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METH -- "It's everywhere..." Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Problems with drugs, and inevitably the law, frequently have left Cathileen Reeves in the Jackson County Jail. Like many addicts over the past 10 years, her drug of choice became cheap and readily available methamphetamine. Meth drug charges in Jackson County have risen more than 2,000 percent since 1991. The drug of choice finds its way to a growing clientele in Jackson County By DANI DODGE Mail Tribune The veins on her arms were so scarred from years of intravenous drug use that when Cathileen Reeves went into the hospital with a serious infection, doctors had to put a catheter into her chest to pump antibiotics into her body. But when Reeves was released with six weeks' worth of antibiotics, she didn't stop using. Jackson County deaths due to illegal drugs 1990: One. A 33-year-old man died after overdosing on a combination of alcohol and cocaine. 1991: Three. A 34-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman died of cocaine overdoses and a 59-year-old man died of a heroin overdose. 1992: Four. Three men ages 27, 37 and 42 died of heroin overdoses and a 45-year-old man died of a methamphetamine overdose. 1993. Seven. Five men ages 30, 36, 41, 43 and 47 and a 37-year-old woman died of heroin overdoses, and a 30-year-old woman died of a cocaine overdose. 1994. Four. Three men ages 35, 44 and 46 died of heroin overdoses and a 42-year-old man died of a methamphetamine overdose. 1995. Four. Three men ages 37, 44 and 54 died of heroin overdoses and a 20-year-old woman died of a methamphetamine overdose. 1996. Two. Two men ages 38 and 41 died of heroin overdoses. 1997. Six. Three men ages 40, 43 and 52 and a 37-year-old woman died of heroin overdoses, and two men ages 35 and 45 died of methamphetamine overdoses. 1998. Four. Three people died of heroin overdoses and one person from a cocaine overdose (no details available on sex or age). 1999. Three. Three men ages 39, 41 and 68 died of heroin overdoses. 2000. Three. Two people died of methamphetamine overdoses and one from heroin (no sexes or ages available). 2001. One. A 39-year-old man died of heroin overdose. Source: Spencer R. Smith, Jackson County chief deputy medical examiner "I thought just once I'd like to feel what it felt like to get a shot of dope straight into the heart," she said. She injected cocaine into the catheter. She did it again. And again. Soon she was back in the hospital, with three staph infections, lung infections and double pneumonia. "The doctor said I should have died," Reeves said. That was nearly 10 years ago. Since then, she has earned a certificate in phlebotomy, managed a yearlong stretch of sobriety and held down several jobs for short periods. But she couldn't get hired as a phlebotomist because of her criminal history. She lost contact with her five children. Her husband was sentenced to more than 25 years in prison. Her drug of choice became methamphetamine. Reeves spent most of this month incarcerated in the Jackson County Jail for shoplifting a radar detector from Sears in an effort to get more drugs. "The drugs really messed up my life, but I like them," the 46-year-old Medford resident said as she leaned against the cement blocks of her 9-by-7 jail cell, her limbs twitching in movements characteristic of chronic methamphetamine abuse. Over the last decade in Jackson County, methamphetamine charges increased more than 2,000 percent. Although police, health officials and addicts see other drugs entering the market, it is meth that rules the illegal drug trade in the Rogue Valley. Over the same 10-year period, marijuana has remained a constant presence. There have been steady increases in heroin use, recent incursions of crack cocaine and dramatic increases in the use of "club drugs" such as ecstasy. And while heroin has killed more people, it is meth more than any other illegal drug that is damaging unborn babies, causing addicts to seek publicly funded treatment and landing its users in jail. "It gives you a lot of energy, it's a euphoria. You love everybody," Reeves explained. And in order to get that feeling, people commit crimes. And like Reeves, they end up sleeping on jail cots. Reeves said the motto on the street among drug users is: "Cash is for things you can't steal." "Meth is the story of the last decade," said Lt. Jim Anderson, commander of the Jackson County Narcotic Enforcement Team, known as JACNET. Anderson said the drug of choice in the Rogue Valley was cocaine in the 1970s and 1980s. "But once methamphetamine started in the late '80s, it has run out cocaine," Anderson said. "It dominates this area and the West Coast and is spreading like wildfire into the midwestern United States. "Methamphetamine