POMEROY - After three meetings, the Meigs County Community Coalition has officially been christened to fight juvenile drug abuse and educate the public about the problem as well as any solutions.

Last week around 40 people took part in a community forum at the Mulberry Community Center to discuss the impact of drugs on the youth of Meigs County.

At the meeting, Middleport Police Officer Jeff Miller said gone are the days when officers only had to worry about the kid caught with the occasional joint. Both Miller and Pomeroy Police Chief Mark Proffitt said that the current trend among young people are prescription pill abuse and sales. Inhalants are also providing a cheap high.

Proffitt said his department offers a five panel drug screen for parents who wish to have their children tested. The drug screen is free and can be confidentially obtained by calling the Pomeroy Police Department at 992-6411.

Middleport Mayor Sandy Iannarelli, who also attended the meeting, expressed her frustration with the drug problem currently plaguing her village as well as the entire county. Iannarelli felt it was crucial to involve the parents in the juvenile drug problem.

“Getting parents engaged is the most difficult thing to do,” said Ron Adkins of the Gallia-Jackson-Meigs Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction, Mental Health Services (BADAMHS).

Adkins said unfortunately the parents that really need to be reached were not at meetings such as the one held last week.

In order to reach these parents and the young people of the county, the coalition decided to reach out into the community by putting a booth at the fair and contacting local service agencies about its existence. Other ideas bounced around were placing information in church bulletins and setting up a display at local sporting and school events.

Adkins said he would check on any grant funding that may be available to perhaps assist the group in direct mailings to promote the cause and the education of juvenile substance abuse.

Joining educators, health recovery personnel, law enforcement and court officials were also teens who sat in on the discussion.

Denise Martin, also of the board of ADAMHS, noted this by saying, “I'd like to see more youth involved. Kids have more ideas than we do and if we make them the heart of this movement we'll see changes.”

Meigs County Probate and Juvenile Judge Scott Powell reiterated what prompted group founder Fenton Taylor to form the group, and that was six cocaine cases in a two-month period for local juveniles.

“That was too much for our community,” Powell said.

“We're here to strengthen our community by helping our parents and youth,” Taylor added.

The next coalition meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the Mulberry Community Center and will consist of a Power Point presentation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation on methamphetamine.

There is also a separate town hall meeting on the problem of drug abuse at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 27 in the Masonic Temple headquarters of the Riverbend Arts Council in Middleport.