World File Photo Shooting methamphetamine into the body leaves tracks that can be seen and often become infected. Sharing needles could cause the users to become HIV positive.

The concept of a medicinal magic bullet was first proposed by the 19th-century German scientist Paul Ehrlich. He argued it was possible to devise a compound that could selectively target a disease-causing organism and eradicate it. Although vaccines have been developed to prevent the outbreak of a number of diseases since then, a cure-all drug for the sick has alluded the medical community.

In recent years, the South Coast has been searching for its own “magic bullet” to counteract the growing scourge of methamphetamine. Lawmakers in Salem have passed legislation, local groups have created neighborhood watches and law enforcement has been told to locate and demolish meth labs. But still, some see a need for greater law enforcement. Others want more treatment facilities. Improve the economy, some say while others think there needs to be greater community involvement. But nearly everyone agrees an inoculation of education about the effects of drug use is needed for children and adults.

The willingness appears to be there. But funding these projects may pose a problem.

“All give lip service to the problem, but I'm not certain anyone has taken it on fully because every solution costs money,” said former state Rep. Mike Lehman, now the general manager at Cardinal Services in Coos Bay.

While prefacing his comments as supposition, Lehman said both state and local law enforcement probably have fewer officers now than they did five years ago, while treatment facilities remain few and far between.

“We need to get people out of the cycle, and most can't quit on their own,” he said. “Effective after-care treatment can last 120 days, if not longer and there is just not the space.”

Treatment

One solution Lehman would like local businesses to adopt is more drug testing, both prior to employment and on occasion.

“Random testing is a more effective way to determine who is using, but beyond that, employers need to find ways of dealing with users short of termination,” he said.

One business that has such a program in place is The Mill Casino-Hotel in North Bend. According to Dena Miles, director of human resources, an employee service has been in place since 1996 that provides confidential references and opportunities to speak with councilors. For employees who can't work productively because of a drug addiction, mandatory treatment and counseling programs are available. Rather than firing such employees, Miles said the casino offers them a “last-chance agreement.” The program allows an outside professional to assess whether the employee is willing and able to address his problem.

“The program has been very successful,” Miles said. “The longer we have been offering the benefit, the fewer instances of observed cases we have had.”

Miles suggests the program works because it scares persistent drug users from applying for jobs, while creating an environment that encourages employees with problems to come forward.

“I think the employee base becomes better educated and they are more willing to speak up about others when they know their employer has a way to help them out,” she said.

For unemployed drug users or those without such benefits, Judy Moody sees a need for more treatment centers.

“People can recover. The bleak picture that once you use it, you never recover is a common one, but there are success stories,” said Moody, who is executive director at the Women's Safety and Resource Center in North Bend. “But our treatment centers are taxed to the max.”

If Sen. Joanne Verger had her druthers, she would like to see the state institute a program in which every county offers a 90-day residential housing program for drug rehabilitation. Given the high costs of such an endeavor, she sees the need for a public/private partnership.

“You have got to offer public assistance and help because if (drug users) don't have insurance, and many don't ... then they can't get help and we are just spinning our wheels,” she said.

Beyond the need for treatment centers, however, Moody thinks the community needs to focus on the problem of addiction itself.

“We can focus on meth, and it's a horrible drug, but we see just as much alcohol abuse and it's legal,” she said. “If you have the propensity for addiction, it can be anything. Sex. Drugs. Men. Even drama. Addicts needs to numb themselves because they can't face the world without something.”

Recently elected Coos County Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean suggested lowering meth use could be accomplished by limiting drugs of first use, typically tobacco and alcohol.

“(Tobacco and alcohol use) is a community norm that we perceive as ‘kids will be kids,'” he wrote in an e-mail. “But the whole approach of addressing or attacking one drug is not the answer and is ineffective. It needs to be a systematic approach to the entire spectrum of substance abuse.”

According to Moody, the fundamental problem with addiction is addicts can never be completely cured because they are always at risk of relapsing.

“Until we can teach children about life's problems and teach core values, the importance of self-esteem, you will continue to see addiction,” she said.

Education

It should come as no surprise that Dr. Judith Hansen, president of Southwestern Oregon Community College, agrees with Moody about the need for education.