is a better product for the user because it lasts longer and is cheaper (than cocaine), so it's hard for crack and other drugs to get in here and get a foothold." How to get help Phone numbers for drug information, referral and counseling: 24-hour crisis and referral line: 779-4357 Rogue Valley Addictions Recovery Center: 779-1282 Genesis Recovery Center: 608-4000 Jackson County Health and Human Services: 776-7359 Kolpia Counseling Services: 779-5866 or 482-1718 Mental Health: 776-7355 Narcotics Anonymous: 858-0555 OnTrack Inc.: 772-1777 Oregon Partnership Helpline: 800-923-HELP Phoenix Counseling Service: 535-4133 Southern Oregon Drug Awareness: 608-4028 Vital Links (program for pregnant women and moms): 774-8213 Not only is meth cheap - about $20 for nine hits - but it's easy to "cook," with many of the ingredients available on store shelves. "I would go into high-schoolers' houses and cook," said Kelly Lundberg, a 25-year-old woman striving for a new life through OnTrack's Home Program. "We cooked above a (retail) business. I had a 60-year-old man who was teaching me how to do better with my phosphorus and I learned from a 20-year-old girl how to take the time release out of the (cold) capsules." Twenty-four-year-old Brandy Jackson, also working on her sobriety at the Home Program, said it seems like there's a meth lab on every other block in Medford. "It's everywhere," Jackson said. "It's right downtown." But the majority of methamphetamine coming into the Rogue Valley arrives via a complex system of drug smuggling that originates in Mexico, said Kenneth Magee, assistant special agent in charge for the Drug Enforcement Agency in Oregon and Idaho. Magee estimated that 80 to 85 percent of the methamphetamine circulating in Jackson County actually comes up the Interstate 5 corridor from Mexico. "Several large family organizations dispatch employees through the United States and operate in cells in major metropolitan areas," Magee said. "The cells are highly mobile and as they get burned, they move on." Magee said the reason Mexican drugs predominate is because in Mexico, much larger quantities can be made more cheaply than locally produced methamphetamine. Yet, the number of methamphetamine labs seized over the past 10 years has skyrocketed from 1 in 1991 to 18 last year. The amount seized soared from 152 grams in 1991 to 15,741 grams last year. "There's always new ways to manufacture it," said Anderson. "It seems to be real difficult to find a place to shut off the flow." And as methamphetamine continues to pour into Jackson County, it tears apart lives and families. When pregnant women use, it can destroy the brain cells of their unborn babies. "What happens is you get little bitty spider scar tissues through the brain where those cells were trying to develop in the very front of their brains," said Barbara Kozol, director of Asante's child development at Rogue Valley Medical Center. "It is the most fragile tissue in the brain and it is in charge of judgment, emotional memory and motivation ... and a lot of these little kids end up being major behavior problems because they don't learn from their mistakes." About this series Today Meth on the rise: Over the last decade in Jackson County, methamphetamine charges increased more than 2,000 percent Club drugs: the drugs of choice among young people in Jackson County remain marijuana and alcohol, but there's been a dramatic rise in the use of club drugs, especially ecstasy. (See below.) Monday Stemming the tide: Officials battle drug abuse with stiffer sentences and family treatment programs. Drug court: In this courtroom, the whole family gets involved to give addicts a second chance. Club drug forum Southern Oregon Drug Awareness is sponsoring an all-day seminar April 18 on "club drugs." Four national speakers will discuss signs and symptoms of use, the rave culture, and the law enforcement perspective. There is a fee for the class. For more details, contact SODA at 608-4028 or visit www.sodaweb.org/conference/rave/ on the Web. Kozol's program provides developmental services for at-risk and special-needs kids in their first five years of life. Although many of the 459 children enrolled were born premature, had trouble breathing at birth or suffer from genetic or other developmental problems, the majority would have been born healthy if they hadn't been exposed to methamphetamine in the womb. "Of the children referred to us, by far the most common cause is drug exposure," Kozol said. "The majority of the mommies are doing meth, but they are also doing alcohol and marijuana - and those do different things to the babies that are also damaging." Kozol said even when children exposed to methamphetamine in the womb are raised by adoptive families rather than the addicted mother, they still exhibit