AHS Views

Although methamphetamine is in widespread use across the country, there are some areas where use is heavier than others. Some communities have formed groups to fight drug addiction and abuse in their area. One such group, the District Court’s Monitoring Assessment Program (MAP) in the Canon City area of Colorado, says that 80% of those involved in the program are meth users. They have a comprehensive program that includes treatment, education, and so on. And they say they’ve had an 82% success rate since they started 18 months ago. The program is really giving people the addiction help they need, and the meth use has been slashed.

One recent case they handled is featured in a news article in the Canon City Daily Record. This man’s story is typical of what happens with meth users, including getting arrested and hauled off to jail in front of his young daughter. Read the story to get an idea of why it’s so important to fight meth abuse.

It also illustrates a couple of other points. The man was a roofer. He had been using meth for 20 years in a somewhat controlled fashion - he said he was ‘self-medicating’ to handle his back pain.  No one knew about it.

Then a contractor he did some work for didn’t pay him. That put him in serious financial trouble and he started selling meth to survive.

Someone who wasn’t already addicted to a drug probably would have found another solution – like others do. But because he was already using drugs, that incident was enough to put him over the edge and turn him into a drug dealer.

The point is – it doesn’t take much to move from using drugs recreationally or as a pain medication, which was his situation, to a life of crime. And once someone’s addicted to drugs, it can happen easily. Their back is up against a wall – they need drugs now.

That’s one more reason to make sure anyone you care about who takes drug gets addiction help services as soon as possible. They may not even think they’re addicted, but when they no longer can get the drug, they find out pretty quickly. And you never really know what will happen that could push them over that edge.