Wyoming’s Methamphetamine

Initiative: The Power of Informed

Process

By David Singh

The name Rodger McDaniel is well

known in Wyoming. Although he

currently serves as an ordained

minister, he has served many roles over

the years. He served as a legislator in the

Wyoming House of Representatives and

Senate for 10 years and worked as a

lawyer for 20 years. McDaniel was the

Democratic Party nominee for the U.S.

Senate in 1982. He left Wyoming in 1991

for Nicaragua, where he and his wife

served as national directors of Habitat for

Humanity operations. His devotion to God,

the people of Wyoming, and others around

the world is the source of McDaniel’s local

prominence. In many ways, he is the quintessential Wyomingite—confident, courageous, and family oriented. 

McDaniel’s pride is his two children. His

daughter Meghan was a gifted cellist at the

age of 16 and had been president of her

church group. No one would have suspected that she was also addicted to methamphetamine—least of all McDaniel. Such

problems exceeded the boundaries of his

wildest imagination. In his words, “We

were involved in the lives of our children.

We thought that would immunize them

against problems like drug abuse.” When

McDaniel’s son Pete awakened him in the

middle of a March night in 1998 to inform

him that Meghan had been injecting drugs

and was “sick,” his universe collapsed. 

“I thought I was an involved parent,” he

remembers. “I thought I had done everything right. I knew that kids used drugs,

but I thought it was other people’s kids.” 

As his daughter lay on a hospital bed in

the emergency room, he and his wife struggled to cope with the reality of their nightmare and had little idea of how to proceed.

Overdoses from methamphetamine were

not seen very often, and the emergency

room staff could offer little in the way of

advice. One doctor offered what little he

knew about drug treatment: “I think there

is a treatment center in Colorado Springs,”

he said. Finding treatment for Meghan was

no easy task—resources for victims of drug

abuse in Wyoming were scant. When

McDaniel and his wife finally discovered

that help for meth addiction was offered in

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Assistance

May 2001

Onsite Visits, Case Histories, and State 

and Local Innovations Supported by erspectives the Bureau of Justice Assistance

ractitioner

Bulletin From the Field

Wyoming’s response to

the methamphetamine

crisis is ultimately a

story of how hope,

determination, and

positive change

emerged from crisis.

An ambitious initiative

to rid the state of meth

and meth addiction is

under way, and it

marks a shift in

priorities from

enforcement to

treatment.
2

Bulletin From the Field: Practitioner Perspectives

This series is dedicated to the exploration of vital issues in criminal justice program development and management. Case studies highlight the work of progressive, innovative people and programs in state and local criminal

justice systems. Although a case study may include a detailed description of the operational aspects of a program,

it is not a scientific program evaluation. Rather, it is a document designed to explore the interaction of factors

such as collaboration, politics, resources, culture, and others that play a part in successful public management.

long-term residential treatment, they

quickly learned that there were no

beds available in the state.

Eventually, they found the Hazelden

Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota,

through the Internet. Meghan went

there for 28 days of treatment and

then to The Gables in Rochester,

Minnesota, for extended residential

care. “It took 4 months in an intensive controlled environment before

she even considered going sober,”

says McDaniel. “That should give

you an idea about the power of meth

addiction.” After 9 months in residential treatment, Meghan continued

for 2 more months in outpatient aftercare. She felt unsafe returning to

Wyoming and remained in Rochester,

working and attending daily Alcoholics

Anonymous meetings. Meghan came

home this past spring. Two and a half

years after entering treatment, she

remains sober. She is enrolled in college, determined to rebuild her life.

“In this journey, we learned two important lessons,” McDaniel says. “The

first is that this problem can happen to

anyone. The second is that treatment,

when done well, works.”

In the early 1990s, a monster descended on the state of Wyoming. It

crept in sneakily, steadily, and under

a veil of silence. In many ways, the

McDaniels’ experience with methamphetamine mirrored the Wyoming

experience. Drugs were thought to

be a big-city problem, and denial

allowed meth to take root. Methamphetamine was addictive, available,

and cheap. It created a population of

addicts virtually overnight, and it was

not long before it began to cause

large-scale havoc—destruction that

could not go unnoticed. “Looking

back, the warning signs were there,”

says McDaniel. “We just did not want

to see them.” 

There is a story to be told in Wyoming’s

recognition of this destruction. Like

many stories, it contains lessons—

lessons about overcoming denial,

learning to work together to achieve

success, coming to grips with new

ways of thinking, and trying to convince others to change. Wyoming’s

response to the methamphetamine

crisis is ultimately a story of how

hope, determination, and positive

change can emerge from crisis. 

Today, many Wyoming citizens see

addiction through eyes of compassion, not disgust. An ambitious initiative to rid the state of meth and meth

addiction is under way, and it marks

a shift in priorities from enforcement

to treatment. Notably, the shift also

enjoys overwhelming public support.

How did this plan come to be, and

why does it remain so popular? Who

are the leaders in the state working to

put the plan into place? What does

the plan look like, and what does it

hope to accomplish? The answers to

all of these questions are found as the

story of Wyoming’s Methamphetamine

Initiative unfolds.

Methamphetamine

Comes to Wyoming 

Wyoming is the ninth-largest and

least populous state in the nation with

more than 100,000 square miles of

rugged land and fewer than 500,000

residents. Based on its population

density, the entire state is considered

a frontier area. Wyoming is a relatively poor state and, unlike the rest of

the nation, has not benefited much

from the upswing of the national

economy. Its economy is driven primarily by mining, oil, gas, tourism,

and government employment. The

state has more than 900 miles of interstate highway, about 400 of which

make up the main transportation route

from California to the Midwest.

Approximately 4 million people visit

Wyoming each year. Its vast prairies,

roaming wildlife, and mountain

streams make it a traveler’s paradise.

The notion of substance abuse has

never been a part of Wyoming’s

rugged frontier image, but it has long

been a part of Wyoming’s reality. An

article that appeared in the Saratoga

Sun in 1897 reads:

There is entirely too much drunkenness in this town for the comfort of

peaceable and law-abiding people. It

is hardly possible for a lady to pass

along the street without having
Wyoming’s Methamphetamine Initiative

3

drunken and profane language issuing from saloons there. Drunk men

should be made to keep their places,

and we pay taxes and maintain a

government for the purpose of holding

such things in check. 

Indeed, some 100 years later, the

state government still struggles with

nuisances related to substance abuse.

Today, however, lewd language has

been replaced by more serious problems. While alcohol still threatens

the peace, other devastating drugs

plague the state. This is the case with

methamphetamine, a drug that was

largely unavailable in Wyoming

before 1993. Those persons who were

on the front lines of drug control were

the first to discover that a crisis was

in the works.

Enter Tom Pagel. Pagel is the 

Director of the Division of Criminal

Investigation (DCI) for Wyoming and

oversees enforcement operations for

the state. “The enforcement community saw the emergence of methamphetamine first,” he explains. “Around

1992, our officers were making more

and more arrests each year related to

methamphetamine. In 1992, we made

20 arrests; in 1994, we made 69. Last

year (1999), we made 142.” Local

statistics confirmed this trend (figure

1). Casper, Wyoming—later discovered to be one of the meth hotspots

for the state—was hard hit. In just

one year (1992–93), drug arrests in

Casper rose 321 percent. A substantial number of these arrests were

related to methamphetamine use and

abuse (figure 2).

“Prior to methamphetamine, cocaine

was the drug of choice for most 

serious users in our state,” Pagel

explains. “When meth hit, it offered

more bang for less buck. The high

from cocaine generally lasts anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. The high

from meth lasts between 8 and 10

hours and is generally cheaper than

cocaine. For serious users, meth is a

more attractive drug.” 

It was not long before criminal entrepreneurs realized that a great deal of

money could be made in the methamphetamine business. Wyoming’s vast

and remote frontier land made it an

ideal location for methamphetamine

labs. Dangerous “hot” manufacturing

techniques were no longer needed

with the introduction of less

Source: State of Wyoming, Division of Criminal Investigation

0

30

60

90

120

150

1992

20

34

69

101

81

91

132

142

1993 1994 1995

Year

1996 1997 1998 1999

dangerous “cold” protocols. A

complete stranger to meth manufacturing who has Internet access, a fullservice retail store, and a small

amount of money could have a meth

lab up and running in a short time.

Although enforcement officials suspected that the majority of meth in

Wyoming originated in Mexico, they

were also making more and more

meth lab busts each year. In 1997,

three labs were discovered. By 1999,

that number had risen to 20 (figure 3).

In addition to being head of Wyoming’s

Division of Criminal Investigation,

Pagel is chairman of the Governor’s

Source: State of Wyoming, Division of Criminal Investigation

Other 

(0.49%)

Other 

(2.38%)

Depressants 

(0.33%) Depressants

(0.24%)

Hallucinogens

(3.11%)

Hallucinogens 

(1.66%)

Cocaine 

(19.80%)

Cocaine 

(9.50%)

Marijuana 

(58.43%)

Marijuana 

(29.45%)

Methamphetamine

(17.84%)

Methamphetamine 

(56.77%)

Figure 1. Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Arrests

Figure 2. Arrest by Type of Drug in Wyoming

1993 1998

Arrest Cases
4

Bulletin From the Field: Practitioner Perspectives

Substance Abuse and Violent Crime

Advisory Board. The board consists

of diverse individuals from a variety

of entities, including state agencies,

local government, and various communities throughout the state. The

board meets monthly to further its

mission to develop and execute a

drug and crime control strategy for

Wyoming. It was at these meetings

in the early 1990s that Pagel realized that his officers were not the

only ones seeing the rampage of

methamphetamine. 

“I remember one meeting in particular,” he says. “We had a representative from the state department of

health on our board at the time. She

mentioned that she had pulled 10

recent files from state-sponsored drug

treatment clinics. Seven of them

described individuals addicted to

methamphetamine. Jaws around the

table dropped. We were just not used

to seeing those sorts of numbers with

meth.”

Alarmed by the numbers, Pagel and

the board took a closer look at the

few statistics that were available to

them. Representatives went back to

their respective agencies to look at

their own statistics to get a better feel

for the problem. The results were not

encouraging. “Once we started to

look, we saw meth or the effects of

meth nearly everywhere,” Pagel

explains. The Department of Family

Services was seeing more and more

foster children who were the victims

of parents who abused meth. The

prison population showed a higher

incidence of meth use and abuse, and

drug treatment providers were seeing

more and more meth cases each day.

These direct measures clearly pointed to a growing meth problem. Less

difficult to prove but no less troubling

were the indirect consequences of

drug abuse. Violent crime in both

juvenile and adult populations was on

the rise. Increases in teen pregnancy,

truancy, and domestic violence all

were thought to be connected to the

rise in methamphetamine use. 

Pagel and the board were convinced

that Wyoming had a meth problem in

desperate need of attention. Yet, it

was clear that they needed to learn

more before any action could be

taken. 

The Epidemiologist Comes

to Town 

“We knew we had a problem—that

much was clear,” Pagel explains.

“But we realized that before even

thinking about how to deal with the

problem, we had to get a better handle on it. Our own statistical methods

were crude and incomplete. In our

field, we often just assume we have a

problem and go after it, without taking the time to document our suspicions with hard facts.” 

The answer to Wyoming’s search for

solid statistical evidence was Bernard

Ellis, an epidemiologist and public

health professional. Ellis had more

than 25 years of experience studying

patterns of drug abuse throughout the

United States. 

In the early 1990s, drug abuse was

increasingly cast as a public health

dilemma in addition to its more traditional image as a criminal justice

problem. As a result, federal agencies,

most notably the U.S. Department of

Health and Human Services, encouraged the application of statistical

research methods to assess the scope

and direction of substance abuse at

state levels. Wyoming was one of

the first states to answer this call;

others included Colorado, Illinois,

Massachusetts, New Mexico, and

New York. All of these states applied

the same statistical logic to substance

abuse that had been applied to diseases like tuberculosis and polio in

decades before. Using a number of

research techniques, epidemiologists

and statisticians could paint a picture

of drug abuse in populations in question. That information could, in turn,

drive informed drug control policies.

