Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jul 2005
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2005 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Contact: http://www.csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/encryptmail.pl?ID=CFF0C5E4
Website: http://www.csmonitor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/83
Author: Brad Knickerbocker
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH'S RISING US IMPACT

ASHLAND, Ore. - In Keizer, Ore., the other day, a toddler in diapers and a
T-shirt was found walking along a busy road. When police investigated, they
found that the 16-month-old boy had been left alone by his parents, who had
been sleeping and were subsequently arrested for possession of a controlled
substance - methamphetamine. A few weeks earlier and a few miles away in the
state capital of Salem, police investigated whether girls at the Waldo
Middle School - barely in their teens - had been using meth, possibly
exchanging sex for the drug.

Around the country, law-enforcement officials say methamphetamine use
has become an epidemic. Federal officials estimate there are 1.5
million regular meth users in the United States today. As of 2003,
according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 12.3 million
Americans had tried methamphetamine at least once - up nearly 40
percent over 2000 and 156 percent over 1996.

But the impact ranges beyond meth users to crime victims, since
addicts typically steal to support their addiction. Most distressing,
experts say, may be the thousands of children who are neglected or
abused by meth users. Social service agencies around the country
report increases in out-of-home placements of children because of
meth, and a study by the National Conference of State Legislatures
finds that 10 percent of users were introduced to meth by their
parents or other family members. According to the Drug Enforcement
Administration, children were present at 20 percent of all meth lab
busts last year.

The impact on children may be connected to the fact that women are
more likely to use meth than other illegal drugs. For one thing, the
drug is associated with weight loss. One federal survey of people
arrested for all crimes found that 11.3 percent of women had used meth
within the prior month compared with 4.7 percent of men.

At a workshop in Portland, Ore., last week, White House deputy drug
czar Scott Burns called meth "the most destructive, dangerous,
terrible drug that's come along in a long time."

Those on the front lines of the war on drugs agree. A recent survey of
500 law-enforcement agencies by the National Association of Counties
finds that 87 percent have seen increases in meth-related arrests in
the past three years. Most county sheriffs now say meth is their main
drug problem, connected to increases in robberies, burglaries,
domestic violence, assaults, identity thefts, and child neglect.

Counterfeiting - made easier these days with computers, scanners, and
laser printers - has become an important sideline for many meth
addicts. And many abandoned meth labs have become the local equivalent
of environmental Superfund sites, so toxic are the chemicals used to
make the drug. Every pound of meth produced results in five to seven
pounds of poisonous residue, often left in empty buildings, trailer
parks, and rural sites to pollute the ground, water, and air.

"The growth of the use and addiction to methamphetamines has occurred
so fast and to such a degree that many local governments are
scrambling to catch up," reports the association of counties.

Known as "the poor man's cocaine," meth is a highly addictive and
powerful stimulant that goes by a variety of street names: Speed.
Crystal. Ice. Glass. Crank. Tweak. Zip.

It's easy to make using common items found in hardware stores and
pharmacies - rubbing alcohol, drain cleaner, matchbooks, and
over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines. More than 100 recipes for
meth are posted online.

Smoked, snorted, swallowed, or injected, meth brings a sense of
euphoria and invulnerability. But among the adverse effects of
methamphetamine use, medical experts say, are irritability, insomnia,
anxiety, hallucinations, paranoia, and a tendency to violence.

As a public health and crime problem, meth started out in the Western
and Southwestern US, but steadily moved north and east. Last year
there were more meth lab incidents in Illinois than there were in
California. In the first six months of 2004, meth treatment admissions
in Atlanta were up more than 10 percent and nearly 20 percent in
Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Among current ways of tackling the problem, states are restricting the
sale of cold medicines, from which pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient
in meth, is obtained. Under political pressure, US pharmaceutical
companies have begun reformulating their cold remedies to avoid using
pseudoephedrine.

The federal government has launched a plan to fight such synthetic
drugs, which includes tracking the production and shipment of cold
medicines overseas - especially in Mexico, where meth "superlabs"
(those that can produce at least 10 pounds of the drug in a 24-hour
period) run by cartels have been a major source of the drug coming
into the United States. The Oregonian newspaper in Portland reported
last week that imports to Mexico of cold medicine with pseudoephedrine
had shot up from 66 tons to 224 tons in the past five years.

Bush administration officials acknowledge the problem. Still, many in
Congress, where a bipartisan "meth caucus" has grown to 100 members
from 35 states, and in state houses and legislatures around the
country say the White House has been slow to attack meth as a major
drug problem.

US Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California and Jim Talent (R) of
Missouri are sponsoring legislation that would move cold medicines
with pseudoephedrine behind the counter and require identification and
a signature to purchase the drug. It also sets monthly limits per
person, and it provides funding to study means of treatment.

"Our legislation would enact the toughest antimeth law in the country
so we can finally get ahead of the meth cooks and keep this terrible
drug out of our neighborhoods and schools," says Senator Talent.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the "most effective
treatments for methamphetamine addiction are cognitive behavioral
interventions ... designed to help modify the patient's thinking,
expectancies, and behaviors and to increase skills in coping with
various life stressors." Recovery support groups and antidepressant
medications have proven helpful, the institute finds, but there is no
drug that specifically treats methamphetamine addiction.

So far, there are few programs around the country specifically
designed to treat meth addiction. For example, only 16 percent of
counties surveyed have a meth rehabilitation center, which means that
for most charged, jail is the only option.

Meth use in the US

. According to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health,
approximately 12.3 million Americans ages 12 and older reported trying
meth at least once.

. Meth users are generally: high school and college students, white-
and blue-collar workers, unemployed workers in their 20s and 30s.

. The problem, originally concentrated in the West, has spread
throughout almost every major metropolitan area in the US with the
exception of the Northeast.

. Meth use comes at a high cost to communities: an increase in crimes
ranging from theft to assault, an increase of children displaced to
foster care, highly toxic meth lab sites that are dangerous and
difficult to clean up.

Source: National Association of Counties, Office of National Drug
Control Policy
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin