Pubdate: Fri, 11 Mar 2005
Source: News-Enterprise, The (KY)
Copyright: 2005 News-Enterprise
Contact:  http://www.newsenterpriseonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1663
Author: Rebecca Johns
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

LAW, DRUG CENTERS GRAPPLE WITH METH

Methamphetamine addictions are becoming more common in Hardin County, local 
narcotics law enforcement officers say. Local treatment facilities are 
learning to adapt to meet the increasing problem.

Kentucky State Police narcotics detectives Terry Moore and Curtis Mouser 
say they see methamphetamine users returning to jail for the same offenses 
over and over again.

"They go right back to it the minute they get out," Moore said. The 
detectives have seen all kinds of drug addicts during their careers, but no 
other drug, they said, is harder to quit.

"You've got to address both ends of it," Moore said. "We need good 
treatment programs."

The Kentucky Legislature also is attempting to address the problem by 
making some of the ingredients used to produce meth more difficult to 
obtain and stiffening manufacturing and possession laws. But those are just 
part of the solution to combating the festering problem.

Not only has the drug been accessible and easy to make, but also "it has 
the most bang for the buck," Moore said. The drug gives a longer high for 
the money than other better-known drugs, he said.

As the problem grows, treatment facilities across the area are seeing an 
increase in the number of meth addicts seeking treatment, officials say.

The relapse rate is higher for methamphetamines than for any other drug, 
said Sherry Coomer, administrator for Stepworks, an addiction treatment 
facility in Elizabethtown. Coomer said she is seeing more and more meth 
users going through treatment as the problem has grown.

"We are seeing a huge influx of meth users in all treatment programs 
including out patient and residential programs," she said. Stepworks uses a 
12-step program that incorporates Narcotics Anonymous into its treatment.

Terry Reams, alcohol and drug clinical director for Communicare, said while 
his treatment facility does not have a program geared specifically toward 
meth addicts, Communicare is seeing an increase in patients whose 
addictions include either meth alone or a combination of drugs with meth 
being the primary addiction.

Recovering addict James Stallins said the drug gets a hold of users and 
takes over their lives.

"I started using (methamphetamines) several years ago. It was the new drug 
in town," he said. Stallins, who admits to trying "every drug out there," 
said he started using because someone offered it to him at a party.

"Cocaine hasn't got anything on meth," he said. "It's a moving plague. You 
have to really want to be off it to quit."

Stallins said he used from about 1994 to 1999. After he began to inject the 
drug into his veins to get high, he decided to leave the area to put his 
addiction behind him.

"I was off it for three years," he said. Stallins found himself using again 
when he moved into another area where the drug was prevalent.

"I gave up on my job. I was evicted from my home," said Stallins, who moved 
back to Hardin County where his extended family lives. Back in familiar 
territory, Stallins continued his drug use and moved to manufacturing and 
selling the drug.

"I've made thousands and thousands of dollars from this drug," Stallins 
said, "but I ain't got a dime to show for it." In fact most of the money, 
he said, went right back into the drug. Stallins used until recently, when 
he was arrested and charged with possession.

"I'm glad I got caught. I've got a beautiful wife and four beautiful kids. 
On the meth, I didn't have a life with my family," he said.

Stallins, 41, said he is lucky, because his wife hasn't given up on him 
during his battle.

Now that Stallins has served his time and is out of the Hardin County 
Detention Center, he has entered a local treatment program.

"You can't quit methamphetamines on your own," Stallins said. "You need 
help. It causes chaos - anarchy. Meth is a one-way street to a head-on 
collision with a brick wall."

"We teach specific tools to prevent relapses. Concrete things they can do 
when they feel the urge to use," Coomer said of the Stepworks treatment 
program.

Literature from Communicare explains that meth's poisonous properties can 
destroy the user's body. Some users become walking skeletons. Users' hair 
can become tangled and stringy, faces can become drawn and old looking and 
teeth can fall out.

"This is a drug that kills and we freely put it into our live bodies," said 
Stallins. "It ain't done nothing but cause us heartache and grief. But, I 
know this time I'm going to make it, because this time, I want to be drug 
free more than my family wants me to be."

Stallins says he doesn't know what long-term affects the drug has had on 
him yet, but he is sure that he could suffer from health problems someday 
that are a result of his long-term use.

Aside from legislators, law enforcement and treatment facilities are all 
working to combat the meth problem. Gov. Ernie Fletcher is seeking to help 
communities educate citizens about the drug and its related health 
problems. Through a coalition that consists of various community members, 
including members of Communicare, an information and educational program is 
being presented across the state to help community members identify 
evidence of meth manufacturing and to help stem the flow of the product 
into the community.

"This drug touches more aspects of our society than any other drug," said 
Deborah Shortt, Communicare prevention specialist. Shortt said she and 
Kelly Harl of Communicare's regional prevention center are working to 
change how the community views the drug. As more people accept drugs like 
marijuana as "not so bad," the door is opened for harder drugs to be 
accepted more easily, Shortt said.

"It's a community problem and education is key," she said.

Shortt and Harl are scheduled to participate in Combating Kentucky's 
Methamphetamine Problem, an education program being presented by the 
Kentucky National Guard and Communicare Regional Prevention Center.

Shortt said they hope to use the classes to educate community members - 
particularly sanitation workers who might come across the by-products or 
evidence of a meth lab in their jobs - and other community residents who 
could end up evacuated from their homes if a lab were discovered in close 
proximity.

The product is a dangerous and lethal combination of three key ingredients: 
pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, anhydrous ammonia or red phosphorous and 
lithium from lithium batteries. For every pound

of meth that is produced, seven pounds of hazardous waste created, local 
experts said.
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