Source: State of Wyoming, Division of Criminal Investigation

0

5

10

15

20

1997 1998

Year

1999

3

12

20

Figure 3. Division of Criminal Investigation Cases

Meth Lab Cases
Wyoming’s Methamphetamine Initiative

5

Researchers ultimately seek to

describe a problem by making inferences about the population through

population sampling. By using different research methods and taking multiple samples, researchers can attain a

more accurate description of the problem. Over the course of 3 years, Ellis

and other researchers conducted 8

studies in Wyoming, each with a different population and research method.

Some studies, such as surveys,

required generating new data before

any analysis could be done. Other

studies focused on the social indicators of drug abuse, such as arrest

rates and mortality, and relied on preexisting records kept by state agencies such as the department of health.

Studies Reveal the

Magnitude of the Meth

Problem

The results were shocking (figure 4).

According to Ellis, “If these numbers

had been about measles or some

other disease, we would have been

setting up quarantines.” One study

that surveyed more than 80 percent of

Wyoming’s students in junior high

and high school showed that

◆ More than 40 percent of Wyoming

children in grades 10 through 12

met the DSM–IV criteria to be

classified as drug abusers. One in

10 could be classified as drug

dependent.

◆ Wyoming eighth graders had 

higher methamphetamine user

rates than high school seniors

nationwide.

◆ Fifty-one percent of the Wyoming

Boys School population and 59

percent of the Girls School population (both reformatory schools)

reported past meth use.

Another study of state-supported

substance abuse treatment programs

found that

◆ In 1994, only 2 percent of statesupported substance abuse treatment clients statewide mentioned

using meth at admission. By 1996,

that number was up to 8 percent.

By 1998, it was 25 percent. Today,

some Wyoming treatment centers

report that more than 50 percent

of all clients mention meth use on

admission.

◆ Over the past 5 years, Wyoming

substance abuse treatment clients

have been two to four times more

likely than clients nationwide to

report meth use on admission. 

◆ In 1998, almost 6,000 Wyoming

methamphetamine users were estimated to need substance abuse

treatment—more than 1 in every

100 Wyoming residents.

Studies documented other disturbing

findings: more than 1 in 20 pregnant

women used meth, 32 percent of foster care placements resulted from

drug abuse, 42 percent of persons

arrested for drug offenses in 1 year

were repeat offenders, fewer than 1 in

10 Wyoming residents who needed

drug treatment received it, and hospital admissions due to drug abuse had

increased more than 25 percent over

10 years (figure 5). These studies

confirmed two important facts about

meth abuse in Wyoming—the problem was widespread, and the measures in place to combat the problem

were not working.

The data generated by Ellis and other

researchers marked a critical moment

in Wyoming’s response to drugs and,

specifically, to methamphetamine.

The picture painted by these grim

statistics did far more than describe

the state of abuse. Ultimately, the

numbers themselves became agents of

change; they fundamentally altered the

manner in which the board thought

about the problem of methamphetamine and how to best combat its abuse

throughout the state.

Source: State of Wyoming, Division of Criminal Investigation

Drug Arrests

Assault Arrests

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

Year

Arrests

Figure 4. Juvenile Assault and Drug Arrests
6

Bulletin From the Field: Practitioner Perspectives

Metamorphosis 

of a Solution to

Methamphetamine

Abuse

Tom Pagel’s career as a police officer

began in Michigan in the 1970s. He

was a tough cop who regarded addicts

as the slime of the earth—people who

refused to hold themselves accountable for their own actions. Pagel saw

to it that they were held accountable.

As a cop, and later as an administrator, Pagel worked hard to ensure that

the criminal justice system treated

drug abusers as criminals. His feelings toward treatment were consistent

with this philosophy. “I hated huggy

kissy stuff,” he says. “As far as I was

concerned, treatment was an excuse

for addicts to escape punishment.” 

A statistic turned Pagel’s outlook

upside down. “The stat that grabbed

me was the 42-percent recidivism

rate for drug offenders,” he admits. 

“I was an enforcement guy, and I

believed that people needed to be

punished for breaking the law. But

when I saw that almost half of the

people my officers were arresting for

drug offenses had previously been

arrested for similar crimes, I realized

that our enforcement-oriented

approach was not working.” Pagel

came to an important realization that

would later become a mantra for the

state of Wyoming: “We could no

longer arrest our way out of this 

problem,” he says. “The statistics

that we found in Wyoming proved

without a doubt that a new approach

was needed.”

Determined to gain a better grasp of

addiction and the promise of treatment, Pagel and others journeyed to

San Rafael, California, to Center

Point, a well-known residential drug

treatment center. The center functions as a “therapeutic community”

(TC) and offers long-term intensive

treatment for addicts. The TC model

uses a highly structured approach to

drug treatment that focuses on longterm recovery. The TC approach

looks beyond an individual’s addiction and identifies personal weaknesses that may contribute to the

disorder. Another important aspect of

TC is the community itself, which

provides addicts with opportunities

to develop social skills, economic

self-reliance, a work ethic, personal

accountability, concern for peers in

the TC, and an appreciation of the

impact their drug abuse has had on

those around them. 

Methamphetamine users frequently

display various types of dysfunction

in addition to their addiction. Sleep

disturbances, impulsive and erratic

behavior, malnourishment, shortterm memory loss, hostility, behavioral disruption, and depression are

all common. Moreover, drug use

often directly or indirectly results in

multiple contacts with the criminal

justice system. The TC model of

treatment, because of its longer duration and focus beyond abstinence to

developing prosocial values and

behaviors, has proven to be effective

with users of methamphetamine—

particularly with users involved with

the criminal justice system.

It was a pivotal trip for Pagel. “My

entire view about treatment was

transformed,” he explains. The 3

days Pagel spent with addicts, counselors, and administrators in the therapeutic community made him realize

that treatment—good treatment—

was no easy road. “I was amazed,” 

he admits. “To see the struggle that

addicts endured, to see how the therapeutic community model emphasized both compassion and personal

accountability, to see the success of

the program—it blew me away.”

