GLASGOW — The Barren County Sheriff’s Office is trying something new to fight the methamphetamine problem in the county.

Sheriff Chris Eaton has taken the fight to the Internet, starting a Facebook page called Meth Free Barren County.

“In the first day we had over 800 fans on the site, so it’s just been amazing to see the response,” said Eaton.

Now with more the 1,600 fans and counting, the Web site includes many ways for the community to learn about meth in the county, and encourages feedback on what the county would like to see happen on the Web page.

“It’s beginning to be an everyday thing where I get calls asking about meth,” Eaton said. “We are encouraging all the feedback we can get.”

Meth Free Barren County includes an article in the notes section explaining common names for meth (crank, chalk, fire and ice), causes an addiction can have and a picture of crystal meth seized in the county so citizens can recognize it. It can look like anything from powdered crystals to large chunks. They also explain what kind of items are used in a meth lab, to warn citizens of roadside waste that could have been used.

“We're talking about lasting destruction, including irreversible and serious damage to the body, parents in jail and kids in foster homes as well as serious environmental damage from toxic chemicals where meth is made,” the article said.

Also on the Web site are before-and-after photos of meth users also posted on drugfree.org, and part of Faces of Meth, a program started by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Portland, Ore.

The feedback on the Web site has so far been overwhelmingly positive, Eaton and the BCSO Public Information Officer Trevor Phillips said.

“It’s all about awareness, and this Web site will help people know what they’re looking at so they can avoid it and report it,” said Phillips, who regularly maintains the page.

Many of the comments left on the page praise the sheriff’s office for starting the page and giving the community a safe way to learn about a drug so prevalent in the area.There are also fans sharing their stories from their own lives.

“A meth problem is a hard battle to win,” Jeff Gibson, a Glasgow native and driver for Rockit Trucking, Inc., said on the page. “With help from REAL friends, your family and faith in God, it’s possible. I’ve been clean for over five years ... It takes all your life to accumulate all those things but only a few days, weeks or months to throw it ALL away.

Also mentioned on the site a Kentucky Senate committee has approved a bill that represents the state's latest attempt to curb the spread of methamphetamine. Under the bill, certain offenders would be blocked for five years from purchasing cold medicines commonly used to make meth.

Billy Stinnett, a man the sheriff’s office caught after a car chase through three counties, blames meth for most of his previous offenses. When law enforcement caught him, they found a suspected mobile meth lab in the back of the van he was driving. They are not planning to use local pictures or stories, but he is an example of the addictiveness of the drug Eaton is trying to get people to avoid.

“I stuck a needle in my arm when I was 16 and I’ve been cursed ever since,” Stinnett said from the Barren County Correction Center. He is hoping to receive treatment while he is in the jail and begins court proceedings for charges stemming from the car chase on April 26.

The sheriff wants to see how this page grows, but pages about marijuana and prescription drugs in the county might be created in the future.

“Anyway we can get the word out and educate people we’d like to do it, and this [Facebook page] is becoming a great thing,” Eaton said.