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OBITUARIES
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NO OBITUARY NOTICES
WERE PUBLISHED IN
THIS WEEK'S EDITION
OBITUARIES FROM THE
JULY 15TH ISSUE
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03-11-2010 Drug Abuse Awareness Meeting Held in Panaca
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People attending Drug Awareness meeting in Panaca
Photo by Dave Maxwell
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Drug Abuse Awareness Meeting Held in Panaca
By Dave Maxwell
Drug abuse and awareness, both in the county and its communities was the topic of a town hall meeting held at the Panaca Fire House March 3. Presentations were given by Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee along with Sergeant Kenji Okuma and Detective Chris Brewer, both with the Eastern Nevada Narcotics Task Force in Ely.
In his remarks, Sheriff Lee said a growing problem is teens, and some adults, too, stealing various types of over-the-counter pain medications, cold and flu remedies, and/or prescription drugs from the household medicine cabinets of friends. In some cases, Lee noted, “it might be friends of your own kids, or even a stranger, who comes to your door and asks to use the bathroom.” Any medications found there might be stolen right from under your nose, he explained. Sergeant Okuma said only a few pills might be taken and the homeowner might not even realize some are missing. He noted a case of a person in Caliente recently, who had been going door to door, asking to use the bathroom, and stealing the meds.
Lee said alcohol awareness is another problem that needs to be watched. “Sometimes we forget about alcohol and don’t think of it being maybe something as bad as methamphetamines. But it can turn deadly very quickly, whether it is drinking and driving, or alcohol poisoning.”
Okuma said prescription drugs are more dangerous than is commonly believed, because many times the drugs have been stolen and a person taking a drug, not intended for their system, can have fatal reactions. “We truly want to make sure that people are educated that mixing prescription drugs can cause adverse affects. They can actually work against each other and shut down the human body.”
He said the Eastern Nevada Narcotics Task Force wants to be available to provide training to any one who wants it, i.e. community organizations, schools, companies, etc. “All they have to do is ask, and we will be happy to come and give a presentation.”
Officers said problems not only exist with methamphetamines, but heroin is becoming popular again, along with LSD and Ecstasy. “Prevention can’t rest only on law enforcement, it must be in the home also,” Sheriff Lee said. Parents, as well as teachers, need to learn what clues to look for and play close attention.
“What do we look for?” Lee said. “When a kid has a behavior that is not typical to them, he or she,” Sudden loss of normal interests, rapid weight loss, change of friends and associations, even not wanting to be around parents, are only a few of many things. “Prevention has to go the whole realm of everything. If the parents aren't willing to get involved, then we are going to have a real hard time to help the kid.”
Something that is becoming quite popular are what the officers called “Pharm Parties,” where drugs of every imaginable kind, even aspirin, are simply put into the pot and kids, teens, adults, whomever, can pop whatever and how much they want. Damn the consequence, the high is the most important thing.
“Pharm parties were very popular in the ‘60s and ‘70s and are coming around again,” Okuma stated.
Detective Brewer said a person does not have to be selling drugs to be considered a “distributor (pusher).” Even if you give drugs to someone else for getting high, “if that kid dies, essentially they have committed at least manslaughter, if not possibly, second-degree murder, a Category B felony. A very high felony, a serious crime.”
Lee said many times, when drug cases come into the hospital emergency room, “You don’t know what they have taken. What do the doctors treat them for when they don’t know what they have taken? That’s the scary part. You don’t know what the adverse reaction is going to be, because it’s not known what was taken.”
Lee pointed out that drug problems in the county effect the entire community and it is the community’s responsibility to stop this. “You are part of our task force,” Brewer said.
You’re involvement is our success.”
Methamphetamines are not only in powder or pill form, but other forms as well. Sgt. Okuma said he was familiar with meth being made into a liquid and brushed as a sheen on the surface of collectable baseball cards. He said the “transportation, distribution, and use of these controlled substances is only limited by the imagination of the people who use them.”
Drug trends of today Okuma said, can be learned by simply getting on the Internet. “You can learn everything you want to know about drugs there. And the kids are doing it; at class in school, on their laptops at home, everywhere. You can learn how to cook it, ingest it, shoot it, snort it, eat it, smoke it, even turn it into a different substance altogether. You can ingest it in any way possible. The same is also true for heroin.”
He added, “Get on the internet and type in drugs, and you’ll be surprised at the thousands of hits you’ll get.”
When drug use is suspected, officers said the best thing is to call the Sheriff’s Office or the Eastern Nevada Narcotics Task Force in Ely. Okuma said, “Silence is really acceptance.”
Methamphetamines are big money today, he said, “Gold is not even close to the value of meth, and anyone can make it. If you can bake a cake, you can make meth.” But it can be very, very dangerous, he added.
Sgt. Okuma said the common path from drug users seems to go from alcohol first, to weed, to meth, to cocaine, to heroin. The next big influx expected in rural Nevada, he said, is likely to be heroin. “Whatever happens in the big cities eventually filters into the smaller communities.”
Even marijuana is being super-charged by new technology today to be eight times stronger than it was in the 1960s, he said. “It is a seriously addictive drug and people don’t realize it.”
In regards to being watchful in the community, officers advised people to be aware of activities or even people, and who they associate with, that look unusual or out of place and make the phone call. “Small clues that we need to start an investigation,” said Brewer. “Or if necessary, write down license plate numbers. If it turns out to be unfounded, then it’s unfounded.”
Okuma concluded the program by saying that “Through education there is awareness, and through awareness there is action.”
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