Another realization hit home. Such

opportunities for addicts were nonexistent in Wyoming. Clearly, treatment

for harder drugs like methamphetamine required intensive attention;

existing state-sponsored treatment

Source: State of Wyoming, Division of Criminal Investigation

Drug Arrests

Assault Arrests

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

Year

Arrests

Figure 5. Adult Assault and Drug Arrests
Wyoming’s Methamphetamine Initiative

7

centers were ill-equipped to offer

long-term residential care. Moreover,

the scarcity of resources for existing

treatment providers made fighting

meth addiction akin to taking on 10

Goliaths. 

“I remember one guy we had arrested

had gone through thirteen 28-day

treatment programs,” Pagel says. “We

were even having trouble helping

addicts who desperately wanted to

break their cycle of addiction. On the

enforcement end, we were bringing

people into the system just fine, but

were not taking the right approach with

them once they were in the system.”

Pagel returned home with a renewed

outlook and focus. One of Wyoming’s

top cops became one of the state’s

biggest advocates for drug treatment.

He would play a critical role in transforming public perception about

addiction and the legislative agenda

for it. In the meantime, another transformation took place. The Governor’s

Advisory Board changed the way it

did business.

A Catalyst for Change

Central to Wyoming’s war on meth

was the Governor’s Substance Abuse

and Violent Crime Advisory Board.

Established in 1987, the board works

to carry out the executive order under

which it was created. That order

called for the development of a comprehensive crime and drug control

strategy for the state. From the beginning, the board featured a diverse

membership—a tradition that continues today. Educators, concerned

citizens, treatment professionals,

legislators, judges, public defenders,

and law enforcement officials have

all participated over the years. Even

so, in its embryonic stage, the board

was a reactive organization that did

little more than appropriate funds for

statewide and local initiatives. 

Kevin Meenan is the elected district

attorney for Casper, Wyoming, and a

long-time member of the board. “We

didn’t really see ourselves as a strategic body,” he explains. “We saw ourselves as a pass-through for funds,

not much more.” Pagel puts it more

bluntly: “We’d meet on a regular

basis,” he says, “but we wouldn’t

talk. We’d share a cup of coffee,

groan about all the troubles we faced

in our respective fiefdoms, and say

goodbye.” No serious turf issues 

contributed to the board’s lack of

cohesion and integration, however.

“We got along fine,” explains Steve

Lindly, a board member and assistant

administrator for the Department of

Corrections. “Nor were we doing the

wrong things with respect to crime

and drug control. Looking back, 

however, it’s clear that the results 

of our efforts were significantly limited because we were not working

together.”

Ultimately, it was crisis that brought

about cohesion. Because methamphetamine posed such a threat to the

well-being of the state, the board

realized that they had to work together more effectively. The methamphetamine crisis illustrated that

crime and drugs were complex social

phenomena that could not be treated

in isolation. “Meth cut across all 

of our jurisdictions,” Pagel says.

“Everyone on the board brought a

perspective to the problem. It would

have been senseless to try to combat

it alone. It was time to take advantage

of the enormous diversity in our

group.”

The board was determined to transform itself from a reactive body to a

proactive and strategically oriented

entity. As a first step, the board members set out to learn more from the

citizens of their state. They invited

people from all sectors to the table

and sought their input. The strategy

worked. “No one wanted to be left out

after awhile,” says board member

Dianne Calloway. “Everyone wanted

to be helpful and play a role in taking

on the problem of meth in our state.”

In another critical move, the board

began to hold its meetings in different

locations around the state to augment

outreach efforts. Everywhere board

members went, their eyes were

opened to something new.

One of the most eye-opening meetings took place at the Wyoming Girls

School. There, the board heard from

a panel of girls—all of whom had

been involved with meth—from a

variety of backgrounds. “I’ll never

forget that experience,” says Pagel.

“I asked each girl how long it would

take her to obtain meth should she be

returned to her old school on that day.

The answers ranged from 20 minutes

to one class period—just over an

hour. We already knew there was a

problem, we had seen the stats, but

nothing hits you harder than hearing

from children.” 

The Public Campaign

Methamphetamine is an insidiously

addictive drug, and denial only made

matters worse. While Wyoming families suffered behind closed doors,

reluctant to break a taboo of silence,

the drug spread deeper into Wyoming’s

social fabric. In an informational

video about methamphetamine,

Governor Jim Geringer declared that
8

Bulletin From the Field: Practitioner Perspectives

need for treatment, prevention, and

intervention strategies. Energized as

it was, the board recognized that its

situation was bleak. “We were dealing with a culture that did not believe

in treatment,” McDaniel says. “Many

people in the state saw the failings of

the state “needed to get away from

denial and start talking about

methamphetamine.” Working with

Ellis, Pagel and the board set out on

a campaign to raise public awareness

about the problem. Three important

facts stood behind their reasoning: 

(1) the public had a right to know, 

(2) public support was critical to

leverage support for a methamphetamine initiative, and (3) the research

conducted by Ellis provided the

incontrovertible evidence needed to

back up their claims. In short, the

facts could not be ignored. 

Pagel assumed a leadership role in

the process. Because Wyoming’s population is so small, the board knew

that, with enough driving, Pagel and

others could reach a large percentage

of the population. A 1-hour presentation was created describing the state

of meth abuse and documenting the

alcohol treatment in the 60s and

70s.” Wyoming’s feelings about treatment were not inconsistent with its

overwhelmingly conservative population. Most people felt that the appropriate place for addicts was in the

criminal justice system.

Determined to plead his case, Pagel

(joined by Ellis on occasion) set out

on a whirlwind tour of the state. He

appeared whenever and wherever

people would listen. He spoke to

local officials, schoolchildren, and

concerned citizens. He spoke early in

the morning, late in the evening, and

virtually all times in between. Word

got around about his presentation,

and Pagel found himself speaking

before packed audiences everywhere.

He put over 45,000 miles on his car

and made more than 150 presentations in under a year.

Meth Labs: A Dangerous Trend

The proliferation of meth labs in the state of Wyoming coincides with a number of factors that make 

it easier for the criminal to establish meth “cooking” operations and avoid detection. Steve Miller, a

methamphetamine enforcement expert in Wyoming’s Division of Criminal Investigation, has personally

witnessed the enormous increase in meth labs in his state. “Before the meth explosion in our area, the

meth labs we encountered were usually ‘super labs’—large-scale operations that were controlled by

individuals heavily involved in the sale and manufacturing of drugs,” Miller said. “Today the labs we find

are often one-man operations, set up by people who want to make quick money. Smaller labs are often

harder to track and harder to bust.”

