AHS Views

I read an article today with an amazing, ‘unbelievable’ would be more correct, statistic - just a few years ago 30% of the residents of Coles County Illinois used meth. That’s an astounding statistic. Even more astounding is that Illinois is is cutting $43 million of the funding for addiction help services.

I’ve studied a lot of statistics and have never, ever seen one that bad. They’ve got a real problem and it’s amazing that the state would cut funding for addiction help programs. Not only will many people who need addiction help have nowhere to turn to get their lives sorted out, it doesn’t even make sense economically - the crime rate will go up (more money spent in courts, prisons, police), the number of emergency room visits will increase, the number of deaths from drugs will increase, and so will the number of people being introduced to the drug. 

If you’re looking for addiction help for someone on meth (or any other drug), your chances of getting it from state-funded programs are far less. Addiction help services can help you find the addiction help you need - and they’ll find better, more successful programs. 

If you think drugs aren’t such a bad thing - maybe you took them when you were a kid, and you turned out fine - be aware of the fact that your kids, your friends, your husband, wife, brother, sister, could turn out like the pictures from the faces of meth project. They’re real. And some are so far gone, they’ll never look like they did before. Getting drug addiction help could have prevented it.

Other than the obvious, the one thing that strikes me about these pictures is that no one in their before shot looked happy.

One way or another, most people take drugs to make them happy. As you can see from the ‘after’ shots, the drugs didn’t work.

Perhaps if they get some good addiction help services they can also get down to the bottom of what was making them so unhappy before in the first place. Would have been a good idea to do that instead of taking drugs.

Crack cocaine is becoming a bigger problem in Maine according to York’s Chief of Police Douglas Bracy. You can be sure that addiction help will be necessary as more kids become addicted.

Chief Bracy is warning parents to keep track of their kids because of the influx of cocaine. He strongly suggests that you know where they are and where they are going so they don’t end up needing addiction help. Kids who want to try drugs will migrate toward something like crack because it’s cheap, but it’s also very addictive. One high school student has already been arrested, Jared Turner, a 17-year-old who had been suspended from the football team. Maine had an influx of heroin five years ago and Chief Bracy is comparing the cocaine influx to that. I am wondering if the crack may be replacing methamphetamines - meth prices have gone up and, with all the restrictions on the ingredients for meth, maybe clever drug dealers have decided to supply something else.

Crack, like heroin, is coming down in price – and both are easy to get. Most kids think trying crack or using it occasionally isn’t dangerous. Unfortunately, those kids will be the first to need addiction help services.

The trend of using Adderall or Ritalin in high schools, colleges - and with adults - is growing. While OxyContin and Vicodin get most of the press, the need for addiction help for prescription stimulants will grow along with the increased use.

Adderall is abused by one in five high school students and, in some colleges, as many as one in three use Adderall. It is commonly used as a study aid but many people use it for weight loss. In fact, it is currently being popularized by some female celebrities who use Adderall to keep their weight down. When the general population hears and sees things like this they flock to it. It’s no different than Michael Jordan made Nike and Air Jordans famous or Jane Fonda popularizing aerobics.

Paris Hilton has admitted to using Adderall, and I very much doubt she’s depending on an ADHD diagnosis to get it.

Using Ritaln or Adderral for weight loss is dangerous and you have the potential for some nasty side effects – one of which may be eventually needing addiction help. When teenagers or housewives see someone like Paris Hilton getting skinny and staying skinny, they want the same thing.

Some people may also use cocaine for weight control – although it can be expensive for some people and they might use methamphetamines instead. Teenage girls know meth is a weight loss tool, but they don’t realize how addictive or dangerous it is. Adderall and Ritalin are not the same as meth, but they are very similar and are still addictive and dangerous.

If you know someone who is using prescription stimulants get them the addiction help services they need. There are other ways to control weight, and there are other ways to succeed in school. You don’t have to turn into a drug addict in the process.

As if Ecstasy and methamphetamine weren’t bad enough by themselves, high school kids are now mixing the two. Meth is cheaper than Ecstasy, but the combination is dangerous. You mix the rise in body temperature and potential liver, kidney and heart damage of Ecstasy with the irregular heartbeat, increased blood pressure and brain damage caused by meth and you’ve got a recipe for addiction help – if you make it that far.

Meth isn’t the only drug being mixed with Ecstasy – with the prescription drug abuse epidemic going on, it’s almost a certainty Ecstasy is being cut with OxyContin, methadone, and some of the other prescription drugs that kids are in rehab for right now trying to get the addiction help they need.

Methamphetamine is highly addictive – and it was in more than half the meth seized by law enforcement last year. A 10% increase from the previous years.

Since 2003 the amount of Ecstasy seized at the Canadian U.S. border has increased by 10 ties. In 2006 almost 5.5 million pills were confiscated.
 
The scary thing is the use of ecstasy by high school and college students. If they are also using it with prescription drugs the combination could be lethal.

