The Herald & Review wrote:Updated: Saturday, August 19, 2006 12:20 AM CDT
The addictive power of methamphetamine makes it different from other illegal drugs The Herald & ReviewBy HUEY FREEMAN - H&R Staff Writer
TUSCOLA - Police and political leaders are battling the rising tide of methamphetamine abuse, which has left some Central Illinois communities swamped by the wreckage of broken lives.
Douglas County Sheriff Charlie McGrew said half of the county's criminal cases are related to methamphetamine. He has seen addicts in his jail, who have lost everything they had, including jobs, homes and businesses.
"Every waking moment is devoted to obtaining meth to support their habits," McGrew said. "I have heard numerous addicts say that using one time or two times captures them and keeps them in the hold of drug."
Meth addicts are costly to incarcerate, especially because of their need for extensive dental care.
"Their teeth rot and their teeth chip off," McGrew said, adding some addicts have one-half or one-third of each tooth. "They grind their teeth; that is a symptom of meth use.
"One young lady, in her early 30s, she had such poor dental hygiene. She had two teeth left. She lost all her other teeth. Deterioration of her dental hygiene was within 1½ years of use."
A member of the East Central Illinois drug enforcement task force, McGrew said the rural region it covers - Douglas, Coles, Shelby and Moultrie counties - has been one of the most active in manufacturing methamphetamine.
A powerfully addictive stimulant that creates a feeling of euphoria and illusion of limitless energy, methamphetamine has become especially popular in Central and Southern Illinois. A white, bitter-tasting powder, methamphetamine is smoked, snorted, injected or taken orally.
McGrew, a former Illinois State Police narcotics investigator, said methamphetamine poses a special challenge to police. Other drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana, are profit-driven, which translates to large bundles of cash seized by police, to be used for law enforcement.
"Meth is addiction-driven," McGrew said. Addicts are mostly making it themselves, to serve their own habits. Excess meth is sometimes traded by meth producers for products to make the next batch.
As an indication of meth's prevalence in this region, of the 1,189 meth labs seized in the state by police in 2005, more than half of them, 633, were in Central Illinois.
Of the 454 prison admissions for methamphetamine in fiscal year 2005, 229 were from Central Illinois, just more than half. There are many more people imprisoned for offenses related to methamphetamine use, such as burglary and retail theft.
Perhaps the most disturbing trend is the steady increase of meth use during the past decade.
When Master Sgt. Bruce Liebe of the Illinois State Police was assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency task force in 1997, meth was just getting a foothold in the state.
Within three years the number of meth labs seized in the state spiked from 27 to 487. By 2004, it reached its top level of 1,303, with 1,280 of those in Central and Southern Illinois.
In 2005, 5,252 people underwent treatment for meth abuse in the state, skyrocketing from 362 in 1997. In Central Illinois, 1,933 underwent treatment in 2005, up from 186 in 1997.
Liebe, the state police meth program coordinator, said he believes meth has remained mostly a rural drug for several reasons. Cocaine, a less potent stimulant, remains the drug of choice in the urban areas because "illicit substance users are often creatures of habit."
Liebe said gangs, which control the crack cocaine trade, could also be keeping meth out of cities, such as Decatur.
"With meth, if I get addicted to that, I can produce my own meth," Liebe said. The number of lab seizures this year is just slightly down from recent years, although some of the labs are considerably smaller.
Law enforcement officials had hoped to see more dramatic results from the enactment of a law that limits the purchase amounts of drugs containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, the essential ingredient used in meth manufacture. The law was effective Jan. 15.
"We are concerned, because other states have seen drops," Liebe said.
But state Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, who introduced the bill in the senate, said the law is having a positive effect in some counties. Officials in Lawrenceville told him meth cases have plummeted in Lawrence County because manufacturers cannot obtain the ingredients they need at local stores.
"These meth cookers don't want their name on a written record," Righter said. "In most parts of my district, there is a drop of the number of labs."
Righter, who has been working with police and community groups to battle methamphetamine, said the drug's cost has been high, especially in lost lives and productivity. The costs to taxpayers is also high, with federal, state, county and city budgets struggling to cope with the cost of services for police, courts, prosecutors and treatment specialists.
"This is a tremendous problem, different than any problem we've ever had," Righter said. "It is ridiculously easy to make."
California, which has a decade head start on the Midwest, has seen methamphetamine eclipse other substance abuse problems.
"For people requesting treatment, it has now surpassed alcohol and heroin as a primary drug problem," said Dr. Jeffery Wilkins, director of addiction psychiatry for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Meth addicts lose the need for reinforcement that others normally receive from family members and through work, social relationships and hobbies, Wilkins said. "Those are replaced by the drive for meth."
Wilkins said there are about 500,000 meth users in California, with about one-third of the people arrested in some cities testing positive for meth.
While men outnumber women two to one as abusers of other drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, there is a 50-50 ratio between the genders in methamphetamine abuse in California, Wilkins said. It has also spread to young people, with about one in 12 high school juniors reporting that they have tried meth.
"Young people that have started using methamphetamine, we see them psychologically destroyed at such a young age," said Mike Hodges, president for Teen Challenge USA, a faith-based drug treatment program. "It doesn't take long to destroy bodies, minds, family relationships."
Since the more potent smokeable form of meth appeared in the 1990s, there has been a higher incidence of psychosis and brain damage, Wilkins said.
Wilkins said it seems to radically alter neuro-chemical systems in the brain, such as those for dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine is critical in movement control, while serotonin plays a role in learning, memory and mood.
"This is a very dangerous drug to experiment with, because a few times and you're hooked," Wilkins said, adding that some people report they were addicted after their first use. "It can rapidly establish dependence and is difficult to let go."
ONTHENET
Illinois Attorney General MethNet:
www.ag.state.il.us/methnet/Huey Freeman can be reached at
hfreeman@herald-review.com or 421-6985.