Why have these one-man operations emerged? The most probable explanation is the greater availability of

simple and affordable recipes for cooking meth. With new mediums like the Internet, would-be criminals

gain access to a variety of cooking methods that call for materials readily available at local hardware and

drug stores. Matchbooks, over-the-counter drugs, antifreeze, lye, and glassware are just a few examples of

these materials.

The increased use of “cold” cooking techniques is also disturbing. While some recipes use heat to manufacture meth, others require no heat at all. “Hot” techniques are generally more dangerous (due to the

possibility of explosion), more pungent (making them easier to detect), and more difficult to set up and

break down (making them more difficult to relocate). Cold techniques virtually eliminate all three of these

elements, making it easier for meth manufacturers to establish small operations and avoid detection.

Materials confiscated from a clandestine lab

await transport and disposal.
Wyoming’s Methamphetamine Initiative

9

More than a few heads turned when

Pagel spoke out in favor of treatment.

His reputation as a police officer

known for tough enforcement policies

became an asset. Hearing a reputable

cop whom everyone trusted speak up

for treatment sent a powerful message

that Wyoming could not arrest its way

out of the problem. “I was amazed by

the reception we received,” Pagel

says. “People everywhere seemed to

grasp and support the concept that a

new approach was needed.” 

Clearly, the public education campaign was effective—an outcome that

deserves some analysis. Looking

back, several factors contributed to

its success:

◆ The message hit close to home.

“At nearly every presentation,

someone would come up to me

and thank me for talking about the

problem and share their own experiences with meth,” says Pagel.

“They would talk either about

their own struggles or about the

struggles of someone in their family. We were breaking through the

code of silence.” It was clear from

the campaign that meth was not 

a problem that could be relegated

to the “not in my backyard syndrome.” Meth was in everyone’s

backyard, and the campaign

played an important role in bringing that fact to the forefront. At

one public meeting, a father spoke

tearfully of his daughter’s addiction. He talked about the pain of

a parent coming to grips with the

fact that the unthinkable had happened to his daughter. He also

shared the devastating financial

consequences of paying for treatment. He and his wife had to 

use money put aside for their

children’s education and were

forced to sell their family home to

pay for treatment. “But,” he said,

“my daughter is going to live.” 

◆ It was clear that alternatives to

treatment were not working.

According to McDaniel, “More

and more families were experiencing the failures of incarceration for

drug addiction. We were spending

more money on jails and prisons,

but they failed to show any curbing of the problem.” McDaniel

recalls defending one young

addict who had extremely conservative parents—parents who had

always believed the place for

addicts was in jail. “It wasn’t until

it happened to their daughter that

they realized that addiction is a

disease that needs to be treated.”

In many ways, Wyoming woke up

to this realization in much the

same fashion; if it wasn’t your

child, your parents, or your sibling, it was your neighbor or friend

who was involved with meth.

People could see for themselves

how much addicts needed help,

not jail.

◆ The statistics gathered by Ellis

and others described a problem

that could not be ignored and illuminated the need for a radical new

approach. “I could talk to a principal in any school in Wyoming

until I was blue in the face trying

to convince him or her that there

was a meth problem in their area,”

Ellis recalls. “But when I was able

to present the principal with the

results of a survey conducted in

his or her school district, the facts

could not be ignored.” As grim as

the statistics were, Pagel, Ellis,

and others found them to be

empowering as well. Ellis describes one presentation made to

a group of high school students.

“They did not like the dubious

distinction of being the worst in

the nation with respect to drug

abuse,” he explains. “They wanted

to surmount the problem once they

understood its severity.” 

The public campaign was a critical

element in the board’s strategy to

take on the methamphetamine crisis.

Armed with public support, it could

turn to the next step—convincing the

legislature that funds were needed for

a comprehensive methamphetamine

initiative.

Putting Democracy 

To Work

“I learned a valuable political lesson

from our awareness campaign,” says

Pagel. “If you have a message that

you want to promote, you market it to

the people.” Unbeknownst to Pagel Money and drugs confiscated by police in

Wyoming.
10

Bulletin From the Field: Practitioner Perspectives

at the time, citizens who had been

educated about meth were contacting

their legislators. Legislators who had

been protected by silence were now

being pressured to respond.

Even so, getting money from the

Wyoming Legislature was, according

to Pagel, “like trying to squeeze blood

out of a turnip.” Wyoming has a shallow tax base, making fiscal resources

scarce. Not surprisingly, the politically

conservative legislature is even more

conservative when it comes to fiscal

matters. Each year, the legislature

would summon state agencies to testify before them. “We would always ask

for more money,” Pagel says, “and

they would nearly always tell us that

none was available.” For that reason,

Pagel and the board were less than

optimistic about their chances of

securing major funding to combat

methamphetamine. “We were planning

to redistribute some of our resources

toward treatment, if necessary,”

explains Pagel, “but that would only

get us so far.” Pagel was accustomed

to having just a few minutes to speak

on behalf of the Division of Criminal

Investigation each year before the

appropriations committee. That year,

he intended to use all of his time to

bring attention to the meth problem. 

At the time, the chair of the Wyoming

Senate Appropriations Committee

was fiscal conservative and Republican Tom Kinnison. Pagel quickly

learned that his public campaign 

had already put meth on the committee’s radar. Before Pagel could utter

more than a few sentences, Senator

Kinnison stopped him and said,

“Tom, tell me everything you know

about this meth problem.” What was

normally a 5-minute annual exchange

turned into a 1-hour session—the

very same type of session that Pagel

had shared with the people of

Wyoming, the very same statistics

that had helped to transform its

citizenry. If Pagel was surprised by

the request for information about

meth, what happened when he finished speaking was even more

shocking. “After Tom had finished

his presentation,” Senator Kinnison

recalls, “I said to him, ‘What do you

need to deal with this problem—I

want you to think about it and come

back to the committee with a plan.’ I

think he nearly fell out of his chair

when I said that!” 

