And when it does, he said, the jail will double in size and employees. In response to a question from those attending, Cox said that a majority of incarcerated women are there because of drug use or drug-related crimes.
While the number of methamphetamine users is high, Cox said that jailers are seeing an increasing number of women who get hooked on prescription drugs.
He explained that often a person will be injured or have surgery and is given painkillers, but they don't follow the doctor's orders in taking the medication and wind up addicted.
That's when they go "doctor shopping," to find MDs who will continue prescribing the medication.
That said, Cox explained that "methamphetamine is still the most damaging drug we have out there."
He said that the first time a person uses meth, the drug affects every pleasure center in the brain, giving the user a real euphoria. "Who wouldn't want to do that again?" he asked.
Additionally, meth gives users "energy like you can't imagine."
However, Cox said, users can be hooked in 30 seconds and then it takes three years of total abstinence to quit.
"Meth is our biggest nemesis," he said.
Cox is a big proponent of drug courts. An inmate in that program must spend time in jail, and go through the RSAT (Residential Substance Abuse Treatment) program, before moving to the jail's work center, where inmates are allowed to go outside the facility for jobs before graduating.
After graduation, the inmate must check in weekly with the court and submit to drug testing. "I've seen women who lost their children when they entered jail, who got them back," after completing the program, the sheriff said.
Cox would like to see a drug court for juveniles. "A huge chunk of the answer (to the drug abuse problem) would be juvenile drug courts."
He likes them because they not only get a drug abuser cleaned up, but they work with families to get them counseling.
mwilliams@davisclipper.com
Post a Comment
