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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us January 22, 2005 METH The vast majority of property-related crimes in Southern Oregon happen because addicts need money for...meth. In 2001 and 2002, meth addicts were responsible for 90% of burglaries in Ashland. The epidemic is tearing apart families and destroying lives. By Chris Honore Tidings Correspondent On Jan. 13, a task force of local agencies and law enforcement attended a methamphetamine summit meeting. All were decision-makers and professionals who work in areas impacted by meth, including police from several cities, representatives from community justice, business people, treatment providers and health professionals, two school superintendents, and many who work in prevention, family stabilization, child welfare and community outreach workers. According to Carin Niebuhr, task force organizer and Alcohol and Drug Program Manager for Jackson County Health and Human Services, 96 people came together for the purpose of "developing a set of eight community strategies around methamphetamine for the coming year. Individuals were asked to work on the strategies within their work and community spheres and to be ready to report back in a year on what their involvement has meant." An epidemic Methamphetamine, also called meth, is an insidious train wreck of a drug, so highly addictive that one cannot "experiment" with it, the way one might sample cocaine or ecstasy. By trying it once, the user risks descending into a nightmare of craving and bingeing to the exclusion of family and job. Known on the street as "speed," "crank," "ice," "crystal," "glass" or "chalk," methamphetamine has gained a significant foothold in Oregon over the last several years. According to data compiled by Hank Collins, director of Jackson County Health and Human Services, meth users are filling local jails and local courts. It is the cause of most crimes committed against property; it is the cause of high rates of child abuse and neglect; and it is placing a staggering burden on drug-and-alcohol and mental health treatment systems. A statement recently released by the office of Gov. Ted Kulongoski reported that meth fuels more than 85 percent of the state's property and identity theft, is a major contributor to violent crimes, and is the leading reason Oregon's children are removed from their homes and placed in foster care. As a result, the governor has asked the Oregon Board of Pharmacy to enact an emergency administrative rule restricting the sales of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine, key ingredients used in making methamphetamine. According to the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 12.4 million Americans age 12 and older have tried methamphetamine at least once (5.3 percent of the population); the majority of past-year users are between 18 and 34 years of age. The DEA identifies meth as being one of the most widely abused controlled substances in Oregon. In 2003, 40.1 kilograms were seized and 375 meth labs shut down. Jackson County is designated a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area wherein federal agents, who are part of the office of the National Drug Policy, are working with local law enforcement, addressing drug use and trafficking in the county. Detective Lynn Parlett, Ashland detectives supervisor, who has worked narcotics since 1977, saw the meth problem increase dramatically in 2001 and 2002. He estimates that during that time period, 90 percent of theft and burglaries in Ashland were meth-related. "People who were breaking into businesses, cars and homes were meth addicts. What we did," Parlett said, "is target the users and traffickers and worked the problem and we were successful. In 2003, these sorts of crime were way down." Lieutenant Dewey Patten of the Jackson County Sheriff's Narcotic Enforcement Team stated that his agency spends about 70 percent of its time investigating all things meth. "Meth possession, meth sales, meth labs, purchase of meth lab precursor chemicals, and so on." Citing the recent National Drug Survey, which is the result of information submitted by 3,300 police agencies across the country, Patten went on to say that "over 96 percent of the agencies in Oregon said that meth contributed the most toward property crimes and over 98 percent of Oregon agencies said meth contributed the most toward violent crimes and was the greatest threat overall." Christine Mason, executive director of the Addiction Recovery Center of Medford, said that "46 percent of all the center's admissions are for methamphetamine addiction. Countywide admissions for methamphetamine dependence is approximately 40 percent. Oregon ranks fourth nationally in illicit drug use among adults ages 26 and up and 45th in opportunities for access to treatment." The children of meth Collins estimates that more than 50 percent of children placed into the child welfare system are there because of meth use. Doug Mares, child welfare program manager for the Department of Human Services, stated that in the first two weeks in October, of the 19 petitions submitted asking the courts to grant HHS protective custody of children, 11 of those petitions were for children of meth users. It was reported at the recent task force meeting that as of Jan. 13, 11 children had been removed from their homes and all those were meth-related situations. The criteria for removing a child from the home, according to Mares, is that "the child is in imminent danger." If children cannot be placed with relatives (which happens only about 30 percent of the time), they are placed in foster care. "The situation we generally encounter in the home of a chronic meth user is neglect, the house is in disarray, there are dangerous things around." Mares went on to say that "if the parents are smoking crack there is likely to be smoke in the environment which the children are breathing. If there's a meth lab and there are kids in the home the danger is even greater." Karla Karlson, intake supervisor for the Department of Human Services, said, "We have found children in homes where there are meth labs. But more often we find children in homes where the parents are using and selling meth." Karlson said the homes of meth users are found to be completely contaminated, including clothes, furniture, carpets and even food in the home (even when it is in sealed