Mendocino County Sheriff's Office

Methamphetamine Awareness

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, in partnership with the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians, has created a Methamphetamine Awareness Program for Mendocino County. The two agencies were awarded a grant through the U.S. Department of Justice to combat methamphetamine related issues county wide. The goal of the program is to make the effort to combat meth in the community as visible and strong as the meth problem has become. This prevention project will be publicized throughout the county and will show the entire community a united law enforcement front in the battle against methamphetamine that includes resources and guidance for parents, schools, teens and business owners.

There is a mobile "Meth Unit" that will be on hand at County Fairs, Native American “Big Times” celebrations, Health Fairs and other special events throughout the county. The trailer is set-up with prevention and resource materials for children, parents, teachers and businesses. The most exciting feature of the mobile awareness unit is the Face2Face interactive computer software. Through this unit the Meth Project Coordinator can show members of the public before and after pictures of themselves with symptoms that occur on “typical meth users”, including thinning of the face, darkening around the eyes, and skin lesions.

The prevention trailer is also equipped with Saliva Meth Test Kits that are provided free to parents and school officials who request them. In every test kit there is a DVD entitled “Deathamphetamine” produced by Sheriff Tom Allman, discussing the impact of meth on a local level. The kits allow parents to test their children and if they determine that their child is using Meth, they can discuss it with the Meth Coordinator and learn what resources and options are for intervention, treatment and enforcement. By raising awareness about the high level of users that Mendocino County has the Sheriff’s Office and the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians hope to unite and empower the community to work with law enforcement to fight meth.

The Meth Project Coordinator, Maureen Mulheren Wattenburger, has been hard at work developing programs designed to be used in Mendocino County by teens, parents, business owners and citizen groups. Maureen is not a sworn officer and is available simply as a resource to parents, school officials and teens that need guidance and education in Meth related issues that they may not be comfortable asking a sworn police officer about. The most important part of fighting the Meth Epidemic is awareness. All of the extensions of the Methamphetamine Awareness Program enable residents to combat Meth together; this is an exciting program that will bring new visibility to the residents of Mendocino County in regards to how much Meth affects everyone that lives here.