Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jun 2006
Source: Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2006 Reno Gazette-Journal
Contact: http://www.rgj.com/helpdesk/news/letter-to-editor.php
Website: http://www.rgj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/363
Author: Jaclyn O'Malley
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

Series: Meth: Shattering Lives In Northern Nevada

A three-month Reno Gazette-Journal investigation found that 
methamphetamine's grip on the Truckee Meadows has become a stranglehold.

'BIG NEED' FOR HELP FOR TEEN ADDICTS

Treatment options for adolescent meth addicts in Washoe County got a 
boost recently when Elko-based Vitality Center was awarded more than 
$700,000 in federal funding for residential and outpatient treatment.

Vitality Center will replace Reno's SageWind, which is suspending its 
juvenile residential and outpatient program at the end of June for 
financial reasons. Sagewind had been the only juvenile residential 
treatment center in the area, while Quest Counseling, a 3-year-old 
Reno outpatient center for juveniles, is trying to expand into a 
separate 10-bed residential facility.

Quest received no state Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse funding 
during this last disbursement cycle because evaluators said Vitality 
Center could help more children. Instead, it will rely on funding 
from contracts and private donations.

In 2003, 12.4 percent of Washoe County high school students reported 
using meth at least once, compared with 12.5 percent of all high 
schoolers in the state and 7.6 percent of all high school students nationally.

Treatment A 'Priority'

Vitality Center has been offering adolescent services since 1979, 
most recently in Elko. The new BADA funding will go toward three 
buildings in Sun Valley that will provide a total of 30 residential 
beds for juveniles. Those buildings had been used for adult treatment.

"There is a big need for adolescent care in Washoe County," said 
Vitality Center CEO Dorothy North. "Just looking at the numbers you 
can see treatment is a priority. Even if we fill all of our beds to 
capacity, there will be plenty of room for other agencies to fill 
their capacities, too."

Tammra Pearce, executive director of Bristlecone Family Resources, 
which operates SageWind, said the lack of funding for adolescent 
services is creating a crisis.

Pearce said that during the last three years, her agency had to take 
about $150,000 a year from the adult programs to subsidize the 
adolescent program, which costs about $650,000 a year to run. She 
said federal funding for juvenile drug treatment services has been on 
the decline annually for the past five years. Her agency decided they 
could better serve their clients if they cut the juvenile program.

"There is help, but it's hard to come by," Pearce said. "I think it 
almost has to be a crisis to get awareness going in the community."

Nevada Programs Underfunded

Last year, juveniles accounted for 15 percent of all admissions 
involving meth into BADA-funded treatment centers.

Nevada has historically underfunded all substance-abuse treatment, 
but especially treatment for youth, said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie.

"There is a strong sense of denial about the seriousness of the 
problem," Leslie said. "No one likes to think about the image of a 
youth shooting up meth or prostituting themselves to buy drugs, yet 
we know the situation exists today right here in Reno."

"There is an abysmal lack of resources for juveniles with drug 
problems," said Washoe Deputy District Attorney Jo Lee Wickes. "We 
have some very skilled counselors but not enough of them. One of the 
biggest problems now and for the immediate future is the lack of 
residential programs for juveniles."

Wickes, who prosecutes juveniles, said the juvenile justice system 
struggles to find programs meeting the needs of children and teens in 
the community.

Juvenile justice and treatment officials said the number of teens in 
trouble with the law who admitted using meth increased 43 percent 
from 2004 to 2005, making methamphetamine the No. 1 drug for that age 
group. Many also use other drugs and alcohol.

According to BADA, the numbers of juveniles admitted to state-funded 
treatment facilities in Washoe County for meth have ranged from 103 
in 2001 to 177 in 2004. Last year, there were 108. Many are ordered 
to enter treatment centers by judges following an arrest.

Parents Scared Off By High-Cost Treatment

Washoe Family Court Judge Victoria Van Meter, who presides over 
juvenile drug court, said the high cost of treatment can scare a lot 
of families, prompting them to not seek help, she said.

"We have good service providers here locally, but we clearly don't 
have enough," she said. "The first thing that struck me when I took 
over drug (court) was that we need more treatment providers."

Of the 1,526 adolescents admitted for treatment in BADA-funded 
centers in 2004, 26 percent listed methamphetamine as their primary 
drug. About half received outpatient counseling, 22 percent had 
intensive outpatient therapy, 16 percent received long-term 
residential care and 2 percent had short-term residential care.

Federal funding given to Nevada to disperse to non-profit and 
government treatment centers this year is less than $13 million """" 
including $2 million for adolescent treatment services.

Without more resources for juveniles, Leslie said many drug abusers 
will end up in the criminal justice system.

"If we turn our backs on these kids, we are virtually throwing away 
their future," she said. "We know treatment works and recovery can 
happen. It would be tragic if Nevada and our community was unwilling 
to offer that opportunity to our children."

A 2004 BADA report said Nevada juveniles are using alcohol and drugs 
at younger ages and the rate at which they drink and use meth before 
age 13 exceeds the national average.

"Running At A Loss'

Quest was founded by former SageWind directors Debra Kamka and Jolene 
Dalluhn, who used their credit cards to open the facility.

"When you are a nonprofit and provide services to a population who 
can't afford it ... and you don't receive money from the government, 
foundations or donations, you are constantly running at a loss," said 
Quest Director Denise Everett. "We have no guarantee of grants or donations."

Quest receives state and county grants for court-ordered evaluations 
and counseling sessions.

"At least we are trying," Everett said. "Everyone here is so 
committed to the idea of helping these kids that we are willing to 
put blood, sweat and tears and our own money to make sure we keep going."

During Quest's first year of business, it had 300 referrals for 
juveniles with substance abuse issues. Referrals doubled its second 
year, and last year it rose to 800. About 40 percent of its caseload 
is meth-related.

"Since we opened, the severity of the meth problem has grown," 
Dalluhn said. "I evaluated a 9-year-old last year who used meth."

Kamka said meth use causes problems that don't always arise from teen 
marijuana and alcohol abuse, making treatment more complex.

"The quickest route to more trouble is meth; it has a quicker 
decline," she said. "Burglary becomes something they get involved in, 
domestic violence, just crazy stuff. At 5 a.m. they're looking into 
open garages and stealing what's inside.

"But they still continue to use after bad things happen," she said. 
"They don't realize that meth is how they got there."

A Potent Drug That's Hard To Kick Alone

Because crystal methamphetamine, more potent than powder meth, 
provides an instant, addictive and euphoric rush that makes kids feel 
invincible, teens say they can't kick it without intervention or 
getting arrested or losing everything.

"I'm lucky I got caught and was in trouble with the law," said Lexi 
Finnell, 17, a recovering crystal meth addict who started using at 
15.Finnell, a Galena High School student, at one point lived on the 
streets for six months and used meth daily. It wasn't until she was 
arrested for trying to cash stolen checks that she wanted to stop 
using. She said counseling helped her beat her addiction and she 
continues to go even though she is no longer under a court order.

Everett said all addicts have to want to quit before they will give 
up drugs. Juveniles, though, mostly are in treatment not because they 
wanted to be, but because it was their parents' idea or a judge 
ordered them. She said being forced into treatment can cause delays 
in its effectiveness.

"You don't make the decision to be a drug addict in the sandbox," 
Everett said. "If you are in an environment where good things are 
celebrated with alcohol and negative things are drowned with alcohol 
and popping a few pills, that's the message kids get."

[SIdebar]

By the numbers

14.5: percentage of Washoe high school students who said they had 
tried meth in 2001. 12.4: percentage in 2003

7.6: percentage of all high school students in the U.S. in 2003 who 
had tried meth

5: percentage of Washoe County middle school students in 2005 who had 
tried meth

10: percentage of Washoe high school students in 2005 who had tried 
meth (national figures were unavailable)
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman