Pubdate: Mon, 08 Oct 2007
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2007 The Gazette
Contact:  http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165
Author: Brian Newsome
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

GRANT WILL HELP EXPAND AREA'S SUBSTANCE-ABUSE PROGRAMS

When people discover methamphetamines, the price of the  drug is 
often their families.

It's no coincidence that the number of meth-related  cases and child 
welfare cases are both increasing in  the 4th Judicial District, say 
those who work in the  criminal justice system.

"We've got to get people off of this stuff, because  once they're 
hooked on it, their family is no longer  important to them," said 
Sgt. Robert McDonald of the  Colorado Springs Police Department's 
Metro Vice,  Narcotics and Intelligence Unit.

That's the goal of a $2.5 million grant from the U.S.  Department of 
Health and Human Services announced last  week. For the next five 
years, Connect Care, a member  of the Pikes Peak Behavioral Group 
that manages social  service contracts, will receive $500,000 to 
expand programs and hire new people to address meth and 
other  substance abuse and their impact on families.

If successful, the beefed-up effort will slow the  increase of 
drug-related broken homes, said Michael  Allen, director of clinical 
operations for Connect  Care.

In Teller County from 2001 to 2006, 84 percent of  parents whose 
child-custody rights were terminated had  substance-abuse issues. El 
Paso County saw 83  termination cases in 2005, of which 81 percent 
resulted  from drug abuse.

Some plans for the grant:

- - To offer nine additional spots a year in Family  Treatment Drug 
Court, where drug abusers must answer to  a judge weekly and face 
penalties for failing to  comply, and they are rewarded for progress.

The program now serves about 45 people a year.

- - To provide more substance-abuse treatment in rural  areas such as 
Cripple Creek and

Victor.

- - To increase the opportunities for people to enroll in  an 
outpatient, research-based meth-treatment program  called MATRIX.

- - To hire a social worker, a trainer and a manager for  the 
volunteer-staffed meth task force, and a trainer  for volunteer 
court-appointed special advocates. The  positions will provide more 
services for families that  have entered the court system.

Together, the services and positions could keep  children out of 
foster care or reduce their time there,  Allen said.

McDonald said the number of meth labs has decreased in  recent years, 
partly because of enforcement and new  laws that limit the access to 
coldmedicine ingredients  used to make meth.

He said meth addiction comes faster and stronger than  addiction to 
other drugs. "You can use meth one time  and be addicted to it," he 
said. "Take whatever makes  you feel happy . . . and increase that 
feeling about  1,000 times, and that's what happens with methamphetamine."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom