Pubdate: Mon, 07 Jul 2008
Source: Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, CA)
Copyright: 2008 Appeal-Democrat
Contact: 
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/sections/services/forms/editorletter.php
Website: http://www.appeal-democrat.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1343
Author: Rob Young
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

FIGHT AGAINST METHAMPHETAMINE HAS EVOLVED

John Summers, Yuba County's director of family court  services, has 
been observing the local methamphetamine  scene long enough to know 
how the drug got one of its  early nicknames - crank.

Tall and whip-thin with a gray beard, Summers is a  familiar figure 
around the Yuba County Courthouse,  where he deals daily with the 
problems created by the  county's illegal drug of choice.

When he arrived in 1979, motorcycle gangs were the  principal 
manufacturers of meth - and they often  smuggled it in the crankcases 
of their bikes, he said.

A lot has changed since the days when police entered  meth labs 
wearing rubber gloves, not the hazmat suits  of today. Meth has 
scores of new nicknames, and  Hispanic gangs have largely taken over 
distribution of  the drug.

The methods law enforcement and social service agencies  use to fight 
the meth epidemic have also evolved, said  Summers.

"We've learned a whole lot in treatment and law  enforcement. But so 
have the sellers and  manufacturers," he said.

While regional cooperation between police agencies has  led to more 
arrests, authorities have learned that  fighting meth has one thing 
in common with fighting  gangs, said Summers.

"We can't shoot or arrest our way out of it," he said.

Summers doesn't claim the war is being won but points  to progress.

The Sutter-Yuba Mental Health Department now assigns  workers to all 
the agencies that deal with the  consequences of meth addiction, 
including the welfare,  child protective and probation departments.

"That wasn't there in 1979, trust me," he said.

A better understanding of the causes and effects of  meth addiction 
has led to improved detoxification  methods and treatment programs 
that emphasize diet and  exercise, said Summers.

Methamphetamine use destroys the ability to produce  endorphins, the 
body's natural pain relievers; exercise  helps restore that ability, he said.

Still, it can take five or 10 years for a recovering  addict to get 
over the craving for meth, making  participation in a support group 
necessary, he said.

Improved treatment means, in some cases, that children  who've been 
taken away from their meth-abusing parents  can return home instead 
of being raised by grandparents  or foster parents, Summers said.
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