Pubdate: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY) Copyright: 2004 The Courier-Journal Contact: http://www.courier-journal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Note: does not publish LTEs from outside their circulation area METHAMPHETAMINE'S THREAT TO CHILDREN When parents use illegal drugs, they put their children at risk. With the drug methamphetamine, which has come into vogue especially in rural areas in the last decade, there are special kinds of risks. As with all kinds of drug use, parents can end up neglecting or abusing their children, either because they lose the ability to function or because they become careless or violent. But with methamphetamine, parents are sometimes involved in the manufacturing process as well. Since that process is dangerous, their children's physical health and safety are at risk, too. Home cooking of methamphetamine is becoming more common every year: So far this year, Kentucky state police have seized 515 labs. That's a lot, considering that meth labs are notoriously hard to find because they're basic and portable. Sometimes, for example, folks rent a motel room for a few days, make the drug there, then move on; sometimes they even manufacture meth in a vehicle. As an Indiana state police officer said last year, methamphetamine "is scary simple" to make. The ingredients are over-the-counter cold medications, lithium batteries, a common agriculture fertilizer - even drain cleaner can be used. The result is a highly toxic, highly addictive drug that, while being made, is also flammable and explosive. Children exposed to the manufacturing process often test positive for toxic levels of chemicals that can damage the brain, organs and lungs and cause cancer. Lawmakers all over the country have struggled to find new tools for fighting methamphetamine. In Oklahoma, for example, cold pills are now kept behind the pharmacy counter, and although they're sold without prescription, customers have to sign for them. An Indiana task force studying the meth problem recently recommended that the Indiana legislature take a similar step. Some farmers are putting a chemical in their fertilizer to make it glow pink. Then, if meth makers steal some - and that's not uncommon - the pink color shows up on the skin of whoever handles it. Some states are passing laws to outlaw the possession of a combination of the ingredients used in meth-making. In Kentucky, the General Assembly has so far declined to do that, since the ingredients are so common, although members of the House voted to do so earlier this year. Recent attention, however, has been focused on the specific harm methamphetamine has done to children. "We're seeing a significant number of children coming into (foster) care because of it," an administrator for Kentucky's Cabinet for Health and Family Services said earlier this year. So in the last session of the General Assembly, lawmakers voted to make it a felony to expose children to meth labs or chemicals - one small way of discouraging parents from manufacturing the drug. Then last week, the University of Kentucky announced it, too, was taking another important step to protect children. It has created a statewide program to identify and help children who are exposed to meth, Kentucky's Alliance for Drug Endangered Children. One of the program's goals is to train people to recognize the signs of exposure. The idea is that if teachers, police, health care workers or social workers see a child who is malnourished, not tended to, or has burns or sores, they at least should know enough about methamphetamine to consider whether it may be present in the household. "I just can't imagine what it must be like for some of these kids," said UK president Lee Todd last Wednesday. Actually, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America has catalogued a number of heart-wrenching stories. The fact is, drug, including methamphetamine, take a toll on a lot of people besides the person imbibing. But it's especially tragic when children are the ones to suffer. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek