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| Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 54 Dore Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 | Tel: (415) 621-5661 | Fax: (415) 621-5466 |
Meth labs often are described as sinister science projects, so a coalition of Marion County anti-drug partners is using research and science to fight the problem. That approach caught the eye of U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore.
Hooley lauded the efforts by the Marion County Sheriff's Office, along with community partners such as the Marion County Board of Commissioners and businesspeople such as Dick Withnell, on Monday as she toured the work center next to the county jail.
"I haven't seen any other models like this," Hooley said as she finished talking to parents in the Children of Incarcerated Parents Initiative, a program that offers family support for children involved in the criminal-justice system. The goal of the program is stopping the spread of meth.
A July 2005 survey of Marion County jail inmates, administered by the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice at Western Oregon University, found a number of causes that lead to repeat offenses and methamphetamine use, Marion County Sheriff Raul Ramirez said. He said the causes include a lack of education, a lack of parenting skills, a cycle of mental illness and homelessness, and a lack of resources outside of jail.
Through partnerships that include many government and nongovernment services countywide, the sheriff's office has built a treatment model that starts with some of the youngest victims of meth, those 3 and younger, and extends to mental-health treatment, job placement and basic parenting skills for the incarcerated.
"What you've done in the sheriff's department is a huge paradigm shift," said Hooley, who represents the Salem-Keizer area.
"Your willingness to rely on research and science so we can duplicate this is tremendous," she said Monday to a group of representatives of the partnerships involved.
Hooley asked a few questions of Kayla and Leanna Gagatko, 16 and 12 respectively, who are living with their father, Rodney Gagatko, as he works his way through the program.
"I see a lot more of my dad nowadays," Leanna Gagatko told Hooley.
"He was drinking a lot," Kayla Gagatko told Hooley in response to a question about how much the program has changed things in their house. "He has dedicated himself to us. It's more about us, we spend family time together now."
Hooley said she liked what she saw and would like to see the program become a national model, one that could be set up quickly in another community.
"Families have a huge impact on the lives of individuals," Hooley said. "We need to find some additional money for this program because it works."
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