Grease is the word...

PictureTiana Albery (left) and Shawna Kimerly (right) dress up in their finest glad rags during a rehearsal for the Powell County High School play last week. For more pictures and information following a busy week at the Cutler Theater turn to page nine.




Kicking the habit in Deer Lodge

“There is a lot of underreporting. It is a lot worse than people might expect,”
Strong words from Sarah Frazer, Drug Prevention Specialist who met with this newspaper last week to talk about narcotics here in Powell County.
“You may think that with Deer Lodge being a small town there would be no problem. Actually it is quite significant.”
Drugs are coming under the Silver State Post’s microscope this week as we prepare to delve deep into the issue over upcoming editions. 
You may find them in a glass, a needle or even inside your medicine cabinet at home but narcotics are clearly here in Deer Lodge in all shapes and guises:
“The state recognizes this issue, it is one of the hardest counties in the state to deal with,” she said to this periodical.
Asked why, Mrs Frazer highlighted the town’s location on the map:
“We are part of the main I-90 corridor for drug distribution. Depending on the drugs, they arrive from all sorts of different places. They may come from California where they started off in Mexico or come down through the Canadian border.”
She would then expand on the particular drug problems Deer Lodge faces:
“Alcohol is a major issue, especially the irresponsible use of it. There is also a lot of cannabis and marijuana. You get everything here, ecstasy and all sorts of others, too.”
Are dealers plentiful in Powell County? Mrs Frazer enlightened this newspaper on how people secure their fixes:
“Where there is a will, there is a way. There is no shortage of drugs. Many people I have spoken with do not tell me where they get them (drugs) from but some go into it (dealing) because the demand is so high.” 
People of all ages can get into narcotics, the Drug Prevention Specialist continued:
“It is across the whole board. You can see people as young as 12 up to someone who is in their 70s or 80s. The average age of someone first using drugs is somewhere between eight and 10 years of age.”
With methadone posters and murals dotted over town and in rural areas of Powell County, Mrs Frazer feels good work has been accomplished as a result of these multiple campaigns, though:
“Numbers have reduced. It is hard to say what, exactly, contributed to it but the media campaigns and law enforcement have certainly helped as has making it harder to get materials which are now found behind the counter.”

                                                                                                                                    more drugs, page three.