Ledger-Dispatch

By Scott Thomas Anderson (sanderson@ledger-dispatch.c= om)=20

Jackie Long, commander of the Amador = County=20 Combined Narcotics Enforcement Team, speaks at a town hall meeting = on drug=20 awareness sponsored by the Ione Police Department.

Photo by: Scott Thomas=20 Anderson
Throughout his many years in law = enforcement, Ione Police Chief Michael Johnson has seen first hand the=20 devastating impact drugs can have on a community.

In an effort to = save as=20 many families in Amador as possible from learning those same lessons, = Johnson=20 organized a town hall meeting Thursday night at which experts weighed in = on what=20 parents could do to prevent their children from becoming = addicts.

Held at=20 the Evalynn Bishop Hall in Ione, the event's panel included Amador = County Chief=20 Probation Officer Mark Bonini; Ione Fire Chief Ken Mackey; School = Resource=20 Officer Rod Fisher of the Sutter Creek Police Department; Narcotics = Anonymous=20 member Gary Tarplee; Liz MacLeod, prevention coordinator with the Amador = County=20 Recreation Agency; and the county's director of behavioral health, = George=20 Sonsel. In the audience were Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan and = several=20 members of the Amador Boosters.

The keynote speaker of the = evening was=20 Jackie Long, commander of the Amador County Combined Narcotics = Enforcement=20 Team.

Now celebrating its one-year anniversary, the special task = force=20 has seen some major successes in its infancy, including capturing a = longtime=20 fugitive, alleged drug trafficker Albert Fernandez, and raiding several=20 large-scale marijuana and methamphetamine operations that were linked to = national drug cartels. However, Long's expertise in dealing with illegal = narcotics goes beyond storming meth labs with his weapon drawn. The = commander=20 has thorough knowledge of how various drugs interact with the human = body. A firm=20 believer in treatment, he's also interviewed thousands of drug addicts = about the=20 personal conditions that led to their dependency.

Long spoke = about a=20 variety of topics, including dangerous new trends in abusing = over-the-counter=20 cold medications and legal inhalants. He identified opiates as some of = the most=20 addictive drugs he's come across, remarking, "the withdrawals from them = won't=20 kill you, but you'll still wish you could die."

Long went on to = explain=20 that Methadone was becoming one of the most highly-abused drugs in the = country,=20 and that there were now super-engineered forms of marijuana that were = far more=20 powerful and addictive than the forms some members of the public view as = harmless.

Long ended his presentation by showing graphic = photographs of=20 the toll meth use takes on the human body - particularly on people's = faces. His=20 slides included picked-open sores and craters, as well as side-by-side = mug shots=20 of meth addicts on their first arrest, and then an arrest five years = later. The=20 pictures appeared to get Long's message across. Audience members gasped = as the=20 slides popped up on screen.

Once the panel began to speak with = the=20 audience, a number of parents asked questions about how to recognize the = early=20 signs of drug use. Two members of Narcotics Anonymous told their own = personal=20 stories and Long, Johnson and Fisher all gave tips on behavioral = patterns to=20 look for, each stressing that, because of the Internet, teenagers in = Amador=20 could buy any drug they wanted to experiment with.

"There is some = technology that can help parents monitor what their kids are doing = online,"=20 observed Bonini. "But the simplest and cheapest option is the obvious = one - put=20 your computer in a common area of the house where everyone can always = see what's=20 on it."

When it came to parents' complaints that there was = nothing for=20 their kids to do in Amador County, MacLeod outlined several options her=20 organization had put together for the purpose of providing drug-free=20 alternatives. After the question came up for the fourth time during the = town=20 hall, Johnson offered his perspective.

"Having nothing to do may = be a=20 factor to look at," he said. "But that is not the end all of this = problem. The=20 issues rural communities are having with drug abuse are the same ones = that are=20 happening in the cities, where there's literally hundreds of other = things to=20 do.

"We can't just blame this problem on boredom because it goes = a lot=20 deeper than that," Johnson continued. "The key is parents being involved = in=20 their children's lives, along with intervention and support from the = entire=20 community. I worked in other areas where the people have basically lost = their=20 cities to drugs. It's incumbent on each of us to take action."

Scott Thomas = Anderson