PENDLETON- Residents of Eastern Oregon need to take a more aggressive and active stance in the welfare of their communities in order to get a firm grip on the methamphetamine epidemic plaguing the area.

That was the consensus among local, state and federal officials during a public meth summit hosted by Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., at City Hall Friday night, which drew several hundred residents from all over Umatilla and Morrow counties and even as far as La Grande.

The summit Friday night was the last in a series of seven throughout Walden’s 20-county constituency in Central, Southern and Eastern Oregon to address the meth issue in the state.

“There’s a lot of interest in this issue, as there should be,” Walden said. “We have a heck of a problem here.”

Umatilla County has one of the worst meth problems in the state, and even in the nation. Last year, it had the most meth lab seizures by law enforcement per capita in the state, and was No. 2 overall. So far this year, the county is again leading the state in seizures.

“Meth is a very different drug,” Walden said. “It’s toxic, it’s a poison, it’s hazardous.”

Walden invited the community to hear from 10 panelists representing various facets of law enforcement, treatment and community wellness with their part in combating the drug’s presence in the Eastern Oregon area.

Ken Magee, special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration for Oregon, southwest Washington and Idaho, noted that no community is immune to the tragedy that is meth and that everyone is affected by the drug, whether it be directly or indirectly. Magee told the crowd of his personal connection.

“I lost a brother to an overdose two years ago after a lifelong addiction,” Magee said. “It can happen to anyone. It can happen to the head of the DEA, to medical professionals, to anyone. It’s not just somebody else’s problem; it’s everyone’s problem.”

Rob Bovett, legal council for the Oregon Narcotics Enforcement Association and a member of the governor’s Meth Task Force, commended the state for passing legislation last fall to keep products with pseudoephedrine in them – like Sudafed – behind counters at pharmacies to deter large purchases or thefts to cook meth. Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in the meth cooking process. The law was modeled off a similar law that passed in Oklahoma a year ago.

“Oklahoma has seen an 81 percent reduction in meth labs in nine months after passing legislation to put pseudoephedrine behind the counter,” Bovett said. “We’ve already seen a decrease in meth labs in Oregon since our legislation passed.”

Walden and others on the panel agreed that this type of legislation needs to be addressed at the national level, making it a federal law.

Other steps to enhance awareness about the meth problem in the state are being taken by Oregon Partnership, an organization taking aim on the meth issue to make the public more aware of the issue to help fight the battle. Kaleen Deatherage, director of public policy for Oregon Partnership, and a member of the Meth Task Force, spoke of a media campaign getting ready to take off.

High schools around the state will create public service announcements for local television stations, as will Fox 12 in Portland, all of which will be distributed throughout the state. The University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Advertising will also jump into the campaign with public service announcements.

“The answers are at the local level,” Deatherage said. “We need to raise awareness around the state… We have to get people to understand meth’s effects on everyone.”

Treatment of drug offenders was another hot topic of the night. Mark Royal, director of Umatilla-Morrow Community Corrections, said that probation for drug offenders is often the only way they’ll receive any kind of treatment for their addiction “because they won’t seek it on their own.”

Royal noted that of the 824 offenders on Community Corrections’ sanctioned probations, 417 had drug charges and addictions.

“We need treatment, custody and enforcement to make this work,” Royal said.

Many in Eastern Oregon have fallen victim to meth addicts through thefts, burglaries, robberies and other property crimes. Umatilla County District Attorney Chris Brauer said that more than 80 percent of all crime can be related to drugs.

“Meth means more crime,” Brauer said. “More thefts, more burglaries, and yes, more murders.”

Milton-Freewater resident Sam Lefore knows all about the effects of meth on innocent bystanders. The cold storage facility on his farm has been hit several times by thieves stealing ammonia for their meth cooking process, and he’s sick of it.

“It’s been quite frustrating,” Lefore said. “We have the loss of our time, of getting service people out here, we’ve had to install security cameras.”

However, after sitting through the meth summit Friday night, Lefore said he feels comforted that officials aren’t merely standing by on the issue.

“I didn’t realize there were so many people at so many different levels trying to fight this issue,” Lefore said. “I feel a bit better leaving here tonight.”

Walden said he’s encouraged by the turnouts at each of the meth summits. “I’ve been surprised, quite frankly,” he said. The smallest turnout was 85 at an 8:30 a.m. Saturday session in Grants Pass, and the largest was 750 people at a 3 p.m. Friday session in Hood River.

“It’s been very educational, not only for me, but for everyone who’s come here,” Walden said of the summits. He said the next step for his staff is to collect all the information he’s gathered throughout the seven summits around the state, and then address the Office of National Drug Control Policy about its efforts in Oregon, as well as to make sure the funding stream continues.

“We also need to make sure we put precursors behind the counters all across the nation,” Walden added.

For more information on Walden’s efforts to curb the meth epidemic in Oregon, log onto his Web site at www.Walden.house.gov, and for more information on Oregon’s meth problem, log onto www.oregonmethwatch.org.