containers). "We also find these homes to be trashed and alone would be considered health hazards with garbage strewn throughout. There is always drug paraphernalia as well as drugs within reach of the children." Karlson commented that though she has seen children who have been physically assaulted because their caregiver has been suffering from a drug induced psychosis or is crashing after having been on a drug run, the most damaging thing that happens to children is long-term neglect. "When meth users crash, they will sleep for days. If children are in the home, they have to provide for themselves." Karlson told of a case where "a 5-year-old was taking care of the 2-year-old sibling, feeding and changing diapers. In another case, a 2-year-old was feeding his infant sister. In yet another case, a mother had crashed with her three children. One of the children pulled on the dresser which had a television on it. The TV fell over on the child and killed her. The mother never woke up." When children are removed from the home, not only do they experience the loss of primary caregivers, Karlson points out, but they must cope with a new environment. Many children, when separated from their families, no matter how horrible the living conditions, are traumatized. "We see children clinging to their parents and being exposed to the yelling and screaming and emotional trauma of the moment. Many removals result in children crying and unable to be consoled. We also see children who don't seem to be affected." These are children, Karlson says, who have been passed from caregiver to caregiver. "They are so used to not knowing where they will stay or who they will be with, that this is normal." Children growing up in meth houses, in the opinion of Karlson, will need long-term care, counseling and medical treatment. She is seeing children as young as 3 being evaluated because they are acting out, extremely aggressive, biting, hitting and smearing feces. "Many of these children are exposed prenatally and we don't know yet what, if any, damage is caused to the brain while it is developing." According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, fetal exposure to meth is a significant problem in the United States. "At present, research indicates that meth abuse during pregnancy may result in prenatal complications, increased rates of premature delivery, and altered neonatal behavioral patterns, such as abnormal reflexes and extreme irritability." Solutions When discussing possible solutions, those who work with meth users - and assess daily the wreckage addicts create in their own lives and in the lives of those who are close to them - can be both hopeful and discouraged. Rita Sullivan, Ph.D., is director of OnTrack, a nonprofit agency in Jackson County. OnTrack serves about 4,500 clients each year, providing outpatient substance abuse treatment for adults and youth as well as residential treatment for women and their children and dads and their children. "We are getting better and better outcomes as we learn more about meth," Sullivan said of treatment strategies. "We know, for example, it takes up to two years for many of the brain effects to correct and some may never correct. Treatment must be long term and that first 30 days at least should be of low impact, where a client can be supported, stabilized psychiatrically and medically. Meth users will likely suffer from anxiety and depression as a direct result of the impact on the brain chemistry. This needs to be treated pharmacologically. "The best approach," Sullivan said, "is to reach women as early in their pregnancy as possible so that the babies can be born drug free. Get the families into recovery so that the children can be raised in warm, safe, drug-free homes. This is the best way to curb the next generation of users. Treatment is the most cost effective and humane way of dealing with the problem. ... If we don't treat the problem we will deal with it in other expensive venues, such as emergency rooms, psychiatric wards and jail." Sullivan admits, however, that funds for treatment remain chronically low. "The treatment system is so underfunded that people have to wait to enter publicly funded treatment for months." Collins, the county health director, believes that very effective treatment for addicts is available. "Scores of people conquer this addiction every year in Jackson County," he said. Karlson said that she doesn't see any solutions in the near future. "It would be helpful for the public to understand just how much of their social and public services are being devoted to handling the effects of meth. It monopolizes our caseloads, emergency rooms, the justice system, the list goes on and on." A local organization, Narcotics Anonymous, which operates using the same template as Alcoholics Anonymous, is very active in Ashland and surrounding communities. According to Les Pa, who came to the Medford-Ashland area from Hawaii and is member of NA, a very high number of the people who seek out NA are recovering meth addicts. Pa used meth for more than 15 years. "The drug practically killed me," he stated. "When you smoke it, or inject it, it puts you in another world. You want more of it. You steal from your family, friends. The power of the drug is awesome." Pa said that it was through the support of the Veterans Administration in White City and NA that he has managed to remain clean for six years. Patten, commenting on possible solutions, stated, "Sadly, I think meth may be here for some time unless there is a greater effort made to dry up the sources of the ephedrine and pseudoephedrine used to make meth. Even if the sources of ephedrine dry up, drug users, abusers, smugglers will likely revert back to cocaine. My own opinion is that as long as people want to use illegal drugs there will be illegal drugs around to use. I think a combined effort of enforcement, education and drug treatment are our best hope." DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Slippers Women's Slippers men's slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks heloc libor rate Calenders 2005 Calender 2005 Accelerate Weight Loss Programs Memory Foam Mattress college loans alternative student loans Matchmaking & Dating Scripts Adventure Travel Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems student loan consolidation trillion cut diamonds Currancy Exchange Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams