Pubdate: Tue, 28 Jun 2005
Source: St. Cloud Times (MN)
Copyright: 2005 St. Cloud Times
Contact:  http://www.sctimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2559
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

EFFECTS OF METH USE SPREAD FROM RURAL TO URBAN AREAS

CHICAGO  - Already known as a rural scourge, methamphetamine is becoming a
problem in a number of U.S. cities.

Meetings of the 12-step group Crystal Meth Anonymous have increased in
Chicago from one night a week a few years ago to five a week. In the
Atlanta area, methamphetamine users account for the fastest-growing
segment of addicts seeking treatment. Rehabilitation centers there are
seeing an uptick in the number of women meth addicts, while officials
in Minneapolis-St. Paul say they're treating an alarming number of
meth users younger than 18.

"Most people just think it happens in the farmlands and the prairies
or out back behind the barn," said Carol Falkowski, director of
research communications at the Hazelden Foundation in Minnesota. But
that's not the case anymore.

Falkowski found that meth addicts represent about 10 percent of
patients admitted to drug treatment programs in the Twin Cities,
compared with 7.5 percent a year ago and about 3 percent in 1998.
About a fifth of those meth users who sought help in the last year
were minors.

Experts who track urban drug trends for National Institute on Drug
Abuse have noted a big jump in the use of meth - particularly in its
potent crystal form - in the past six months to a year.

"It's the new major drug threat," said Jim Hall, director of the
Center for the Study and Prevention of Substance Abuse at Nova
Southeastern University in Florida. He monitors drug use for national
drug institute in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, where crystal meth is
often more sought after than Ecstasy and cocaine.

"Here, it's almost like the early days of cocaine, when cocaine was
the chic, expensive champagne of street drugs," said Hall, noting that
many users come to Miami's trendy South Beach strip in search of the
purest, most expensive meth available.

It's spreading

Methamphetamine - long a problem on the West Coast - made its way
across the country in the past decade, often taking hold in rural
areas, where it's usually made because the process creates a
noticeable stench. Increasingly, drug enforcement officials say that
mass quantities are also being shipped cross country from "super labs"
in the Southwest and Mexico.

Experts say the drug started to catch on in urban areas in the club
and rave scenes and sometimes among particular populations, such as
gay men.

That's been the case in such cities as Washington and Chicago, said
Thomas Lyons, a research associate with the Great Cities Institute at
the University of Illinois at Chicago. Often, he said, meth use has
been associated with increases in sexually transmitted diseases,
including HIV.

Claire Sterk, an Emory University professor who tracks Atlanta's
numbers for the national drug institute, says that while meth users
there have traditionally been white, there are early signs that meth
is making its way into the city's black and Hispanic
communities.

Experts in other cities also have noted that some young women are
using methamphetamine as a way to lose weight.

Fighting it

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America launched education campaigns
in St. Louis and Phoenix last year to try to combat growing meth
problems there. The nonprofit plans similar campaigns in at least four
other states in the next year, spokesman Steve Dnistrian said.

"Our fear has been that meth will catch on with a new generation of
kids who haven't heard about it," he said.

But in some cases, that's already happening, said Dr. Rob Garofalo at
Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

"It's the drug that makes me cringe the most," said Garofalo, who's
come across a growing number of meth users among the patients he
treats at the hospital's clinic for older youth.

At first, he said, these young meth users see the drug as a
"brightener"- one that helps them concentrate, stay up for hours and
feel in control. In time, however, users become increasingly paranoid
and aggressive.

It's also highly addictive -"such a slippery slope," Garofalo said.
"You can't just dabble in crystal meth."

What else should I know?

QUESTION: Where does meth come from?

ANSWER: Underground labs in the United States and Mexico are the
primary sources. They often get the precursor chemical pseudoephedrine
from legitimate sources.

Meth also is smuggled from Canada. Meth tablets most often are mailed
or couriered to the United States from Southeast Asia.

Q: How much does it cost?

A: At the distribution level, prices range from $3,500 a pound in
parts of California and Texas to $21,000 a pound in southeastern and
northeastern regions of the country. Retail prices range from $400 to
$3,000 an ounce.

Q: What are some consequences of meth abuse?

A: They include psychotic behavior and brain damage. Withdrawal
symptoms include depression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, aggression
and intense cravings.

Chronic use can cause violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, insomnia,
auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, delusions and paranoia.
Damage to the brain caused by meth abuse is similar to Alzheimer's
disease, stroke and epilepsy.

Source: Drug Enforcement Administration
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin