THE TOLL METH TAKES

"...it enhances the pleasure center of the brain, which includes the chemical neurotransmitter dopamine. However, eventually the brain has no more dopamine in reserve and the meth user cannot achieve the effect anymore. Without dopamine, a person loses interest in everything other than satisfying the addiction, Mann said.  (Grant County Chief Deputy Mark Mann)." (Citizens needed to expose local meth labs, Columbia Basin, February 4, 2002) 

        

Meth is an insidious drug that not only negatively affects the user, but also, perhaps more than any other drug, destroys families, communities, and innocent parties. The innocent victim may be the wife that is beaten up, the child that has no control over her environment, the person shot in a convenience store during a robbery, the landlord unaware of the devaluation of his land due to chemical dumping, or the person involved in a traffic collision where the driver at fault was under the influence of meth.

Daily news stories tell us that meth is a very real problem in our state and especially in our rural communities.