Pubdate: Fri, 25 Jan 2008
Source: Payson Roundup, The (AZ)
Copyright: 2008 The Payson Roundup
Contact:  http://www.paysonroundup.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1523
Author: Carol La Valley, Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

METH FOR KIDS: POLICE BRACE FOR ARRIVAL OF NEW METH DRUG

On the street they call it "strawberry quick."

It looks like pink crystal rock candy, but nothing  could be further
from the truth.

Chemists shape methamphetamine from lye, battery acid,  lithium from
batteries and acetone, to name but a few  lovely ingredients.

"Meth is the most serious addictive drug I have seen, and I have
worked with heroin and other street drugs," said Darlene Duncan, a
social worker on the board of  the Gila County Meth Coalition at a
recent workshop on  children and meth for court-appointed special
advocates  (CASAs).

The specter of a form of meth designed to appeal to  kids is just the
latest incarnation of a drug that  already accounts for almost all of
the cases in which  the state removed children from their homes in
Payson.  Police say it's the biggest drug problem in Rim Country  at
present, although experts believe public education campaigns have cut
into its use.

Experts say meth dealers have now given their addictive  product a
youth-friendly look with flavored crystals that constitute just one
form of the drug.

Strawberry meth first turned up in Nevada in 2007.

"They say it is not in Arizona, which tells me that  they simply have
not found it in Arizona because it is  in Utah and Colorado -- it's
all around us," Duncan  said.

"Globe Police were told there was strawberry meth at  the high school.
They investigated and did not find it,  but that tells me kids know
about it," Duncan said.

"Most meth comes to Arizona from super-labs in Mexico,"  she
added.

"Yaba" a combination of meth and caffeine or sometimes  the drug
ecstasy, comes in water-soluble pills stamped  with popular cartoon
characters.

"So you might have a kid carrying around a water cooler  who says, 'it's
just water,' and it is not," Duncan  said.

The first time someone uses meth, the drug hits 13  different pleasure
centers in the brain. By contrast,  sexual intercourse might trigger
three or four, Duncan  said.

Meth use changes the way the brain's neurons and  neurotransmitters
like dopamine, serotonin and  norepinephrine communicate with other
cells.

When the high the user will never get again subsides,  the body and
mind begin to deteriorate.

Signs of meth use include: itching from the illusion of  bugs on the
skin, insomnia for five days at a stretch,  rotting teeth, excessive
talking, the "tweaking" of  involuntary body movements, visual and
auditory  hallucinations and paranoia.

Women, children and meth

"Most women start using meth as a weight-loss product,"  Duncan
said.

But users quickly become so addicted they do not  realize what is
happening to their bodies -- even  though the body expels meth in
about three days through  urination.

Doctors used to say withdrawal took 12 to 18 months,  but now note
that withdrawal might take 10 years or  longer for someone being
treated for bi-polar disorder.

"It depends on the individual. One thing about  addiction, the desire
is always there," Duncan said.

Babies pay the price for meth-addicted parents.

"One baby was born in Payson with legs backwards and  some internal
organs on the outside," Ramona Cameron,  the family group decision
making specialist and board  member of the GCMC, said.

"It took a special set of foster parents to care for  the child," she
added.

Cameron cited a case in Globe where "the mother's brain  was so fried
with meth" although she had not taken it  the day she gave birth, that
she did not know what to  feed her baby. A nurse caught her trying to
feed mashed  potatoes and cranberries to her newborn.

Children exposed in utero generally develop serious  problems by the
age of two and by the time they enter  school often develop attention
deficits and other  problems that don't respond to the standard
treatments  for those problems.

Meth also heightens sexual appetites, which often  results in the
sexual molestation of babies and  children by addicts, Cameron said.

"Ninety-five percent of Child Protective Services  removals in Payson
in 2007 were meth-related," she  added.

When the government removes a child from the home, the  parent only
has one year to stop the drug use and get  his or her life back on
track, she said.

Addicts can only hope for an understanding attorney and  a sympathetic
judge, who might grant extra time for  recovery.

ACCCHS and many private insurance policies do not pay  for
substance-abuse recovery programs.

Fortunately, the Partnership for a Drug Free America  has found that
meth use in teens and adults is  decreasing. PDFA attributes this to
law enforcement and  prevention programs, according to one slide at
the  workshop.

Of the 30 people in attendance, half indicated they  know someone
who's using meth.

"Any chance you get to talk to a legislator about  treatment and
prevention dollars, talk, because the  dollars in Arizona are drying
up," Duncan said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin