Pubdate: Tue, 31 Jan 2006
Source: Norman Transcript (OK)
Copyright: 2006 The Norman Transcript
Contact:  http://www.normantranscript.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/552
Author: James S. Tyree

GOVERNOR RATCHETS UP WAR ON METH

Four-Part Initiative Seeks To Combat Importation Of Meth While 
Boosting Prevention And Treatment

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Gov. Brad Henry on Monday announced a new drug 
initiative that lowers the boom on major methamphetamine trafficking 
while raising levels of prevention and treatment.

With legislative approval, Mission MethNet will employ more 
undercover detectives and lengthen sentences for those convicted of 
importing a pound or more of meth. The plan also would create a 
Web-based education program about the dangers of the drug, along with 
a treatment program specifically for people addicted to meth.

The governor will ask the Legislature for $1 million to fund the 
undercover agents and to develop an education program, and another $1 
million to implement the treatment program.

"Unless we address every front in the war on meth, addiction will 
continue to grow in Oklahoma," Henry said. "... With this initiative, 
we will catch and imprison the meth kingpins, educate our people 
about this insidious drug and try to save those Oklahomans who are 
hooked on meth."

The governor said the number of Oklahoma meth labs has dropped 
substantially since 2004, when an anti-meth law took effect that 
drastically restricted pseudoephedrine sales. Rising in the place of 
homemade meth, though, is an imported higher grade of the drug called 
"Mexican Ice."

The initiative announced Monday is meant to crack down on people 
"importing drugs from super labs in Mexico." To do so, the state 
would create a Meth Interdiction Team of 12 undercover agents within 
the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Suspects 
convicted of importing one or more pounds of meth would face a prison 
term of 10 years to life.

Ada police Chief Mike Miller was reluctant to give a detailed opinion 
on the crimefighting measures without learning the details, though he 
generally welcomes any help the state can provide in catching drug dealers.

Meth, he said, is "big everywhere in part of the United States." What 
caught the chief's attention, though, was that Henry's initiative 
included an education aspect to try to prevent meth abuse in the first place.

"To fight any drug, I think education is something you've got to put 
in there with it," Miller said. "For years, they tried strictly 
enforcement on the war on drugs, but you can't win with just 
enforcement. There's also got to be education."

The governor apparently agrees. The initiative calls for an Internet 
anti-meth education program to be made available through schools, 
libraries and other public avenues.

For people already in the drug's grip, the state would administer a 
meth addiction treatment program through the Oklahoma Department of 
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Henry said the treatment 
model is endorsed by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and has 
proven effective in other states.

Overcoming addiction to meth is far more difficult than many realize 
because of the extensive damage the drug does to the brain. Marlys 
Gallagher, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor at the Norman 
Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center, said two years of meth abuse can 
deplete 40 years of dopamine, the chemical messenger that makes 
people feel pleasure and consider life worthwhile.

She shudders to think of the damage the drug can do to people who 
have used meth for 10 to 15 years or more.

"The neurotransmitters aren't there anymore because the brain isn't 
producing it," Gallagher said of dopamine. "They feel unmotivated to 
do anything and they're totally bored. It's hard because they are 
bored with (recovery) meetings and programs and with life. They don't 
hang on to jobs very long. Nothing is exciting for them, and you can 
only live that way for so long."

Gallagher said meth addicts hit "the wall" of profound apathy as soon 
as they stop using the drug, and it takes a very long time to get 
over it. Thus, it's very easy for addicts to relapse, and the 
likelihood is high.

Experts say it takes at least 18 months of treatment and counseling 
to overcome meth; Gallagher believes care should last two years, even 
if it's the outpatient variety.

Like the Ada police chief, the Norman counselor didn't know all the 
details of Henry's plan, but she was happy to hear it includes a 
treatment program tailored especially for meth.

"Stimulants tend to be the most prevalent," Gallagher said. "Meth, 
cocaine, crack -- they all do the same thing to the 
neurotransmitters. It's good they're going to have some treatment for 
these people."

James S. Tyree is CNHI News Service Oklahoma reporter.
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