Your kids, and your town, are not immune. If they’re involved in drugs at all, get them addiction help services now. Don’t wait for the worst to happen.

The need for addiction help for prescription drug abuse will be far greater than that needed for methamphetamine abuse in Illinois. At least 10% of high school age kids have used prescription drugs for one thing or another, but only 3% of teens have used meth at least once in the past year. They’ll need addiction help regardless of what drugs they’re using, but people have to wake up to the facts about prescription drugs – they are our biggest threat.

Nevertheless, a recent survey by the Illinois Meth Project revealed some scary numbers: half the kids surveyed haven’t told their friends not to try meth; 25% see no risk in trying meth once or twice; and 22% say that getting the drug is relatively easy. In fact 15% of those surveyed see no great risk in using meth regularly.

The most common reasons for using meth are weight loss, feeling happy, and dealing with boredom.

The non-profit Meth Project in Palo Alto, California is focusing on educating kids about meth. This is a good program that could reduce the need for addiction help services in California and other states would do well to follow in California’s footsteps.

Missouri accounted for 1205 meth lab busts in 2007. Tennessee accounted for 500. The meths labs in those two states alone accounted for about a third of the meth labs found in the U.S. last year. The recent busts in Mexico of super labs and the recent border seizures have put pressure on producing more meth in the U.S. And the need for addiction help continues to climb.

The winning formula to help end meth addiction seems to be to cut off the raw materials in both the U.S. and in Mexico. “It has put a lot of pressure back on domestic producers in the United States.” said Tommy Farmer, director of the Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force. Farmer said demand is higher then ever in Tennessee. In Missouri the same is true; the demand for meth is still high.

Both states should enact the monitoring system suggested by Sen. Norma Champion, R-Springfield, which would require pharmacies to keep an electronic log instead of a paper record of people who buy pseudoephedrine. This legislation is similar to legislation adopted recently in Oklahoma. Oklahoma only had 89 meth lab busts during the same period. That is the type of thing that can end the need for addiction help services for methamphetamines.

Marketing flavored crystal methamphetamines to our youth is one of the gimmicks Mexican drug trafficking organizations have come up with. The newest flavor, ‘Strawberry Quick’, is attracting a younger and younger crowd – many of whom will eventually be looking for addiction help.

“Meth is the most serious addictive drug I have ever seen, and I have worked with heroin and other street drugs,” said Darlene Duncan, a social worker on the board of Arizona’s Gila County Meth Coalition (GCMC), at a recent workshop on children and meth.

Strawberry meth first turned up in Nevada in 2007, and has also been found in Utah and Colorado. They haven’t found it in Arizona yet, but the odds are they will – it’s coming from super labs in Mexico and some of it will definitely pass through Arizona.

Methamphetamine addiction can happen very quickly but it’s one of the hardest drugs to quit. And the toll it takes on the body is severe. Most people addicted to meth take far longer in addiction treatment than people who are addicted to other drugs, and it can take years to recover from the physical damage. In fact, some people never recover fully.

One woman was so fried from methamphetamine abuse she didn’t know how to feed her new born baby, said Ramona Cameron of the GCMC.

If you or someone you know is abusing meth, get the addiction help services you need before it’s to late.

Mothers, brothers, friends or neighbors need addiction help because of meth abuse.
You can’t put meth users into categories, there is no typical methamphetamine user - they come in all size, shapes, backgrounds and ages.

In Idaho children as young as 10 have used meth. And by age 18, 15% of the population has tried it. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration the average age of first use is 22, but in Idaho it is younger. I would guess the same is true in Nevada, Arizona and many other places. People are being introduced to drugs at a younger and younger age because of dangerous prescription drugs, and then moving on to street drugs, it’s unlikely that the majority of kids first try meth at 22.

There are at least 12 million methamphetamine users in the U.S. – that 5% of the population, and they all need addiction help. Methamphetamine is difficult to withdraw from and the addiction treatment can take a long time.

If you or someone you know has a problem with methamphetamine, get them the addiction help services they need.

In Arizona Tina Tolbert was a supermom. How did she keep going? By taking meth. It gave her the energy she needed to play with her kids. She took them on night hikes in the mountains, climbed trees, and took them swimming at 3 in the morning. And she was on meth all the time. She was also on meth when pregnant with her son. He’s now in his second drug rehab program trying to get addiction help for his meth addiction, and he’s only 17 years old.

Tina lost her career as a respiratory therapist because of her meth addiction. “It will take all your hope” she said. And she feels her son’s addiction stems from her taking meth when she was pregnant.

Methamphetamines are used by 12 million people in America and it takes a toll on communities and households all over the country. It’s marketed in the Northeast, the Midwest - Iowa, Nevada, Idaho and Arizona all have big methamphetamine problems. And Tina is not the only supermom taking them. There are even Moms off Meth programs in many cities.

Addiction help services are going to be needed all over the country for the people with a methamphetamine addiction. Call us if you’re one of them, or know someone who is.