WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) — Public health and police officials from around Central Wisconsin met yesterday in Wausau to discuss the damage that drug use continues to inflict on the community.
The Pushback Against Drugs initiative is putting some focus on methamphetamine usage, which is once again seeing a rise in central and northern Wisconsin after a similar rise in heroin and opiate abuse over the last several years. Marathon County sheriff Scott Parks says they’re hoping this year’s efforts by the partnership can bring the same sort of attention to the problem. “If you can bring a community’s attention to, say, a methamphetamine problem, and cause them to rally to try and correct that or cause individuals to do lifestyle change, that’s a key factor.”
That issue is extremely important to the sheriff’s department because they can track exactly how much it costs the county just in jail time for suspects in drug cases. Parks says the county booked 1237 people last year for controlled substance violations alone. “When you figure that the average daily cost to house an individual in the Marathon County jail is 50 dollars, you’re look at approximately 3 million dollars in housing costs just for a controlled substance problem.”
But it’s not just substance abuse itself that becomes an issue. Parks says the county also has to deal with the aftermath of those crimes and the toll they bring to the families of the people harmed by the crimes that get committed by drug users. “Those same persons are involved in other types of crime. Crimes against persons such as domestic violence, aggravated battery or robbery, or crimes against property such as burglary, theft, criminal damage to property, and these are committed by people who are either under the influence, or are attempting to support a controlled substance habit.” Parks says some estimates say 70 percent of the crime committed in Marathon County has ties to drug use. “If we can make an impact and cause some people not to use substances or to make the right choice, that’s going to be a cost savings across the entire community.”
You can learn more about the Pushback Program online at http://www.pushbackdrugs.com/getinvolved.htm.
We’ll have more tomorrow with Melissa Dotter from the Drug Free Communities Program.
