Operation UNITE is zeroing in on a county they say is not getting the help it needs in the war against drugs.
Leaders and community members from around Wolfe County met with UNITE officials in Campton today to help put their people on the road to recovery.

Operation UNITE has investigated more than 16-thousand tips in 29 counties since 2004, but only 134 of those complaints came from people in Wolfe County.

UNITE Director Karen Engle says, "There's some communities that have been really active with UNITE since we started. Unfortunately Wolfe County is not one of those."

With a growing methamphetamine problem along with three overdose deaths in one week, Wolfe County is now at the top of UNITE's priority list. Officials spent the day teaching dozens of community members about UNITE's education, treatment, and law enforcement programs.

Judge Executive Raymond Hurst says, "We have to take the reigns, we have to do something ourselves. We cannot expect someone to come in here and clean it up for us; we have to take some of our own responsibility."

They are hearing from people like Ernest Childers, a pastor who helps counsel those arrested for drugs.

Childers says, "If they need someone just to talk to or anything to not take that next pill or not to shoot up one more time," using personal stories like his to engage more people in UNITE's programs.

Engle says, "Change in a community does not happen because UNITE comes and holds a meeting. It happens because it inspires and ignites a local movement from people who live here."

They hope the movement takes off in Wolfe County, where so far the spread of drug use has outpaced efforts to stop it.

UNITE officials are asking for volunteers to help out with a variety of programs in Wolfe County, and plan to hold training sessions based on local feedback.