Sheriff in a public policy chat with chamber audience

A chamber of commerce audience at Seneca this morning heard from the man who is the 21st sheriff in Oconee’s long history, which officially started about three years after the end to the Civil War.  Sheriff Mike Crenshaw was the guest speaker for the latest in a series of public policy chats with movers and shakers of Oconee County.  Drugs were at the top today of Crenshaw’s list.  While acknowledging the country’s war against drugs has not been won, Crenshaw believes it’s a fight worth waging.  Stepped up efforts to enforce the law against meth, he said, has resulted in his officers taking down fewer meth labs than in years past.  Yet, Crenshaw estimates, more than one-half of the county’s drug cases last year were meth-related and cartels continue to push meth to the Atlanta area.  The treatment part of the Sheriff’s drug program is an aspect worth pursuing, Crenshaw believes, because the root cause for drugs is an addiction for which users can benefit from treatment.  An aspect of treatment is the arrangement with a faith-based organization to convert part of the old jail into a recovery facility.  And, because some 30 to 40 percent of those who are jailed in Oconee exhibit some kind of mental health problem, Crenshaw doesn’t rule out the idea of a pilot mental health program there for those in need of help.