Pubdate: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 Source: Muskogee Daily Phoenix (OK) Copyright: C2004 Muskogee Daily Phoenix Contact: http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/customerservice/contactus.html Website: http://www.muskogeephoenix.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3319 Author: Cathy Spaulding, Phoenix Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) DRUG'S IMPACT ON CHILDREN FAR-REACHING, EXPERTS SAY Source: U.S. Department of Justice Methamphetamine's devastating effects on children go beyond the drug's physical effects, law officers and health experts say. Children also could be neglected, even abused, as the meth-addicted parents put the next fix above their family. "Clients have described it (methamphetamine use) as taking over your life," said MaryLee Harrison, alcohol and drug counselor at Green Country Behavioral Health Services Inc. "Users become like moles, going underground, and their lives become focused on making, using and selling." Drug use "probably contributes to 75 percent of child abuse and neglect cases," Oklahoma Child Protective Services program manager Esther Rider-Salem said. The estimate includes alcohol and prescription drug abuse as well as methamphetamine and cocaine and other illegal drugs, she said. The Department of Human Services does not keep figures on how many abuse or neglect cases involve drug use or specific drugs, Rider-Salem said. However, Muskogee County is participating in the Drug Exposed Children Alliance, which is studying the effect of family drug use on children, said Gerald Davis, director of child welfare for the Muskogee County DHS office. Davis said the study still is in its early stages and has no statistics available. "But what we're finding is that meth users and manufacturers live in tremendously inadequate dwellings, and there is neglect involved," he said. "We're also finding a lot of pornography. So in addition to the filth, the children are being exposed to sexually explicit material." MONARCH, a Muskogee treatment center for alcoholic and drug-addicted women, is seeing more clients addicted to methamphetamine than alcohol, executive director Joyce O'Neal said. "We used to have more self-referrals. Now it's more court referrals," O'Neal said. "More women are coming in with (meth-related) health and dental problems. We have to start looking for a dentist. There are more trips to the emergency room, more trouble with the Department of Human Services." Even the residue from meth-making could hurt kids, said special investigations officer William Bolling with the Muskogee Police Department's drug unit. "Little children crawl around on the floors, then put their hands in their mouth," he said. "Fumes settle into the carpet, walls, clothing." Children also could be injured or killed during the manufacture of methamphetamines, reports say. Explosions while mixing the flammable chemicals that make meth can injure or kill. Two Cherokee County children, ages 2 and 5, were killed Thursday morning in an explosion that prosecutors say may be linked to manufacture of methamphetamines. Cherokee County Sheriff Delena Goss said any link between the fire and meth-making has not been confirmed. The U.S. Justice Department's Office for Victims of Crime reported that two children died and 26 were injured in incidents related to meth labs in 2002. Also, 1,026 people were taken into protective custody, 1,272 were exposed to toxic chemicals and 2,023 were reported living in a seized meth lab, Justice Department literature states. Sidebar Treatment statistics Drug-related treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities, Oklahoma, 1997-2001: Meth Cocaine M.juana Heroin 1997 2,191 1,982 2,423 250 1998 1,928 1,616 2,128 216 1999 1,857 1,350 2,018 140 2000 2,587 1,345 2,261 139 2001 3,231 1,654 2,832 180 - --- MAP posted-by: Derek