“It may be the slowest solution, but the strongest outcome will come from students and parents alike knowing the effects of drugs and the better alternatives available if (students) continue in education,” she said.

Hansen suggested the educational process should begin as early as possible.

“It's important to start with a healthy lifestyle in preschool,” she said. “We need to teach personal responsibility, how to maintain a healthy body and eat the right kinds of foods.”

By the time they arrive at Southwestern, Hansen expects students to be able to know how to make the right decisions. But even so, the school offers seminars twice a year that examine the effects of drugs and how to stay clean.

Jim Wathen, CEO of Southern Coos Health District in Bandon, thinks getting parents more involved in the education process is key.

“I think education in school is important and having information available for the parents so they continue discussions in the home needs to take place,” he said.

For people without children, Barry Hayes, mall manager of the Pony Village Mall in North Bend, suggests they support education programs.

“If schools offer education or the city offers a class on meth, we need to support those organizations that are trying to get a hold of the problem,” he said.

In Dan Smith's opinion, the best way to educate older youth is to be perfectly blunt about the consequences of meth use.

“We need to show them the physiological effect on their skin, on their teeth, on their hair. It basically ruins their bodies,” said Smith, president and CEO of Bay Area Hospital in Coos Bay. “There needs to be a shock value. It needs to make everyone understand how devastating this drug is.”

Community involvement

Smith also thinks it is important to get neighborhoods involved.

“A lot of people don't think they have had any contact with meth but people do a good job hiding their addiction,” he said. “People need to help locate people who are using or manufacturing but they shouldn't think of it as punitive project, but a chance to help them out. If they ignore it, it will just keep perpetuating itself.”

Community awareness is what Traci GeDeros, vice president of marketing at Oregon First Community Credit Union in Coquille, thinks is critical.

“At Oregon First, we believe that creating awareness of the tragic effects that abusing meth has on individuals and families is important in helping resolve the problem,” she wrote in an e-mail. “Working together in our communities to educate the public ... is a great start.”

Timm Slater, president of the Coos Bay-North Bend Rotary, agrees that it is at the local level where change can be made.

“All answers are not in government. Standing as a community, we can ferret out those that are using drugs; and teach our youth it's not going to be all fun and it will screw things up for you in the long run,” he said.

He pointed to the success of neighborhood watch groups, which operated as additional pairs of eyes for law enforcement.

“It seemed like those groups brought the issues out, led neighbors to talk about it,” he said. “People would stand in places where drugs were supposedly being used and what they found was turned over to the police.”

Earlene Brown, owner of Prudential Seaboard Properties in Coos Bay, also remembers a program she thought made a difference.

“One thing the board of Realtors used to do was educate Realtors to look for signs of meth production in properties and signs of how they cook it,” she said. “We haven't done that in a couple years, and I would like to see that back again.”

She also endorsed stricter punishment for drug dealers.

“There should be harsher punishment for people who are dealing the drugs. Not the little people but the big suppliers,” she said. “Find out the people who are at the end of that.”

Greg Aldridge, executive director of development at Coquille Economic Development Corp., the primary business arm of the Coquille Indian Tribe, thinks any solution will be expensive, though prevention would be less of a strain to the public purse than treatment. His appeal was to drug users rather than to the public at large.

“Find a new set of friends as quickly as possible and get out of the scene,” he said. “You have got to have other stuff going on.”

Because people may be leery of supporting previously proposed policies, Aldridge recommended a new tack.

“People should be willing to put tax dollars behind programs that have worked,” he said. “We need to look at other countries where they may have had more success.”

Greg Stevens, publisher of The World, agreed that money is what will make a solution feasible or not. To solve the fiduciary problem, he offered some ideas.

“I'm not sure where the money would come from. I am not a governmental funding expert. If $200 per year could be produced from every household in Coos County, whether through property, cigarette, sales or some combination of taxes, that would produce over $6 million dollars,” he said. “Could funding like that better equip law enforcement to respond to calls from concerned residents about meth labs next door? Fund stricter sentences for cookers? Rehabilitation for users with promise? I think so.”

If that fails, Michael A. Gordon, CPA in Coos Bay, has a supply-side solution that might deter distribution of the synthetic drug.

“I say castrate the producers,” Smith said.

He sounded serious.

They all did.