Gov. Jim Doyle issued a dose of extra funding to fight methamphetamine abuse and its chilling effects in northwestern Wisconsin Thursday.
According to a release, Assembly Bill 213 allocated a $250,000 grant to fight drug abuse in twelve northwestern Wisconsin counties and the St. Croix tribal community.
'The effects of methamphetamine abuse are devastating and far reaching,' Doyle said in a statement. 'I commend these communities for coming together to help families in northwestern Wisconsin fight against this terrible drug.'
UW-Madison professor of pharmacology June Dahl said methamphetamine has effects similar to cocaine and that it increases blood pressure and body temperature. She noted a stimulating effect is what makes the drug addictive.
'Methamphetamine affects neurotransmitters in the heart or the nerves,' Dahl said. 'A big reason it's abused is that it stimulates the central nervous system.'
The grant comes in addition to $925,000 for the Department of Corrections, which will be used for intensive out-treatment programs and to facilitate Wisconsin Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Treatment Programs according to Carla Vigue, communications officer of the Department of Health and Family Services.
Vigue noted the counties had already applied for a grant to fight methamphetamine abuse from the federal government.
'Unfortunately, the federal government didn't fund that grant,' she said. 'We found some pools of money [in the Department of Health and Family Services] and gave it to them today.'
Vigue noted the $250,000 would be given to a 12-county consortium, including Eau Claire and Chippewa counties, to determine how best to spend the additional state funding.
'They wanted to do targeted prevention and early intervention for high-risk groups, like youth populations,' Vigue said. 'They want to implement interpersonal skill development, problem solving and pressure resisting as evidence-based solutions.'
The bill also expands the definition of child abuse to include incidents where a minor is exposed to methamphetamine consumption and production.
'One of the horrors of this that I read about is that people have laboratories in their homes with young children around,' Dahl said. 'They are exposed to solvents, if not the drug itself.'
