annual reports from 2000 to 2003, the following was evidenced: In 2000, LCSO
made 37 arrests for drug offences; in 2001, there were 20; in 2002, there
were 18; and in 2003, there were 34.  Note that these numbers only reflect
arrests made for drug offenses (all drug offenses) and that they only
reflect those made by the Latah County Sheriff's Office.  This is
significant because we cannot stat cases made jointly by the Quad Cities
Drug Task Force as "Latah County Arrests," nor do our arrests include any
made by the Moscow Police Department--which is perhaps significantly more
burdened by meth as the population base of Moscow exceeds that of the rest
of the county in chief.  Anecdotally, and without statistical basis--only
experiential observation--not only has sale and use increased, but so have
serious addiction and problems related to serious addiction.  As evidence of
this I point to the Bradley Scott Jacobs case; Mr. Jacobs pleaded guilty to
giving his eleven and thirteen year old children meth in front of Judge
Stegner last week.  Insofar as availability is concerned, I've had students
at various high schools in the county tell me that if I gave them twenty
minutes, they could come back with meth or pretty much any other drug of
choice.

Outside of those observations, I made the PSA at the request of a patrol
deputy who was concerned with what he was seeing on the streets.  Generally,
if our deputies see something as an increased cause for alarm--it usually
is.  For specific national and regional trends about meth use and trends, I
direct you to the ONDCP publication at this link; 
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/drugfact/pulsechk/summer97/
pcappa.html

I hope this clarifies my reason for the posting.

--Jennie

Jennifer L. McFarland
Detective/Public Information Officer
Latah County Sheriff's Office
PO Box 8068
Moscow, Idaho 83843
(208) 882-2216

Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.
***Ralph Waldo Emerson


-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Hansen [mailto:thansen at moscow.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 07:24
To: 'Jennifer McFarland'; 'Vision2020 Moscow'
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Is Meth my Neighbor? PSA


Deputy McFarland -

How prevalent is Meth in Latah County?  What has been the trend over the
past five or ten years?  Has its use and sale increased?

I realize that it is easily manufactured and (as such) can become quick,
easy money for those without scruples.

I ask this because; for a sheriff's deputy to bring it up in a public forum,
I get the impression that it is becoming more and more available here in
Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are
dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all
exist very nicely in the same box. 
-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Jennifer McFarland
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 7:05 AM
To: 'Vision2020 Moscow'
Subject: [Vision2020] Is Meth my Neighbor? PSA

Visionaries:
Now for something completely different . . . Here's a little PSA about Meth
labs--a subject about which I'd be glad to entertain any questions.

--Jennie

Jennifer L. McFarland
Detective/Public Information Officer
Latah County Sheriff's Office
PO Box 8068
Moscow, Idaho 83843
(208) 882-2216

Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.
***Ralph Waldo Emerson


-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer McFarland [mailto:jmcfarland at latah.id.us] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 07:02
To: jmcfarland at latah.id.us
Subject: PDF File