Letter to the Editor, Posted: 3/16/05
To the editor:
I would like to commend and thank the staff of the local Community Partnership with Youth and Families for their efforts in presenting an excellent and educational methamphetamine forum Wednesday, Feb. 23, at the Hazelden Foundation.
Along with Community Partnershipís displays, Hazelden, the Minnesota National Guard and Chisago County Public Health provided informative displays and brochures. Nationally renowned drug addiction authority Carol Falkowski of Hazelden and Special Agent Paul Stevens presented a great deal of information in a way that the 120 representatives of various area agencies and organizations could readily digest and absorb it.
Thankfully, the Legislature enacted a measure requiring retailers to keep over-the-counter medications containing pseudophrine behind their counters. Such a measure adopted in Oklahoma reduced that stateís reported meth labs by 80 percent, according to Agent Stevens. And meth labs here in Minnesota are spreading like wildfire, because methamphetamine is so easy to make. All amateur manufacturers have to do is use any number of easily obtainable hazardous materials to remove all the ingredients other than pseudophrine from such medications.
The problem with the meth labs is not just the spread of addiction, but the amount of hazardous waste that results from the process and the dangers to public safety representatives in dealing with the labs. Thatís why everyone needs to be educated about the drug and its effects ñ law enforcement officials call it the scourge of the drug world. So donít miss the next opportunity you have to attend a meth forum, and read all you can on the subject. Well-informed youth, parents and grandparents are the primary defense against the spread of meth labs and addiction to the drug.
Once again, I commend Community Partnership for a highly successful presentation.
L.S. Bolinger
North Branch
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