An Alabama Town Fights Drug Addiction
Talladega has been struggling with drug addiction for over a decade now. And, thanks to the drug addiction problem, they’ve been struggling with the drug trade and crime as well. In an effort to make changes and turn the economy around, Talladega officials created the Talladega County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force to fight back, helping their citizens and those addicted to drugs and alcohol as well.
Fighting Drug Addiction
Unfortunately, fighting drug addiction is no cheap business and the Talladega County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force is not only fighting drug addiction and crime, but budget cuts as well. Jason Murray commands the task force. He says, “We were cut on our federal appropriation by $60,000, which hurt. We’ll probably be $15,000 to $20,000 in the red by the end of year, but we’ll be getting some federal money and we were recently able to sell some seized property. We’ll get a donation from the track, and although Childersburg hasn’t donated anything to us since 2003/2004, they may come back this year.”
And with limited funds and an overworked staff, which part of the problem of drug addiction do you tackle first? The crystal meth labs? The cocaine trafficking? The break-ins and robberies associated with drug abuse and addiction? Illegal prescription pill use? Underage drinking and drug use?
Crystal Meth Addiction
In Alabama, crystal meth addiction and crystal meth labs are a huge problem.
“Our fiscal year started Oct. 1,” Murray says. “Since then, we have found 45 meth labs that we’ve actually been able to make cases on, plus six or eight more that are basically just dump sites where we can’t prove who the stuff belongs to. But I’ve had to pull them off the meth cases here lately to deal with people distributing crack cocaine and marijuana. You spend too much time over there, everything else runs rampant.”
Cocaine Addiction
After meth, cocaine and marijuana are the number two and number three drugs of addiction in Talladega county, respectively. Murray says, “Although we’re kind of in a cocaine drought right now, prices are just skyrocketing. You used to be able get about $18,000 for a key (kilogram, or 2.2 pounds) of cocaine. New you’re seeing prices of $27,000, $28,000 per key. That’s a big jump.”
Prescription Drug Addiction
Prescription drug abuse and addiction is another huge problem in Talladega, among young and old alike. Says Murray, “Pharmaceuticals are found in every household, and most kids know where they are and how to get to them. We’ve seen kids in the schools handing out their parents’ prescriptions like they were candy. We’ve got other people that start off using prescription pain killers legitimately, but can’t get off of them, so they either have to start forging prescriptions or buying them on the street. We made a pretty significant bust about a month ago on a woman who was buying up 80 milligram OxyContin prescriptions from here to Georgia, which has slowed things down some, but they will always find another way. We’ve had a few documented overdoses recently, too.”
Fighting Drug Addiction at Drug Rehab
If you are struggling with crystal meth addiction, prescription drug addiction, cocaine addiction, marijuana addiction or alcoholism, you can get help at The Canyon. Contact us for more information.
Tags: Cocaine Addiction, crystal-meth-addiction, drug-rehab, Marijuana Addiction, Prescription Drug Addiction
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