Colorado Attorney General Suthers Announces $375,000 In Grants To Fight Meth

09/28/2007 -- (DENVER) – Colorado Attorney General John W. Suthers today announced $375,000 in Daniels Fund grants to a pair of Colorado anti-methamphetamine programs. The grants were announced prior to a meeting of the Statewide Methamphetamine Task Force, which the Attorney General chairs. Two-hundred thousand dollars has been awarded to the Colorado Alliance for Drug Endangered Children and $175,000 has been awarded to a meth treatment pilot program in Delta County.

“The ways in which meth is affecting our communities are profound and far-reaching, tearing apart Colorado families and contributing to social problems, including crimes such as identity theft,” commented Attorney General Suthers. “Colorado is extremely fortunate to have generous private foundations like the Daniels Fund and El Pomar to lend assistance in the battle to combat this highly addictive, deadly drug.”

Suthers highlighted the growing problem of methamphetamine abuse in Colorado, noting use of the drug has risen steadily over the past decade. The Centennial State has been hit especially hard by the meth epidemic, experiencing 11 percent more meth-related arrests than the national average. One-in-five patients admitted to drug treatment programs in Colorado is addicted to meth, and treatment rates in rural counties have increased more than twenty percent in recent years.

The Colorado Alliance for Drug Endangered Children (CO-DEC), in partnership with the State Meth Task Force, was granted $200,000 by the Daniels Fund to establish and support effective and substantial community efforts to fight methamphetamine abuse. The Alliance worked closely with the Task Force to create and implement a blueprint for communities to use when tackling meth abuse and its effects on children.

One such community-based project that is already pushing the envelope for local intervention in meth treatment is the Delta Model, which received $175,000 from the Daniels Fund. The model, pioneered by Drs. Nicolas Taylor and Herbert C. Covey, addresses the biological, psychological, and social effects of methamphetamine by stabilizing a user’s lifestyle through daily planning and community reinforcement. The Delta Model is an innovative, incentive-driven regimen that has made great strides in fighting meth in Delta County.

Suthers was joined by Daniels Fund president and CEO Linda Childears, CO-DEC president Lori Moriarty, Dr. Nick Taylor from Delta County, members of the State Meth Task Force, and David J. Palenchar from El Pomar Foundation, which has provided $50,000 to fund the Task Force’s operations

“Through strong state and local leadership, Colorado is emerging as a national leader in the prevention and treatment of methamphetamine addiction,” said Childears. “Providing alternatives to incarceration for people who are in the court system as a result of nonviolent crimes related to meth use makes sense both for the individuals involved and for society.”

Source: Colorado Attorney General

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