Post by Teresa on Feb 3, 2006 20:08:04 GMT -5
CUMMING -- Methamphetamine has become the new drug of choice in Georgia. It has been estimated that one in 40 people in Georgia are active meth users. However, in north Georgia it is estimated to be more like one in 10.
According to Jesse Hambrick Jr., coordinator of the Douglas County Methamphetamine Task Force, meth is one of the most addictive substances known to man. Meth is a central nervous system stimulant, which causes the brain to overproduce certain chemicals, mainly adrenaline and dopamine.
Methamphetamine is currently reaching epidemic proportions across north Georgia. It is for that very reason that local and state officials came together for the North Region Methamphetamine Community Action Summit II on Friday, July 24, at the Sawnee Center in Cumming. Participants from the Dawson County area were: Bindy Auvermann, mentoring coordinator; Elaine Langley, director of Family Connections; Amanda Polman, administrator at family connection; Amber Miller, juvenile justice; and Jerry Scohier, school resource officer.
Participants in the event had the option of taking two out of four different sessions. The sessions were: law enforcement track, family track, coalition track and legislative track.
The Law Enforcement Track was led by Special Investigator and Coordinator of the Douglas County Meth Task Force, Jesse Hambrick Jr. Hambrick is Clandestine Laboratory Certified Technician and is certified as a Clandestine Lab Site Safety Supervisor through the DEA. He is responsible for developing and teaching many different courses to local law enforcement, volunteer groups, private citizens and school administrators in areas such as drug identification and recognition.
The task force he coordinates is the first of its kind in Georgia. It has gained the status of being the first DEC program in Georgia and also successfully the first pseudoephedrine regulation in this state.
The Family Track was led by Candee Winfield, LPC. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and National Certified Counselor. She has a master's degree in clinical psychology, completed graduate work at psychological studies Institute and has been in the field for more than 10 years. Winfield has extensive experience working with families who are in crisis.
She is also experienced at stabilizing those families in crisis and helping them to deal with the issues of substance abuse, sexual abuse and domestic violence. She has been a trainer in the North West Georgia region for a year. Her collaboration with the Family Support Council, Children and Families First and the Highland Rivers Women's Substance Abuse programs has helped educate the community and the leaders of those communities on understanding the impact, effects and dangers of meth. Winfield has developed a community awareness curriculum that has helped educate many families.
Kay Manning, LCSW, MAC, also helped in the presentation of the Family Track. Manning is a graduate of the University of Georgia and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and master addiction counselor. She is currently employed through the Council on Alcohol and Drugs as its associate project director. She brings five years of experience providing therapeutic interventions with children, families and adolescents.
The Coalition Track was led by Phil Falcetti, Joel Hardy and Becky Vaughn. Falcetti, MPH, CHES, with more than 15 years experience in the health education field, has held many professional and community leadership positions on alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention. Currently he is the director and founder of the Community Alliance Net-work, which is the prevention program for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency-Orange County.
Falcetti also serves as the chair of the Orange County Meth Task Force and the Orange County Tobacco Use Prevention Coalition and is the County of Orange Board of Supervisors' appointed community liaison for the Master Settlement Agreement representing alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention and treatment services.
Joel Hardy is a part of the staff of The Council on Alcohol and Drugs. He has worked closely with efforts to increase state and local policy development, compliance and enforcement of activities surrounding the Federal Fair Housing Act. He is currently the director of the Georgia Alcohol Policy Partnership and is the head of the Council on Alcohol and Drugs' Office of Public Policy.
Becky Vaughn has worked in the substance abuse field for over 20 years. Vaughn was an original board member of The Georgia Association for the Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse. She is responsible for providing education through such methods as training and advocacy on local, state and national levels, which is to ensure that all Georgians get appropriate and timely service. Vaughn also represents Georgia on the executive committee of the State Associations for Addiction Services Coalition in Washington, D.C. She has served on several state committees and panels.
The legislative track was led by Rep. Jay Neal and Christopher Wood. Rep. Jay Neal is currently in his first term of office. He represents District 1, which includes parts of Walker and Catoosa Counties. He currently serves as the vice chairman of the Public Safety Committee and expanded his service through membership on the Economic Development & Tourism, Children & Youth Services and Natural Resources & Environmental Committees.
Christopher Wood, C.P. III, has been in the field of substance abuse prevention for around 15 years. Thirteen of those years were spent in upstate New York as a prevention provider.
He has worked for Georgia's Department of Human Resources, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases for the past year and a half. Most recently, he is working in the capacity of as the State Prevention Specialist in Atlanta.
All four tracks looked at different areas that methamphetamine needs to be attacked from. No matter what sessions were taken, there was one consensus across the boards that a Community Coalition is the best way to make changes and that the meth problem in Georgia demands that everyone come together to not only stop the problem that we currently have, but to prevent the problem from growing.
Originally published Wednesday, July 6, 2005