Truth be told, Pagel nearly did fall out

of his chair. Never in his experience

with the state legislature had he been

presented with such a window of

opportunity. “I left the meeting practically shaking,” he says, grinning. “I

came back to my office and called

everyone on the board for an emergency meeting.” It was clear that the

attention the board drew to the issue

of meth helped to set the stage for a

new relationship with the state

Materials for a meth lab.

legislators. The board had just under 5

weeks to come up with a plan.

Strategizing for Success

For the first time, the Governor’s

Substance Abuse and Violent Crime

Advisory Board sat down to develop a

comprehensive strategy to deal with

the epidemic of methamphetamine.

“We had one chance to pitch our plan

to the legislators,” Pagel said. “We

had to be smart about formulating a

strategy.” Rather than compartmentalizing the problem along jurisdictional

lines, the board created an integrated

approach. Because resources were

scarce, an integrated approach offered

the best chance of obtaining more

potent results for a given sum of

money.

Instead of asking for a lot of money

for indiscriminate use in treatment,

prevention, and intervention, the

board members focused on establishing research-based and proved practices. Their plan was to establish 

drug treatment, intervention, and
Wyoming’s Methamphetamine Initiative

11

prevention pilot programs throughout

the state before devoting long-term

assistance to any one initiative. They

had learned a valuable lesson from

Ellis’s work: research and statistics

not only help determine the scope of

the problem but also help determine

the effectiveness of a response to that

problem. Accordingly, the board proposed to monitor and evaluate the

pilots over 2 years. At the end of 2

years, the board would be able to

point to the most promising models

for the state of Wyoming and then

expand them.

A great deal of work went into the

proposal over the next several weeks.

The final product called for the

establishment of several key initiatives, nearly all of which were driven

by needs exposed by Ellis’s research.

Among other things, the proposal

called for 

◆ Developing and eventually implementing a long-term residential

treatment facility in Wyoming.

◆ Establishing and supporting intensive outpatient drug supervision

programs for the criminal justice

population.

◆ Establishing a methamphetamine

working group of representatives

from a wide range of disciplines

charged with critiquing and 

monitoring the implementation 

of methamphetamine-related 

initiatives.

◆ Creating and distributing information for parents and addicts about

available resources, including a

brochure titled, I Think My Child

Is Using Drugs, What Can I Do: A

Guide for Parents and Families.

◆ Developing a specialized foster

care program for mothers in need

of treatment for methamphetamine and other drug addictions.

Many mothers had expressed

reluctance to enter into treatment

because it might mean the loss of

their children to the Department

of Family Services. This program

was proposed to circumvent that

problem.

◆ Establishing a drug court in Unita

County. The board recognized the

need for sentencing options for

judges to ensure that addicts within the criminal justice system

were afforded the opportunity to

recover.

◆ Implementing the 15,000-Hour

Initiative, a prevention and education effort focusing on children

from kindergarten through age 12.

Prevention programs in Wyoming

were scarce at the time and

focused almost exclusively on

high school students. Ellis’s

research revealed high levels of

drug abuse among children in

middle school—a finding that

demonstrated the need for prevention and early intervention

throughout a child’s student life.

These represent just a snapshot of the

initiatives called for by the board’s

proposal. A recent report issued by

the board describes the essence of

their plan:

This plan represents our best collective

thoughts on what Wyoming needs to

do NOW. It should also be clear that

it represents a change in priorities.

The board has concluded that public

safety and health can best be protected

if we balance strong law enforcement

and appropriate punishment with the

availability of effective and affordable

treatment. We have concluded that

while law enforcement is an important

part of a comprehensive strategy, we

cannot build enough new prisons or

jails nor can we arrest enough offenders to solve the problem. Arresting

addicts and putting them in prison

without providing treatment opportunities is an approach doomed to fail.

Clearly, the board was not shy about

expressing its shift in focus. “We felt

comfortable talking about treatment,”

board member Steve Lindly says.

“We had done our homework and

knew that most people believed in

our approach.” Armed with public

support and the confidence that the

proposal called for the essential first

steps to combat meth, the board submitted the proposal to the appropriations committee.

Legislative Victory

Senator Kinnison did not have high

expectations for what the board would

propose. “I expected Tom to come

back and ask for additional undercover officers for DCI,” he admits.

“When I saw the proposal, it was my

turn to fall off my chair. The comprehensive and integrated approach to

the problem detailed by the proposal

marked an unprecedented kind of

approach.” From the committee’s

standpoint, the proposal set the stage

for a new way of doing business. In

prior years, the committee would

appropriate money to state agencies

“alphabetically.” “That is to say,”

explains Kinnison, “there was no

method to our appropriations. Tom

and the board gave us a method—

everyone wanted to rid the state of

meth. A comprehensive plan like the

one presented to us was difficult to

turn down.”
12

Bulletin From the Field: Practitioner Perspectives

The committee’s ruling marked a 

historic event in Wyoming. The 

legislature appropriated $3.2 

million to implement Wyoming’s

Methamphetamine Initiative—a sum

that would fund a substantial portion

of the board’s original proposal. Of

that $3.2 million, only $250,000 

was dedicated to enforcement. The

majority of the money was dedicated

to the establishment and enhancement of drug treatment throughout

the state. Overnight, Wyoming’s treatment budget had quadrupled.

Unique Factors

Contributing to

Success

The Governor’s Substance Abuse and

Violent Crime Advisory Board had

managed an impressive victory. No

magic bullet contributed to its success. Rather, the board’s achievements can be attributed to a number

of factors detailed below. Some the

board worked deliberately to secure,

others were quite accidental, and 

still others were beyond the board’s

control but nonetheless played an

important role.

Collaboration

The board’s newfound ability to work

together played a decisive role in its

victory. Working together meant:

◆ Maximizing resources. An integrated initiative ensured that the

board members did not duplicate

their efforts and waste funds—an

important consideration in dealing

with a relatively small and finite

sum of money.

◆ A more effective strategy.

Recognizing the complexities of

the methamphetamine problem,

the board members understood the

need to work together to develop a

balanced approach.

◆ Greater legislative success.