definite problems with grasping cause and effect. "I know a bunch that are teenagers now and there's a lot of marginal kids having trouble in school," Kozol said. "Because their brains are damaged and they aren't good reflective thinkers, they make poor choices and because they make poor choices, they go out and use drugs." But even expectant mothers who know the dangers feel the incredible pull of methamphetamine. "It's terrifying to be a pregnant addict," said Laurie Lucier, 31, who was mandated by her probation officer into residential drug addiction treatment during the last months of her pregnancy. "I always thought I should be able to stop because I was pregnant, but walking in the shoes of an addict, it's not about reason or thought process, it's something I can't stop doing - it's compulsive and pathological," Lucier said, her hands resting on her large round belly. "The addict part of my brain tells me it's OK. I can talk myself into believing it will not hurt my baby. "You can justify the craziest things." Treatment for Lucier and others ends up costing taxpayers millions of dollars. In the last 10 years, $24.5 million of public money - federal, state and county - was spent to treat people with alcohol and drug additions in Jackson County, said Hank Collins, the county's health and human services director. But that's nothing compared to the cost of health care for a drug-addicted infant or a lifetime of crime to support an unrelenting drug habit, said Rita Sullivan, executive director of OnTrack. By the time meth addicts are mandated into treatment by the courts, Services to Children and Families or by their own will-power, they are sick, emaciated people. Sometimes their brains have been irreparably damaged in ways that make it harder to quit. Cravings can return months or years down the road. "Meth is so cheap and so accessible, women are going from one partner to another, losing one child and having another, and it's a constant cycle of up and down," Sullivan said. "We are asking them to do one of the hardest things in their life to give it up." And many of them don't stop even after Services to Children and Families takes children from their homes for safety, said Karla Carlson, Jackson County's child protective services supervisor. "I believe 80 to 90 percent of the families we deal with are drug or alcohol affected in some way," Carlson said. "And the problem has not improved in the last 10 years, and if anything, it's gotten worse. "Methamphetamine is a really, really bad drug and we see people who chose meth over their children." Reeves, who wears her long, reddish hair in intricate braids even in jail, gave up her children to friends, relatives and former husbands when she was on a three-year spree of drug use living with a methamphetamine cook and heroin dealer. "It was like a vacation for me," she recalled. But some of the kids were abused, and at least one claims she was molested as a child. One went into a mental institution when she was 16. Reeves claims she's still close to two of her children, but when asked where they are, she isn't sure. "I heard through the grapevine that (one) is somewhere in Medford working at a mill. I was going to call all the mills and find him, but then this happened," she said, looking at the jail's grim interior. She started using speed on her 21st birthday. She says she started her most recent use after her ex-husband and daughter didn't show up when she earned her phlebotomy certificate. "I came back to jail for a DWS (driving while suspended) and met certain people in here," she said with a shrug, "and for a 16th (ounce) of crank, it rolled into a big mess." The mirror in her cell isn't made of glass but polished stainless steel. Reeves used toothpaste smeared with a finger to write herself a daily affirmation: "I love me wolf and tonka they are fun." Wolf is her wolf hybrid and Tonka is her cat. They were taken to the shelter the last time she ended up in jail. This time she got a friend to rescue them when she was arrested. She plans to make this her last time. While in jail this time, she is enrolled in the county's cognitive restructuring program. She believes its lessons about correcting criminal thinking will help her finally change her life for good. "Cognitive reconstruction [sic] isn't like treatment, but you are learning stuff that's new," Reeves said. "It will work because I want it to work. "What makes me want it so bad is what I did to my animals last time ... they mean more to me than anything I can think of off the bat." Ecstasy: 'It makes you never want to come down' A dramatic rise in the use of hallucogenic and other club drugs targeted by officials When she was a teen, 23-year-old Kitty couldn't get ecstasy or other popular club drugs in Medford. "About three years ago, there