Pubdate: Sun, 13 Mar 2005
Source: Bowling Green Daily News (KY)
Copyright: 2005 News Publishing LLC
Contact:  http://www.bgdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1218
Author: John Van Vleet

METH AND KIDS

Children's exposure to labs skyrocketing, and may cause series of health
problems

In the early morning hours of Feb. 25, David Shelton and Dana Hope were
arrested for manufacturing methamphetamine in Shelton's Lewisburg home.

Kentucky State Police, the South Central Kentucky Drug Task Force and the
Logan County Sheriff's Department raided the residence with warrant in hand
and officers said they discovered eight grams of meth, a large container of
anhydrous ammonia - an ingredient used in the making of the drug - and an
active cooking mechanism.

While in the home, officers said they also found Shelton's two young
children living in the same dingy rooms where this meth was allegedly
cooked, distributed and ingested.

The children were rescued from the home and placed into protective custody
by Social Services while Shelton was charged with a long list of
drug-related offenses and two counts of wanton endangerment, stemming from
the alleged neglect of his children.

Shelton was indicted by a Logan County grand jury and has a court date
scheduled for Monday.

This scenario is becoming more frequent in the area. Clandestine drug labs
and children's exposure to them is a growing concern across the state,
because of the damaging effects meth has on its users and the children that
are unwittingly exposed to it.

The recently formed Kentucky Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, a
University of Kentucky extension program, is trying a proactive approach to
help curb the problem.

The alliance has been conducting training sessions throughout Kentucky
informing police, health care workers, child service employees, educators
and anyone else who wants to learn how to deal with a possible child
endangerment situation.

Holly Hopper, chairwoman of the alliance, said meth in homes is not the only
drug now plaguing children, but it is the primary one and a focus of these
sessions.

"The meth problem in the state has increased approximately 400 percent since
1999," she said. "But that's only reported cases."

Hopper said the common belief among drug enforcers is that for every one lab
found, 10 remain undiscovered.

"Methamphetamine is the drug that is sending everyone into panic mode," she
said.

According to Hopper, an Oklahoma state study discovered that 80 to 90
percent of children rescued from a meth-exposed home test positive for the
drug as long as 12 hours after removal.

"It's a pretty serious issue," she said.

The alliance has enlisted the help of national and state sources, such as
forensic pediatrician Dr. Betty Spivack from the Kentucky State Medical
Examiner's Office.

Spivack said the danger of a meth lab radiates outward from the user to the
child and, eventually, to the community.

"About one in five labs that we know about we found because they blew up or
were on fire," she said. "That represents a danger to the community."

If a lab doesn't catch on fire or explode, Spivack said children face an
uncertain health risk from the constant exposure.

"There's a tremendous effect," she said. "I think it's going to be very,
very hard to tease out the fallout of this."

Typhoid cancer, lymphoma and leukemia are some of the diseases Spivack
listed as possible side effects, emphasizing that long-term studies on
meth-exposed children have yet to be conducted.

"I think we don't even have a glimmer of a clue," she said. "We do see them
having a two to five times higher rate of growing up and being drug users
themselves."

As for the initial studies, Spivack said sociopathic tendencies and
attachment disorders from meth-related chemical imbalances are cropping up
fairly regularly.

"The dopamine receptors are already depleted at birth," she said. "Even
under the best circumstances, that can affect bonding.

"If nobody cares about you, you don't care about anyone," she added.

Part of what Spivack teaches to help prevent these situations is for adults
to "get connected" with children who might appear to have problems at home.

"Be a real person in their lives, who gives them an alternative to their
lives.

"They need someone in their life who can do that for them," she added.
"We've got to work together for the benefit of the kids."

Legislative examples from other states are also on the agenda of the
information sessions, and Sgt. Harold Adair of the Tulsa, Okla., Police
Department Special Investigations Division said Oklahoma has taken legal
steps toward diminishing the meth problem, steps Kentucky is in the process
of taking.

Adair said that in April 2004, the Oklahoma legislature reclassified
pseudoephedrine - a meth ingredient - as a schedule 5 controlled substance.
Two 30-day grace periods were given to allow stores to remove the substance
from their shelves, and regulations followed.

Now, pseudoephedrine is only available in pharmacies throughout the state,
and Adair said that the meth problem in Oklahoma is starting to lessen
because of the new laws.

"We went from working a lab every other day to a lab a week," he said. "It
has made a significant impact in the number of labs."

Kentucky's General Assembly this month passed legislation that would control
the availability of pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in Sudafed.

Cutting down on the number of labs also helps improve the lives of children
in those situations, something Adair hopes will break the cycle of familial
drug abuse.

"We can intervene in the lives of these kids," he said. "I'm on my third
generation of drug offenders. If we can interfere in that cycle, then we can
make a difference.

"The floodgates are open now and we are expecting some change," he said. 
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