Chris Boswell, a Democrat from

Sweetwater County and a member

of the Wyoming Legislature,

believes the united front exhibited

by the board made a big difference.

“Rather than pursuing their own

agendas,” he says, “the agencies

came together and were able to

look at the big picture—something

that had not been done before. We

were struggling to come up with a

solution to a problem, and we were

led to the answer by a widespread 

coalition.”

Of course, coming together in

Wyoming was not as difficult a

prospect as one might imagine. The

state’s small population made it considerably easier to bring the parties to

the table. Moreover, a small population base made developing a consensus far less difficult than it would

have been in areas with bigger populations. A former governor was fond

of saying that Wyoming was one small

town with very long streets. Lindly

agrees: “Even though we have a large

state, you see the same people over

and over again—we all know one

another. That fact, combined with an

inherent lack of turf issues, made

working together relatively easy.

Really, if you can’t pull this off in

Wyoming, you can’t do it anywhere.” 

Leadership

As with many successful initiatives,

leadership played an enormous 

role in the success of Wyoming’s

Methamphetamine Initiative, and

few, if any, will contest that Pagel’s 

leadership was instrumental. Nearly

Chronology for Wyoming’s Methamphetamine Initiative

1993 Department of Criminal 

Investigation begins to 

notice an increase in the 

number of meth-related 

arrests.

1996 Bernie Ellis conducts studies to determine the nature 

and extent of substance 

abuse in Wyoming.

Governor’s Substance 

Abuse and Violent Crime 

Advisory Board launches 

campaign to increase 

public awareness about the 

methamphetamine problem.

1997 State legislature asks for a 

plan to combat the meth 

problem.

1998 State legislature appropriates $3.2 million to seed 

Wyoming’s Methamphetamine Initiative.

1999 State legislature delivers a 

2-year, $5.2 million appropriation to continue development and implementation 

of Wyoming’s Methamphetamine Initiative. 

everyone involved in the process

recognized that Pagel’s trustworthy

reputation played a major role in convincing others about the importance

of treatment. Boswell was among

those impressed by Pagel’s willingness to speak up on behalf of
Wyoming’s Methamphetamine Initiative

13

treatment. “When you have a reputable cop like Tom Pagel speaking

in favor of treatment, it has a big

impact. Obviously, he was not doing it

out of self-interest. It was clear that he

was advocating treatment because he

felt it was the best thing for our state.

When he talked, people listened. Not

only legislators but people from all

over the state.” 

Additionally, Pagel’s ability to bring

people together made the board’s

newfound collaboration possible. His

willingness to remain open to new

ideas and to share in the decisionmaking process and his strong personal ties with people across the state

were important factors in building a

united coalition. 

Other leaders played important 

roles as well. The governor was 

active in helping to craft the plan.

Other members of the board effectively promoted their message and

contributed to the plan’s development. Legislators helped to refine the

board’s proposal, and many unsung

heroes helped to make the Wyoming

Methamphetamine Initiative a reality.

Ultimately, the methamphetamine

problem brought out the leadership

potential in countless Wyoming citizens as they banded together to rally

against crisis.

Statistics

The statistics generated by Ellis and

others played a critical role in the

board’s success. Numbers helped to

bring about Pagel’s and the board’s

transformation; they helped convince

the public and legislators of the

nature of the problem. They demonstrated both the failure of past

punitive approaches to drug abuse

and the promise of treatment. Ellis’s

continued presence in the state as a

seasoned and reputable epidemiologist was also invaluable. Those who

expressed skepticism about the numbers or called for elaboration on the

studies were able to question Ellis

about his findings. “The Governor

himself asked me to attend a cabinet

meeting to explain the findings,” says

Ellis. “Those kinds of opportunities

were important to demonstrate that

the findings were credible and 

very real.”

Desperation

One factor that could not be controlled

but worked to the advantage of the

board was the fact that Wyomingites

were hungry for answers to the meth

crisis. “We were desperate,” says

Boswell. “Meth had us all scared, and

we had little choice but to listen to

anyone with a reasonable solution.” 

Would the board have been so successful had the public and the legislators not been so desperate for

a solution? This question does not

cast a shadow on the accomplishments of the board. While desperation may have made Wyoming more

attentive to the board’s call to action,

credit should be given for its success

in drawing attention to the issue, generating public support for the project,

and for the ingenuity of its approach.

Moreover, legislators did not indiscriminately sign off on the Meth

Initiative. Their large appropriation

sent a strong signal that the plan held

great promise.

Looking Ahead

The board’s securing $3.2 million to

combat methamphetamine provided

a foundation on which to build—a

foundation that continues to be built

on today. The following fiscal year, the

appropriations committee approved a

2-year, $5.2 million appropriation, a

sum that ensured the continued operation of pilot programs throughout the

state. In addition, the state is planning

a variety of new projects in the area of

drug treatment, prevention, and intervention, including

◆ The establishment of a Statistical

Analysis Center, which will operate through an innovative partnership between the state and the

University of Wyoming. Recognizing the continued importance

of statistics as a roadmap to success, this center will create a centralized statistical database and

information management system.

The center will compile and analyze

statistics generated by state and

local agencies, a function that will

continue the tradition of researchdriven policy. Additionally, it will

promote a knowledge base of

research and evaluation on which

future policies, programs, and

strategies can be built. 

◆ The expansion of existing corrections-based treatment programs to

provide greater treatment opportunities for inmates. Wyoming’s

prison population remains one of

the state’s most addicted groups.

An estimated 50 percent of

Wyoming’s inmates are drug

abusers, and methamphetamine

is often their drug of choice.

◆ The establishment and evaluation

of several drug courts in the state

(including in Indian Country).

◆ The development of a summer

school to train substance abuse

counselors. 
14

Bulletin From the Field: Practitioner Perspectives

◆ The implementation of a telemedicine project that will link various

corrections facilities to the state

hospital.

These state initiatives to combat meth

and other drug abuse are the products

of new thinking in Wyoming—thinking that originated only a few years

earlier when methamphetamine first

raised the eyebrows of the board.

Since then, Pagel and others have

worked hard to reinforce the message

that any strategy must be dynamic

and flexible to be successful. “Our

drug problem is not static,” says

Pagel. “It’s complex and always

changing. We have to continue to

adapt to be effective.”

