Pubdate: Sun, 14 Aug 2005
Source: Star-Banner, The (FL)
Copyright: 2005 The Star-Banner
Contact:  http://www.starbanner.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1533
Author: Catherine Dolinski, Star-Banner
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

REPORT: METH USE CAUSES BRAIN DAMAGE

More Harm Done When User Is HIV Positive, Researchers Say

OCALA - Methamphetamine abuse continues to spread, despite new laws and 
public education campaigns aimed at stamping it out. Now, medical 
researchers are warning that meth is not only addictive, it literally 
causes brain damage - all the more so when mixed with an HIV infection.

Both methamphetamine abuse and HIV infection distort different parts of the 
brain, diminishing thought processes such as memory, problem- solving and 
attention span, researchers at the HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center of 
the University of California-San Diego report in this month's American 
Journal of Psychiatry.

Dr. Jay Rubin, a neurologist in Ocala, said the findings agree with what 
doctors already know about drugs and other stresses on the brain.

"Things like cocaine abuse can cause strokes," Rubin said. "There may be 
some certain areas of the brain that are probably more susceptible to 
damage. It's known, for instance, that suffocation or near- suffocation 
causes damage in the parts of the brain like the hippocampus."

Ocala Police Maj. Guy K. Howie, who commands Marion County's multi- agency 
drug enforcement team, said the findings likewise bear out with his own 
observations of the growing numbers of local meth abusers.

"It doesn't surprise me at all," he said. "When you talk to somebody that's 
on meth, you know. You watch the way they talk, the way they twitch. And 
I've known some to be up for two to three days at a time. All of the toxic 
chemicals used to make it has got to do something to both the body and the 
brain."

The researchers in San Diego analyzed brain scans of 103 adults divided 
into four groups: meth abusers, HIV-positive, HIV-positive meth abusers and 
a control group with neither problem. They also tested each group on their 
attention span and memory, the speed at which they mentally process 
information, their ability to learn, verbal skills, motor skills and other 
brain functions.

Methamphetamine abuse, they found, is related to swelling of the parietal 
cortex, which helps people understand and pay attention to their 
surroundings, as well as the basal ganglia, which is linked to motor skills 
and motivation.

HIV, on the other hand, appears to shrink three parts of the brain: the 
cerebral cortex, which plays a role in higher thinking, reasoning and 
memory; the hippocampus, involved in learning and memory; and the basal 
ganglia.

Both meth abuse and HIV appear to damage the brain separately, and cause 
the most damage when paired together.

"In HIV-infected people, the . . . impairments are associated with 
decreased employment and vocational abilities, difficulties with medication 
management, impaired driving performance and problems with general 
activities of daily living, such as managing money," Terry Jernigan, leader 
of the research team, explained in a released statement.

While the impact of meth is less understood, "abusers of the drug have 
impaired decision-making abilities," he said. "These could potentially 
affect treatment and relapse prevention efforts, as well as things like 
money management and driving performance."

The findings are especially significant given the risky sexual behavior and 
contaminated needles that tend to link meth abuse with HIV infection, 
according to Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug 
Abuse (NIDA).

They are also significant given the rate at which meth use is gaining. A 
recent survey by the National Association of Counties revealed that the 
white crystalline drug poses a bigger problem for law enforcement agencies 
across 45 states than cocaine, heroine or marijuana.

In Marion County, Howie said, police have identified 21 meth labs compared 
to three at this time in 2004. They have also confiscated 1,584 grams of 
the drug, compared to 475 grams at this time last year. The 12 cases of 
meth possession in 2005 - not including the labs - represents an increase 
as well.

"It's starting to get popular among teenagers, but it's more popular with 
the 20- to 30-year-old crowd," Howie said. "There are a lot of people in 
their 40s using it, too."

Relatively cheap, highly addictive and too-often mistaken as harmless, meth 
cuts across most economic classes but has been more popular with whites 
than blacks, Howie said. Abusers of the white, crystalline drug usually 
develop pock marks on the skin, and scabs that result from scratching.

Lately, meth trafficking has been up locally while production has dropped 
slightly - but only slightly, Howie said. "That's because we put several of 
the people cooking it in jail."

Beating the epidemic is going to require continued, aggressive education 
about the drug's effects and addictiveness, he said - otherwise, "This is 
going to just take over like crack did in the 1980s."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom