Pubdate: Wed, 28 Oct 2009
Source: Craig Daily Press, The (CO)
Copyright: 2009 The Craig Daily Press
Contact: http://www.craigdailypress.com/site/feedback
Website: http://www.craigdailypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2334
Author: Nicole Inglis
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

STUDENTS FIGHT BACK AGAINST METH

Boys & Girls Club, COMA offer meth education

In the middle of a white poster were four letters  scrawled in
purple.

M-E-T-H.

Samantha Caudillo worked with her group to hastily  cover up the
letters with post-its, pictures from  magazines and drawings of their
own.

Each one represented something a community could use to  battle meth
abuse.

"This looks like a good community," Caudillo said,  pointing to a
picture of children playing in a park.  "Let's put this on there,
because if you do meth, then  you can't have this."

She and her group were in the midst of a seminar  Tuesday at the Boys
& Girls Club of Craig about meth  abuse and its effect on individuals
and communities.  Communities Overcoming Meth Abuse worked with the
club  to incorporate educational programs into national
Methamphetamine Awareness Week.

Jonathan Judge, a program manager with the Colorado  Meth Project,
brought a new curriculum and fresh  information for the classes he
will teach during the  week.

On Tuesday, he focused on meth in communities and how  the destructive
drug can break down not just  individuals, but the structure of an
entire community.

He began with an exercise that wove a web of colorful  string around
the room, each of which represented  something the community took
pride in, like the Moffat  County School District, the Craig Police
Department and  the outdoors.

When Judge cut one string, the entire web fell apart.

"It's not an individual problem," Judge said. "It  affects everyone
around that person."

He discussed with the students how toxic waste from  meth labs can
contaminate natural resources and how two  thirds of identity theft
cases are meth related.

While the class was meant for students as young as 10,  many of the
students already have experienced the force  of meth within their
social network.

Tatam Hickman, 10, said she had a family member who was  addicted to
meth.

"She had two of her teeth fall out," Tatam said. "And  she had to get
fake ones."

Samantha said she also had a family member who went  through a battle
with meth.

"We told her she had to stop or we would all go to  therapy or
something," Samantha said. "She would act  all weird and think people
were after her."

She said she understood how meth could grab hold of an  entire
community.

"It would affect people because once they do it will  keep spreading,"
she said. "It will affect the whole  environment. People would just
hide in their rooms."

However, she said the community can react and support  one
another.

"We can tell them their lives will be better if they  don't do it,"
she said.

Although meth education tends to focus its efforts on  teens and young
adults, Judge said it's important to  keep children as young as 10
aware and informed of the  drug and its consequences.

"We want to give them sound information and reinforce  their healthy
habits and identify the negative ones,"  he said. "There's a lot of
ignorance and misinformation  surrounding the drug, and we just want
to equip them  with facts."

Judge said he was not well informed when he started his  job with the
Colorado Meth Project. His background was  in education, not substance
abuse.

Through working with addicts, their families and  communities, he has
seen the effect that meth can have  on individuals, communities and
society.

He admitted that what he saw was worse than he had
imagined.

"The drug is worse than I thought," he said. "The  consequences of
using are worse than I thought. But the  hope is greater than I
thought, too. When I see the  Boys & Girls Club and COMA working
together to educate  children, that gives me hope." 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D