Methland = USA

Oelwein, Iowa, described in Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding, gets the Manhattan condescension treatment via New York Times book review:

The madness stalking tiny, defenseless Oelwein may eventually come for all of us...

Methamphetamine already has come for "us," Princeton boy. It's in Iowa and it's everywhere, even in places that matter to regular New York Times readers. Reding first picked up the trail in Idaho. From the Los Angeles Times review:

Journalist Nick Reding stumbled into Gooding, Idaho, in 1999, to report a magazine story about ranching... It was there that Reding first encountered crystal methamphetamine, and he didn't just see it in one place. It was everywhere... (A)s the meth epidemic exploded across small-town America... (a) book took root in his mind...

The book is excerpted here and here. Also reviewed in the Seattle Times and the Boston Globe. Remember, as the Washington Post review says:

(B)ig-city ignorance - fueled by the media - toward small-town decay is both dangerous and appalling.

Via Think Outside the Cage and The Real Costs of Prison Weblog

ID: "while a person's clean and sober we should be helping them with options"

From the Times-News:

Program progression - Twin Falls County Jail tries treatment to ease crowding

A rare look at the Twin Falls County Jail and a new drug program that will be available for those serving time for drug crimes...

AS: tweaking, fa'a Samoa

Take one of this blog's long-time preoccupations, add one of its odd enthusiasms, and what do you get? Methamphetamine news from American Samoa. From Radio New Zealand:

Public Defender warns of growing drug problem in American Samoa

The American Samoa Public Defender, Ruth Risch, has urged the territory to pay attention to the growing drug problem...

And this too from the AmSam p.d.:

She says expulsion of high school students who drink, smoke or cause fights is the worst type of discipline...

Couldn't agree more, particularly on days when my clients are going into detention for being expelled. Like I've said, paradise.

WA: acting weird - now constitutionally protected in Washington State

See what a little motion to suppress can do. From the Olympian:

WA court: Police pat-downs can't be based on odd behavior

In another nod to the Washington Constitution's broad privacy protections, the state Supreme Court has thrown out the drug conviction of a man who was searched by police solely because of his weird behavior. Thursday's unanimous decision reinforces the rules for simple pat-downs under state law, which offers stronger safeguards against police searches than the U.S. Constitution...

The case is State v. Setterstrom (pdf file).

From Eye on Olympia:

Meth conviction tossed out; police frisk was unjustified...

An officer may frisk a person... if stopping the person was justifiable, if the officer has "a reasonable concern of danger" and the scope of the search is limited to finding weapons. But Setterstrom presented no reasonable danger, the court ruled. His "nervous, fidgety behavior" wasn't enough. There were no threatening gestures or words. And he remained sitting down. And it's not unreasonable to think that people filling out a state benefits form for unemployment might "exhibit erratic behavior..."

Big salute to Thurston County public defender Deborah Murphy, who preserved the issue at the trial level.

ID: drug court gadfly

Long profile of a flinty Drug Court client, from the Boise Weekly:

Head Banger - Paul Rogers' fight against Idaho law, and how it almost worked

Paul Rogers never planned to move to Idaho. He never planned to spend five years bouncing in and out of jail and prison. But then, he never really planned to get so caught up with meth that it would bring his life to a sudden halt.

He also never planned to change Idaho law. But with a ruling (pdf file) from the Idaho Supreme Court last fall, this unlikely source forced a change in the way drug courts around Idaho are run...

And now the "almost" part:

In effect, the decision reversed time. Rogers was granted the hearing he had sought so long ago... At the hearing though, (Judge) Wilper kicked Rogers out of drug court again...

ID: “cells alone are not the answer”

Well, good for the Idaho state senate (something I've never imagined myself saying), from New West:

Idaho Senate Overrides Gov’s Veto of Drug Treatment Funding

An impressive vote of 30- 5... provided the supermajority needed for the Idaho Senate to override a gubernatorial veto of a bill providing funding for drug rehabilitation. Gov. Butch Otter vetoed line-items in two Senate bills last week which provide $16.8 million in funding for substance abuse treatment programs in the state...

"I'm so thin and frail / Don't care, want another rail"

Audio and book "exceprt" from Fresh Air and NPR:

Memoirs of Meth Addiction from a Father and a Son

Drug addiction doesn't just affect the addict, it changes the whole family. Journalist David Sheff and his son Nic join Fresh Air to talk about Nic's addiction to methamphetamine.

Both father and son have written memoirs about the experience. David Sheff's is Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction and Nic Sheff's is Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines.

ID: Methamphetamine memories

What's too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget, at least until it's splashed across the website of our old home's newspaper. From the Twin Falls Times-News:

Meth lab busted - Equipment to make drug found in downtown trailer

Dale "Red" Patterson... and the camper trailer behind his home have been the focus of a targeted meth buy operation by Twin Falls police for months, court records show. On Tuesday, it paid off... Inside the trailer, officers found equipment commonly used to make methamphetamine, including tubing, heating and cooking equipment, and glass containers containing unknown liquids and substances...

Just like the time TFPD busted the meth cooker next door to my house, 15 feet from my child's bedroom.

ID: the sting of jail at Christmas

From the Twin Falls Times-News:

Christmas in custody - Inmates find peace, sobriety behind bars

Lights on a small Christmas tree twinkled Tuesday behind two officers booking inmates into the Mini-Cassia Criminal Justice Center. A female guard wearing a red Santa hat assessed a new prisoner for any medical conditions. Beside her, another officer booked-in an elderly man wrapped in blankets - until the inmate apparently spit on the counter.

Christmas is just another day in jail. But there's an upside to the holiday for two state inmates doing hard time for meth crimes. "I'm grateful to be here. It's a sober Christmas this year," said inmate Penni Andoe...

IN: a criminal defense lawyer, a recovering meth addict, but not a convicted felon

From the Evansville Courier and Press:

Happe resumes treatment, hopes to restart law practice

For Brad Happe, the moment of truth arrived around 8:30 p.m. Friday as 12 jurors returned to a Vanderburgh County Superior courtroom after four hours of deliberation. If convicted, the 30-year-old Evansville attorney faced six years to 20 years in prison on two methamphetamine - related charges.

"(Defense attorney) John Brinson told me to give my wallet and watch to my parents, because if they found me guilty, I was going to be taken to jail right away," Happe said. "That was the scariest moment." When jurors announced Happe was not guilty on both counts, he first thanked Brinson, then the jury, then his family and friends...

The bumpy road Happe has been down began at a party years ago, where he said he first tried methamphetamine... Happe said a 2006 conviction on a misdemeanor charge of visiting a common nuisance led to his ongoing recovery effort. In that case, he pleaded guilty after being accused of leaving a place where meth was manufactured... "This is a lifelong process," he said of his recovery.

Happe says his plans are to resume his career in criminal defense when he returns to Evansville in several months. "I'll be able to identify with my clients much more now," he said. "I'll understand where they are coming from because I went through the whole process. A client who comes to me will get someone with a unique perspective..."

Fictional p.d. to fictional client: "the only thing I'm suppressing is the urge to bitch-slap your head"

Urban Monarch seems to be enjoying "The King of Methlehem" by Tacoma author / prosecutor Mark Lindquist. Here's a p.d. - themed excerpt from Google Book Search:

One of the many advantages of being a prosecutor is that you do not have to visit clients in jail. Ted, a public defender for twenty-three years, feels he is serving a penance every time he enters what he calls the Grey Bar Hotel. He is known by other lawyers and some of his clients as "Cocktail Ted" because of his penchant for bourbon lunches that precede afternoon visits...

ID: whatever it takes

From Poky, by way of the Times-News:

Idaho mother of five kicks meth habit to impress kids

It took three tries and a hard-won commitment to sobriety, but Meikel Sharp is finally getting her high school diploma. Ultimately, Sharp said, her desire to impress her five kids was stronger than her methamphetamine addiction.

The 31-year-old Pocatello woman is one of about 250 southeastern Idaho residents graduating with graduation equivalency diplomas from Idaho State University's Adult Basic Education Program on June 1. When she walks down the aisle... all five of her kids will be there, watching...

Son Volt fanboy

This week I picked up the new Son Volt album, "The Search," the day it came out, something I haven't done much since I was a nerdy college boy. I'm enjoying the expansiveness of it, particularly this song where Jay Farrar lends his high lonesome voice to a character I know from the old caseload:

I took a night shift another nickel on the dime
Tried to play it straight, make it different this time
Still waiting to meet the next ex-wife

It's either watching these gauges for Monsanto
or a barback job with the casino
The Army won't want me after what this body's been through

Would you take me back, North Carolina
Would you take me back, Arkansas
Blissful days still there to remember
Methamphetamine was the final straw

Son Volt's tour opens in Bellingham March 26, reaching the Showbox in Seattle on March 27. I've got my ticket.