Still, new thinking and adaptation

have yet to do away with critics of the

Meth Initiative. Some people deny

that the meth problem is as bad as

the statistics show and are skeptical

of the massive government expenditures to combat it. Mark Voss, a former public defender in Cheyenne,

questions whether a meth crisis really

exists in Wyoming. “More people

may be using meth,” he concedes,

“but is it a crisis? I’m not sure.”

While Voss admits that he has not

seen Ellis’s study, he remains cautious about accepting the numbers at

face value. “My experience with

studies like these,” he explains, “is

that they are often done by people

who have an interest in seeing inflated numbers.” Ellis’s response to the

argument is clear enough: “I’m not

the one who stands to benefit from

increased funding from the state legislature. My interest in this process is

in applying scientific principles in

order to clarify problems. In my view,

we do not do the public any good by

overdramatizing the problem.” Ellis

the best interests of the state in mind.

Moreover, Pagel admits there is room

for improvement: “More focus needs

to be put into prevention and early

intervention.” While the numbers

from Ellis’s student survey pointed to

an urgent need for prevention and

education, only $100,000 of the initial $3.2 million was dedicated to

these areas.

Other concerns stem from Wyoming’s

focus on methamphetamine to the

potential exclusion of other, more

deep-rooted problems. Although most

agree that methamphetamine presents

a uniquely difficult problem, there are

those who believe that it should be

dealt with in the context of addictive

behavior in general. While McDaniel

fully supports the Meth Initiative,

having helped craft it, he also believes

that more needs to be done. “We frequently fail to see the forest for the

trees,” he says. “We spent a lot of

time and effort trying to treat addictions without taking the time to look

at the conditions that might be contributing to addictive behaviors in the

first place.” It follows from McDaniel’s

logic that issues such as poverty, social

isolation, lack of healthy opportunities

for young people, and other social

concerns also need to be factored into

the methamphetamine equation.

Perhaps one of the biggest social concerns that remains largely unchecked

is Wyoming’s alcohol problem. Today,

Wyoming is plagued by the rampant

use of alcohol, a drug that leaves

behind devastation that easily rivals,

if not outpaces, that of methamphetamine. Alcohol-related fatal automobile crashes in the state occur at 

double the national average, and

Wyoming children have the fourthhighest alcohol usage rate in the

also points out that the numbers are

probably conservative. His widely

quoted school survey, for example,

was based on self-reporting by teens

in school—a method that does not

account for false survey responses

and teens outside of the school

system. 

Some treatment providers have also

voiced opposition to the initiative.

Many providers are frustrated by new

requirements that call for quantitative

demonstrations of success. They

claim that the human worth of their

programs cannot be measured in statistical terms. Although Pagel and

others on the board concede this

point, they remain steadfast about

their new requirement for evaluation

of treatment services. “We are dealing with a small sum of money,”

explains Pagel. “The reality is that

we can only afford to fund programs

that can demonstrate to us that their

services work.”

Still others, including Voss, are cautious about the influx of mechanisms

like drug courts, which present complex problems with respect to the

rights of the accused. “My biggest

concern,” Voss argues, “is that drug

courts can be coercive with respect to

defendants. If defendants are given

the choice between jail time and

treatment, you don’t have to be a

genius to figure out which they are

likely to choose. We have to be careful about a system that baits defendants into one course of action over

another.” Even so, Voss believes that

incentives to get people into treatment

are necessary and that drug courts are,

at least in theory, a good idea. 

Despite these critics, few, if any, will

contest that Pagel and the board have
Wyoming’s Methamphetamine Initiative

15

nation. Yet, unlike with meth, widespread support to combat alcohol and

alcohol-related problems is not forthcoming—largely because Wyoming is

a state in which alcohol use is deeply

ingrained. “Wyoming was the last

state in the nation to change its

minimum drinking age to 21, drivethrough liquor windows are still found

throughout the state, and some

members of the public and the state

legislature still believe it is their

Constitutional right to drive down the

highway with a beer in their hand,”

says Pagel. “The result is some of the

most lax drunk driving laws in the

nation.” It is reasonable to suppose

that any state working to create safe,

healthy, and crime-free communities

must address all of the addictions

that threaten its well-being.

It would be unfair, however, to suggest that the Meth Initiative has only

influenced the issue of methamphetamine abuse. The board’s new way of

doing business has set the stage for a

new era in state governance. Agencies

are learning to work together on a

multitude of issues, the executive

branch has benefited from unprecedented cooperation with the state

legislature, and citizens have begun

to appreciate the importance of balanced approaches toward crime 

and drugs. 

The success of Wyoming’s Meth

Initiative is an unfolding story, one

that can only be fully told as the state

evaluates the impact of its efforts.

However, even if the initiative fails,

much can be learned from the process

itself. Working together was a lesson

in the power of a united front. Taking

the campaign to the public was a 

lesson in the power of grassroots

activism. Success in the legislature

was a lesson in the power of democracy. The use of research to drive

policy was a lesson in the power of

making informed decisions. In the

end, Wyoming’s Methamphetamine

Initiative is about much more than

drug abuse. It is a story about personal and large-scale transformation.

Its impact will be felt by the citizens

of Wyoming for years to come.

For More Information 

For more information about the

Wyoming Methamphetamine

Initiative, contact:

Thomas Pagel, Director

Division of Criminal Investigation

316 West 22d Street

Cheyenne, WY 82002

307–771–7181

307–771–7252

For more information about BJA

grants and programs, contact:

Bureau of Justice Assistance

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

202–616–6500

Bureau of Justice Assistance 

Clearinghouse

P.O. Box 6000

Rockville, MD 20849–6000

1–800–688–4252

E-mail: askncjrs@ncjrs.org

World Wide Web: www.ncjrs.org

Clearinghouse staff are available

Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to

7:30 p.m. eastern time. Ask to be

placed on the BJA mailing list.

NCJ 186266

The Bureau of Justice Assistance

is a component of the Office of

Justice Programs, which also

includes the Bureau of Justice

Statistics, the National Institute 

of Justice, the Office of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for

Victims of Crime.