PROGRAM WILL TEACH STUDENTS ABOUT METH

A curriculum to teach third- and fourth-graders about methamphetamine will be tested in Southeast Missouri this year, Gov. Mel Carnahan said.

Details about the program were announced Monday during a press conference attended by Carnahan at Southeast Missouri State University.

"Educating young people about the dangers of this devastating drug is one of the most effective ways we can prevent its spread," Carnahan said.

The idea for the program comes from a grant proposal written by Southeast professor Linda Ferrell and John Wade, chairman of the university's criminal justice department.

"The message we want to get across to kids is 'Why would you want to put this in your body?'" Wade said.

The program initially will be tested in 65 school districts in 16 counties of Southeast Missouri as a continuation of the statewide "Life or Meth" public service campaign begun in 1997. If the pilot program is successful, it will be initiated in five other Midwest states in fall 2001.

The manufacture, sale and use of meth is most predominant in rural areas and is widespread in Southeast Missouri.

Wade and Ferrell have been meeting with educators and law enforcement officials since early July to learn what should be part of a meth education. Their plan envisions a five-part curriculum. It will define methamphetamine, then look at how meth relates to health and law, and finally examine its costs and strategies for prevention and treatment.

The program will have a support curriculum for teachers separate from the information taught to children.

"The teachers have to know some of the history and how meth is made," Wade said.

Lorna Mueller, who teaches fourth grade at Blanchard Elementary, has been educated over the past month.

"The problem here is far more serious than I had realized," said Mueller, one teacher who is helping adapt meth information for classrooms.

Ignoring meth education at early grade levels is part of the mistaken assumption that children won't hear about it anywhere else, Mueller said.

In a short speech, Carnahan expressed agreement.

"They need to learn more about meth in the place where they're used to learning: in school," the governor said.

Ferrell presented examples of the kind of assignments children will be given. She held up a page with photos of common household items such as salt, batteries and cold tablets. The child is supposed to select items not used to make methamphetamine.

"Actually, all of these are used to make meth," Ferrell said.

A third-grade teacher said the meth instruction is compatible with existing lesson plans. The use of Mr. Yuck' stickers by educators to help children identify household chemicals as poisons is analogous, said Pam Jackson, who teaches in the Woodland R-4 School District at Marble Hill, Mo.

Plans to expand the meth lessons to other grades also exist. Development is ongoing for an interactive computer program to teach fifth- and sixth-graders about meth and videos for seventh through 12th grades.

A final version of the curriculum for third and fourth grades will be introduced to teachers Oct. 27, Wade said.

The program will be launched in schools Dec. 4 as a part of "Methamphetamine Education Week," Ferrell said.

In January, teachers will meet to give feedback on the curriculum, she said.

The pilot program will cost $39,000 and be funded by a grant from the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and the state.

If the meth curriculum is a success, it will be passed on to teachers in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota. These states are part of HIDTA, a program uniting federal, state and local law enforcement to fight methamphetamine.