ID: "you can't stop just by saying no"

From the Idaho Statesman:

Canyon jail program aims to curb drug addictions - Sheriff started the program after more than half the inmates polled said they were on drugs when arrested

The Canyon County jail's substance abuse education program began a year ago to target a growing problem with drug addiction, specifically meth, in local communities. In the past, drug abusers would serve their jail time but wouldn't receive anyhelp combating the greater problem: addiction. Inmates say the advice on rehabilitation resources and jobs, consistency, and the concern from a trained substance abuse counselor has made more of a difference than jail time alone...

WA: Stephen Colbert analyzes my congressman on TV

The Colbert Report salutes the Washington 3rd, birthplace of grunge and the Vancouver Sausage Fest, featuring advice from Brian Baird (D-WA) on where to find the best recipes for home-made meth.

Heightened awareness

Yes, I was aware that today was National Meth Day. I celebrated by giving thanks that so few of my young clients have gotten caught up in the stuff.

This morning in court I had a rude reminder of the importance of client communication. It seems that, after discussing all the facts of the case, including the video-taped admission that's definitely coming in, the statement "I guess I'm totally screwed" does not always mean "I'm guess I'm going to plead guilty." Majorly disgruntled client, even after getting four days to serve instead of the state's offer of ten.

CO: lawyer's drug client turns narc's confidential informant

From the Colorado Springs Gazette:

Attorney accused of taking meth as payment - May lose license if he is convicted

A Colorado Springs attorney was arrested on suspicion of drug possession last week after allegedly taking methamphetamine as payment from a client. Criminal defense attorney Terrence McGannon, 49, faces four to 12 years in prison and the loss of his license to practice law if convicted...

According to a police affidavit, an informant that day told a detective... that McGannon, his attorney in a drug case, had asked him for meth as payment for his legal fees.

ID: outside the drug house, 1 man dead

From the Times-News:

Pina murder trial: Day two

A typical drug house.

Known, but not considered a priority and 20 or 30 others like it in Twin Falls...

Some people still hold a Mayberry RFD image of life in small heartland cities like Twin; they shouldn't.

For foster care / dependency/ child protection p.d.'s

At the moment I'm listening to a pretty good edition of NPR's "Justice Talking" , titled "Foster Care: Broken Families, Broken Systems". It's available as an MP3 or a Windows Media stream.

Right now Richard Wexler is speaking. He's a reporter and director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (NCCPR). Wexler is saying that the one of the best things you can do to reform the system is to improve the court-appointed counsel available to birth parents. True that. Unfortunately, he's illustrating his point by perpetuating the spectre of "some overwhelmed public defender who has absolutely no chance against the state."

Overwhelmed maybe, but when I did do child protection defense, and when my client was doing well and the stars were aligned, I did win a few against the state. It's not a hopeless practice, and the victories are sweet. Dependency p.d.'s everywhere, hang in there.

(now I'm listening to an interview with a mom who eventually got her son back - good stuff)

Bonus links: what do you know, Richard Wexler has a blog. His organization also insists that "hysteria over methamphetamine has become the latest excuse to “take the child and run”:"

(T)he biggest addiction problem in child welfare is neither meth nor crack nor any other drug. The biggest addiction problem in child welfare is great big, prestigious, mainstream private child welfare agencies with blue-chip boards of directors that are addicted to their per diem payments for holding children in foster care...

That sound you hear is axes grinding. It'll be comforting I'm sure to my previous meth-addicted client moms.

Meth a myth, pundits tell grieving families

Here's Mark Kleiman at the Huffington Post on

the latest press-release-dressed-up-as-a-research-report from the Sentencing Project (pdf file), in which Ryan S. King "proves" that methamphetamine isn't really much of a problem...

Debunking the Debunking: The Meth Problem Is Real

From today's Olympian:

Meth suspected in baby's death - Mother could face homicide charge after premature delivery

A Thurston County woman who prematurely gave birth while methamphetamine was in her system is under investigation for homicide after her baby son died, authorities said Wednesday. Juventina Chavelas-Reyes, 30, already is charged with endangerment for selling meth in front of her two other children, ages 2 and 4, in the family's Grand Mound trailer...

Updates:

From Mark Kleiman's site, Even real drug problems get hyped

From FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog, Methamphetamine Watch: Avoid Dentists in Fact Finding? (warning: scary "meth mouth" pictures ahead)

From Treatment Online - Advocacy Group's Report Attempts to Turn Meth Spotlight on Press

From About.com, A Child Eye's View of Meth Abuse