Aug. 23, 2006

CONFERENCE IN WICHITA FOCUSES
ON CHILDREN GROWING UP WITH METH

WICHITA, KAN. – Once when a southeast Kansas meth lab exploded and caught fire, the story goes, neighbors watched as the drug traffickers rushed in and out trying to save what they could from the burning house. After the lab equipment was safely in the car, then they went back in and brought out a baby.

Astonishing stories about drug endangered children are becoming more common as methamphetamine continues to dominate the list of drug problems in Kansas. Law enforcement officers, child protective services specialists, prosecutors and medical personnel from across the state will meet Wednesday in Wichita for the 2nd Annual Kansas Alliance for Drug Endangered Children State Conference.

What: 2nd Annual Kansas Drug Alliance for Drug Endangered Children State Conference.
When: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 23, 2006, at the Cargill Learning Center Auditorium, Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, Kan.

“Meth’s collateral damage doesn’t stop with the drug dealers or the buyers,” said U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren, one of the sponsors of the event. “Thousands of children are growing up around this dangerous drug. To fight a problem like this, we have to look beyond arrests and prosecutions. We have to forge new partnerships between law enforcement agencies and social and child protective services.”

Melgren will make opening remarks at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Keynote speakers will include:

Jerry Moe, National Director of Children’s Programs for the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Lori Morarity, who oversees the North Metro Task Force, a multi-jurisdictional undercover drug unit in Adams and Broomfield counties near Denver, Colo.

The conference is being held by the Kansas Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, whose mission is to rescue, defend, shelter and support Kansas children from drug endangered environments. For more information see the Alliance’s Web site athttp://www.ksmethpreventionproject.org/decindex.htm.

 

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