wasn't much to be found in the valley," said the outgoing restaurant manager. "You had to go import it. You would go to a party in Portland and find someone there. "Unless you were willing to drive up there, you couldn't get any." Now those drugs are available at parties every other weekend, said the young Medford woman with a penchant for baggy pants, tight tank tops and changing the color of her long hair from burgundy to blond, depending on her mood. And although many teens believe they can't be harmed by the pills that are sometimes stamped with four-leaf clovers or cartoon characters, at least two Portland-area teens and many more around the country have died after using club drugs. "They are extremely dangerous and addictive and people die quickly," said Ken Magee, the Drug Enforcement Administration's assistant special agent in charge who oversees Oregon and Idaho. "If your child or teenager says they will go to an alcohol-free all-night dance party that we refer to commonly as a 'rave,' I would handcuff them to their bed," Magee said. "Allowing your child to go to this type of rave party is equally as dangerous as allowing your child to go to a crack house." Clay Cooke, OnTrack youth department supervisor, said the drugs of choice among young people in Jackson County remain marijuana and alcohol, but there's been a dramatic rise in the use of club drugs, especially in Ashland. The most commonly recognized club drug is ecstasy, known by users as "E" and by law enforcement as MDMA. It is a synthetic drug with amphetamine-like and hallucinogenic properties. But a number of other drugs are being used at house parties, according to law enforcement and local users, including LSD, GHB, ketamine ("K," "Special K"), methamphetamine and Rohypnol, known as "roofies." Nationally, teen ecstasy use has increased by 71 percent since 1999, according to a survey released last month by Partnership for a Drug-Free America. Users say ecstasy puts them in a state of euphoria and overwhelming love for everyone around them. They feel they can dance all night, the drugs making them one with the music. Seventeen-year-old Jasmine said ecstasy "makes the brush of air feel absolutely exquisite .... and it's extremely addicting because it makes you never want to come down." But that high can be fatal. After three years of using ecstasy, Jasmine, a petite redhead, quit a year ago after she saw someone die at a rave she attended in Oklahoma City, Okla. The teenage boy had taken only one pill - the same type of pill she had just taken. "People didn't want to call police and break up the party," said Jasmine. "People just assumed he was having a bad roll - sometimes it is really hard to breathe on ecstasy and they thought he was having a really intense roll and they kept giving him water and telling him how to breathe, but it wasn't enough." Typically, young people in the Rogue Valley learn about the house parties from 3-by-5-inch cards posted on walls of music stores and teen-oriented retail stores at the Rogue Valley Mall. The cards include a phone number people can call to get directions to the party - but the phone message is activated only on the day of the party so that police have little warning, ravers say. Although there used to be parties with hundreds of teens and twentysomethings, those were heavily targeted by police and sometimes poorly attended. Now, "house parties" are held in private homes, small dance studios and sometimes in outdoor areas of the Applegate. Typically, it costs $5 to get into the party and $20 for a dose of ecstasy. "Raves are a haven for (club drugs), but the trend is not only the raves, but young people using these club drugs outside the rave scene," Magee said. At the height of her drug use, Kitty was using ecstasy twice a week, use that had nothing to do with parties and everything to do with getting that happy feeling of love for the world. But the euphoria was followed by inability to feel anything. She said the ups and downs of using ecstasy were wearing and destructive. "I would never do meth or cocaine - there's a whole host of drugs I wouldn't do, but the reason people do (club drugs) is because you don't lose your teeth or have track marks," she said. "But it's really habit-forming and it really makes you a crabby, bitchy person." Kitty quit using club drugs after meeting her boyfriend, "who is very anti-drug," and being arrested for driving while on ecstasy. "I like being off of it and experiencing a normal flow of emotions," Kitty said. "A couple days after using they are totally deadpan, and it is better finding you can enjoy things sober." Both Kitty and Jasmine still attend house parties. As Jasmine explained: "I still rave, I just don't use." Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2002 Mail Tribune, Inc.