Pubdate: Fri, 10 Jun 2005
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
6100392/1025/NEWS02
Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Note: Only publishes local LTEs
Author: Ashley M. Heher, Associated Press

NEW METH TREATMENT CENTER OPENS PROGRAM LOCATED IN SULLIVAN PRISON

Sheriff Jon Marvel of Vigo County hopes the program will reduce the number
of meth users crowding his jail.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A 200-bed methamphetamine treatment facility opened
yesterday in southwestern Indiana -- the second of nine prison-based
programs to combat the state's growing problem with the drug. State
officials hope the intensive counseling and treatment program at the Wabash
Correctional Facility in Sullivan County and other prisons will help reduce
relapse rates among those who use the illegal stimulant. "The epidemic of
meth in this state is really crippling our law-enforcement community," said
Correction Commissioner J. David Donahue. "We have to look at this as a
public safety issue."

Inmates can have their sentence reduced by six months for participating in
the voluntary, nine-month "Clean Lifestyle Is Freedom Forever" program. The
first unit opened in April at Miami Correctional Facility, 60 miles north of
Indianapolis. That 204-bed unit is operating at capacity, officials said.
The next unit will open in August or September at one of the state's women's
prisons, Donahue said.

The units will not require additional funding, he said. For Vigo County
Sheriff Jon Marvel, the treatment program might help end a revolving-door of
meth abusers crowding his jail. Still, he said, it won't provide a quick
fix.

"It's going to take some time," he said. "We're not going to see any results
from this initiative this afternoon or next week and probably not even by
next year."

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive central nervous system stimulant that
can produce a euphoric high. Relapse rates among users who try to quit can
be as high as 90 percent.

Meth can be made with basic household products including cold medicine and
matches. Police found about 3,000 meth labs in Indiana between 2000 and
2004, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. About 900 people are
serving sentences in Indiana prisons for methamphetamine abuse, officials
said. Another 3,000 were incarcerated for crimes committed in connection
with meth abuse, Donahue said.

A total of about 24,000 adults are in the state's correction system. Alcohol
and drug abuse treatment programs are common in prisons around the country.
But the growing number of meth-addicted inmates has fueled the need for
treatment programs, said Joe Weedon, director of government affairs at the
American Correctional Association.

"To ensure people can return to society and not fall back to the habits that
caused their incarceration, you need to provide treatments," he said. "It's
basically a supply and demand type issue."
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MAP posted-by: Josh