Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 Source: Helena Independent Record (MT) Contact: 2003 Helena Independent Record Website: http://helenair.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1187 Author: Allison Farrell, IR State Bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) FORMER METH ADDICTS SAY STATE FOOLISH TO CUT TREATMENT HELENA - Regina Reinhardt hauled her two young children out of their beds and made them hide some winter nights in a neighboring field. She thought bad men were after them. Paranoia drove her meth-addicted friends to shoot holes in the wall of her Billings home at cops who weren't there. Dirty intravenous needles were "hidden" in her kitchen cupboards. "I thought I was being a good mom," Reinhardt said. But a 20-year addiction to methamphetamine had taken its toll. Reinhardt was a crank addict and an unfit parent. Her two older children were already living with her mother, but her two younger children, ages 4 and 5, were living -- surviving =97 with her. Until, one day, they were taken away. And that was a good thing. Reinhardt said she couldn't have gotten clean and sober without the help of the people working for the state's Child and Family Services Division. She's been off drugs and alcohol since 1994. She now helps other women get through the nightmare of meth addiction. The programs that helped Reinhardt and others like her are threatened by budget cuts proposed for fiscal 2004 and 2005. Foster care may take a $2 million hit because of the legislative mandate to roll funding back to year 2000 levels in 2004 and 2005. In-home services that help fragile families transition from foster care to home life are on the chopping block, and the broad array of services in the $45 million division of child and family services will be reduced. "Meth is a huge problem in Montana," said Chris Purcell, bureau chief of central intake for the division. Meth is an incredibly addictive drug. Parents hooked on meth need intense case management to kick the habit and put their lives -- as well as their children's lives -- back in order. In the state's urban centers, like Billings and Great Falls, nearly 80 percent of all the cases that Child and Family Services handles are meth related. That number falls to about 15 percent in Helena. The number of meth cases is on the rise across Montana. Just a few years ago, 60 percent of the division's cases in Billings were meth related. Those without financial resources rely on the government for help. The drug destroys lives. Vince of Helena, who would only give his first name, said he was a successful business man with six children and a wife before his alcohol problem escalated into a full-scale methamphetamine addiction. After six months of using the drug, his life began to crumble. He became emotionally distant from his children. He fought constantly with his wife. One of his daughters ran away from home. In the summer of 2000, a major drug bust in Helena prompted Vince to give up meth "cold turkey." He was back on the stuff by Halloween. "When I got back into it, I was right where I left off," he said. His wife, his job and his house were gone. He placed his six children in foster care. The wreck of his life was finally sunk. "I made a decision one night to do something different," Vince said. Child and Family Services placed him in the Montana Chemical Dependency Center in Butte. He admits he went there hoping to learn how to live his life while managing his meth habit. The personal testimony of a counselor convinced him to change for good. "I remembered being sane at one point and I wanted it back," Vince said. Reinhardt said she, too, was finally overwhelmed by the horror of her life. She never followed through with the six 30-day treatment programs she had entered over the course of 20 years. The state had seized her remaining two children in 1994. She had wasted her college degree. She lost her house. State family services workers finally told her she was dying, her children were gone and she was headed for jail. "I was destroying myself and they gave me a chance to find myself," she said. After an intense 16-month outpatient treatment program, Reinhardt was reunited with her children. She believes the division of family services saved her family. "I think it's a safety net the kids in the world need," she said. The safety net of state services for Montana's poor residents is shrinking. With sweeping budget cutbacks and legislators' apparent unwillingness to levy more taxes, more people are falling through the safety net's widening holes, officials in the department of health and human services say. Purcell said the 30-day treatment programs the state places meth addicts in aren't intense enough for most users. "I think we set people up to fail," Purcell said. But the handful of recovery centers that offer year-long inpatient treatment, like Michel's House in Billings, are filled to capacity. And four people are waiting in line for every bed that's filled. People who have been through the system believe in it. "I think they're making a grave mistake if they cut the budget," Vince said. "They'll have to build prisons." Vince knows firsthand the frightening explosion in popularity of meth in Montana. He still goes to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings every day for support. He takes his journal with him to chronicle all his clean and sober days. He hopes legislators come to their senses. "It's a disease that needs to be treated," Vince said - --- MAP posted-by: Derek