Pubdate: Tue, 04 May 2004
Source: Huntsville Times (AL)
Copyright: 2004 The Huntsville Times
Contact:  http://www.htimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/730
Author: Steve Nowottny
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

LAW BANQUET HEARS OF METH'S HORRORS

Dr. Mary Holley Warns Of Drug's Immediate Damage

Speed. Crank. Glass. Ice. Dr. Mary Holley has heard many slang terms for 
methamphetamine. She has even started to keep count, collecting a list of 325.

She hates them all.

"They call this stuff ice," Holley told members of the North Alabama 
Optimist Clubs Monday night. "This isn't ice. It's a raging fire burning 
down whole communities."

Holley, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Arab, knows better than most the 
damage meth can do. After her younger brother Jim was hooked on crystal 
meth, he became paranoid and depressed. He came to live with Holley and for 
more than a year she tried to nurse him to recovery.

Then, on July 4, 2000, at age 24, he committed suicide.

Holley has been on a crusade against drugs ever since. But she focused on 
meth in particular, not just because of her brother's death, but because it 
can be so destructive so fast.

"It takes alcohol 10 years, and cocaine six months, to do that kind of 
damage," she said, pointing to a slide showing a scan of a meth user's 
brain damage. "Meth can do it in one night."

Holley last year founded Mothers Against Meth-Amphetamine (MAMA), an 
international group that now has more than 1,500 chapters in Europe, Africa 
and across the United States. She has personally donated more than $400,000 
to the venture.

She normally delivers her speech to drug addicts in hospitals or in 
prisons. On Monday she was addressing community leaders and law enforcement 
officers at the Optimist Clubs' Respect For Law Banquet. But if Holley was 
preaching to the choir, then the graphic images she used to accompany the 
talk still had the power to shock.

One photograph showed an addict shooting up, injecting meth straight into 
his arm. Another showed another addict lying on the floor, surrounded by a 
pool of his own blood.

After the initial highs, said Holley, the come-down produced by meth causes 
insomnia, paranoia and delusion.

"Jim had a little cat he'd had since he was 10 years old," said Holley. 
"One day, he flew into a terrible rage and beat that cat to death. Now 
imagine if that was someone's child."

Holley described meeting another meth addict who was suffering from severe 
hallucinations. "I met a girl who had pulled out each and every one of her 
eyelashes trying to get 'bugs' out of her eyes."

Holley said that even with proper rehabilitation, it can take 12 to 18 
months before an addict's brain function returns to normal, and permanent 
brain damage is likely.

She spoke to the Respect For Law Banquet, which was renamed the Jefferson 
Davis Smith Respect For Law Banquet on Monday, in honor of the founding 
member of the local Optimist Club who was in charge of the event for many 
years and died in December.

Holley was awarded the Civilian Law Enforcement Award by the Optimist Club 
of Arab.

The 2004 Officer of the Year Award winners were:

Madison Police Department investigator Jim Cook, honored by the Optimist 
Club of Madison.

Madison County Deputy Jason McMinn, honored by the Optimist Club of Huntsville.

Arab Police Capt. Barney J. Harper, honored by the Optimist Club of Arab.

Huntsville Police Department Lt. Kirk Giles, honored by the South 
Huntsville Optimist Club.

On the Net:

www.mamasite.net
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom