Pubdate: Fri, 28 Oct 2005
Source: Santa Fe New Mexican (NM)
Copyright: 2005 The Santa Fe New Mexican
Contact:  http://www.sfnewmexican.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/695
Author: Diana Heil The New Mexican

REPORT: METH USE CLAIMS 56 LIVES

Increase In Overdose Fatalities Has State Officials Working To Curb 
Drug Problem

Over the span of three years, methamphetamine has killed 56 people in 
New Mexico. The southwest, northeast and southeast regions of the 
state have seen the biggest increases in overdose fatalities.

Growing numbers of New Mexico students are sampling the cheap, 
illegal and highly addictive drug, with males and American Indians 
reporting use more often than females and other ethnic groups.

And while police have succeeded in shutting down some meth labs, the 
substance remains widely available throughout the state due to 
shipments from Mexico.

A group of state experts -- convened by drug czar Herman Silva and 
Reena Szczepanski, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico -- 
mulled over these and other facts while devising a plan to take on 
the illegal stimulant. In a recent report, the work group compiled 
its recommendations, some of which might be proposed as legislation 
in 2006. Meth can be smoked, snorted, eaten or injected. Insomnia, 
violent behavior, mood swings and tooth loss are mild symptoms, 
compared to what can happen with prolonged use. Worse reactions 
include kidney complications, lung disorders, brain damage, blood 
clots and death.

According to the report, prevention should be stepped up, with better 
coordination between agencies, governments and communities. Also, 
efforts to reduce the trafficking of meth from Mexico to the United 
States should be a priority.

Reducing the amount of harm addicts do to themselves and others is 
another emphasis of the report: New Mexico should make syringe 
exchange as well as infectious-disease testing available in every 
public-health office. Also, funding and standards should be raised 
for cleaning up meth labs, which leave behind harmful contaminants.

People who shoot up meth put themselves at risk for HIV and hepatitis 
infections. But by exchanging their used needles for new ones under a 
state program, those risks can be minimized. Nearly 9,000 
participants in the program have been enrolled in New Mexico since 
1998, according to the report, and about 2,000 report meth use.

Effective treatment for meth addicts exists. One apparently effective 
example is Border Area Mental Health Services in Deming, which 
involves at least three sessions per week for three to four months, 
plus follow-up care for a year after treatment.

But New Mexico should increase the number of behavioral-health 
providers through more vigorous recruitment and the credentialing of 
lay people, according to the report, and offer more treatment to 
prisoners. The report also promotes the use of alternative 
interventions, such as Eastern medicine and American Indian healing traditions.

Tiny rural communities, such as Capitan in the southern part of the 
state, are pockets where meth is festering.

"They figure they'll be less detected in a smaller community," 
Capitan Police Chief Robert Bird said in a telephone interview 
Thursday. This week, Bird attended New Mexico Attorney General 
Patricia Madrid's Meth Summit in Albuquerque, where he learned the 
recovery rate for meth addicts is 10 percent. "They say when you get 
on, you never get off the train," Bird said.

When Bird became police chief in May, he announced in the local 
newspaper that it was time for the drug dealers to leave. Since 
issuing that warning, "I have been actively pursuing the drug problem 
around here," he said. "It's hard to get the main line guys (who 
shuttle the drugs). If we can, we'll do it."

In July, a police operation netted 2 ounces of crystal meth (which 
has a street value of about $5,600) and three suspected drug dealers, 
Bird said. But now he's frustrated. Bird has called on Gov. Bill 
Richardson for a special investigator to help put the three suspected 
dealers in jail, after the district attorney dismissed charges 
against the trio because the police operation used a man on probation.

As far as what the state as a whole should do to thwart meth, Bird 
kept it simple: "Just zero in on it. What else can you do ?"
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman