Editor's Note: This article is the last in a series of three that seeks to explain to readers the growing problem of meth use in Polk County.

While the effects of methamphetamine have been listed and discussed countless times, coming up with a viable solution to the problem has proven more difficult. The “Meth Summit” at the Rockmart campus of Coosa Valley Technical College was held recently to spark discussion on what can be done about this growing epidemic.

Speaking on behalf of the Polk County Police Department, Capt. Michael McGee stated that family and group therapy, self-help groups and medication are all forms of treatment. McGee also stated that the government must continue to be involved in the fight against meth.

While the government has been effective in making certain ingredients more difficult to buy off of store shelves, John Legawitz of Haralson County Family Connections isn’t so sure that is the real answer.

“It’s a good move and I think it sends out a good message,” Legawitz said. “But what we’ve really got to do is stop companies from delivering it to the door of the meth cooks after they order it on the Internet.”

Legawitz explained that those who want to produce meth will acquire the ingredients however they could, even if they have to steal it – which presents another problem all together.

“Let’s not fool ourselves to think that is the solution to the problem,” he said.

Also mentioned by McGee was the special drug court being utilized in Polk County.

“It’s a great program and its working very well,” McGee said.

The drug court is an alternative to incarceration. Through supervision of the addict, treatment and rehabilitation are the goals. Participants have to be clean for a year to graduate.

According to Legawitz, however, only one in six meth users actually want to recover from their addiction.

“That is how addictive this drug is,” he said.

The real solution, Legawitz explained, is prevention.

“Prevention is the solution to this problem because it is almost impossible to recover.”

Prevention, he said, starts with informing children about the dangers of meth. Parents are on the front lines when it comes to prevention and should be informed themselves of meth and its risks.

“If you’ve got a kid, talk to that kid about drugs,” McGee said. “It’s all about communication.”

He further stated that parents should stay involved in their child’s life and make clear rules that are enforced.

Being a positive role model is another key to prevention, McGee said.

“Half the kids we deal with, their parents have been locked up for some type of drug use. If a parent does it, what kind of role model is that setting for a child?”

Children should also be taught to choose their friends wisely, McGee said.

Legawitz stated that children should be shown the dangers of meth and told that it is not a drug to be experimented with, which is why his group is producing a video about just that.

“Our intent is to show a video that kids just can’t blow off.”

Bremen resident and former meth addict Sherry Medina, 44, has now been clean for nearly three years. She was on hand at the summit and heard the speakers give their ideas about solutions to the meth problem.

However, Medina explained that beating an addiction to meth is a long and hard road that has to be traveled with determination.

“First of all I had to get angry at the drug and think about the things that I have lost because of it,” Medina said. “I didn’t want to die.” She also cited her grandchildren as motivation for deciding to quit.

Medina explained that when she first decided to quit, help for meth users wasn’t as readily available. To beat her addiction, she said she relied on her church, family and faith.

“I wouldn’t be clean if God hadn’t been in my life,” she said. “I owe 100-percent to my church, God and family.”

Medina’s church, Covenant Life Church of God, 130 Atlantic Ave., Bremen, is now holding a program titled “Celebrate Recovery,” which relies on faith based principals to help users beat their addictions.

“We have churches that are starting to get involved with support groups,” Legawitz said at the summit. “That’s a great thing.”

Another key factor to overcoming the meth problem is the community working together, McGee explained.

“It takes the entire community working together,” he said. “If you see this stuff going on in your neighborhood you need to call [authorities].”

For those already addicted, though, Medina said that a will to quit is the first step to recovery.

“If you really want help its out there,” she said. “Never give up.”