Pubdate: Sat, 14 May 2005
Source: Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan (SD)
Copyright: 2005 Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan
Contact:  http://www.yankton.net
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1046
Author: Joe Ruff, AP
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

TO STOP METH, FAMILIES MUST CRACK DOWN ON MARIJUANA

BOYS TOWN, Neb. -- Jalyn Todd said she first used methamphetamine in 1992 
to lose weight.

In the months that followed she became heavily addicted, Todd said.

She neglected her two children, lost weight, developed open sores and had 
other health problems, Todd said. At 40 years old, she weighed 90 pounds.

Finally, she looked at herself in the mirror and decided she did not want 
to die, Todd said. She sought counseling and by 1993 had taken steps to 
turn her life around, she said.

Now a drug and alcohol counselor in Lincoln, Todd told about 200 people at 
a conference on methamphetamine that the drug can affect anyone.

"This is an equal-opportunity drug," Todd said. "It takes everybody."

The Nebraska Foster Care Review Board sponsored the daylong conference at 
Girls and Boys Town. Set up for case managers, foster care providers, 
attorneys, judges and others working in the juvenile courts system, the 
conference focused on the dangers methamphetamine poses to children; police 
and legislative responses and possible treatments for addicts.

The review board began seeing an increase in the number of children taken 
from homes because of meth-addicted parents about two years ago, executive 
director Carolyn Stitt said.

The board studies the effects of general drug use on the foster care 
system, and it plans to study methamphetamine's effect more specifically, 
she said.

The board also plans to hold similar methamphetamine conferences this 
summer in Grand Island, North Platte and Scottsbluff, she said.

At Friday's gathering, U.S. Attorney Mike Heavican warned that alcohol and 
marijuana are gateway drugs to methamphetamine. Parents need to crack down 
on any illegal drug use in their homes, he said, or the growing meth 
problem will not go away.

"You need to be indignant in your homes, your schools, about OEinnocent' 
use of marijuana," Heavican said.

If parents are not tough on their children the methamphetamine problem will 
continue to grow, Heavican said.

Shane Flynn, the Nebraska State Patrol's Clandestine Laboratory 
Coordinator, said it is easier for high school children to get meth than it 
is for them to obtain a six-pack of beer. Flynn, who has worked in the 
narcotics division since 1997, said street prices for meth have dropped by 
700 percent over the last 10 years.

Flynn said law enforcement cannot deal with the problem alone. 
Methamphetamine is so addictive that doctors need to be involved, Flynn 
said. Children found in homes where meth is being made need to be placed in 
safe environments, Flynn said.

Children can be exposed in the womb and from toxic chemicals used in 
home-based meth labs. Nationally, thousands of children have been taken 
away from meth-abusing parents in recent years and placed with relatives or 
overloaded foster care systems.

Meth is a powerful stimulant that can be smoked, snorted, swallowed or 
injected. It contains pseudoephedrine, found in common over-the-counter 
cold medications. The drug often is cooked in small quantities in kitchens, 
trailers or car trunks.

The state Legislature is considering a bill (LB117) designed to impede 
access to pseudoephedrine. The bill would require people who buy popular 
cold medicines such as Sudafed and Claritin to be at least 18 and show 
identification, and sellers of the products to be at least 19.

Under the bill, items containing pseudoephedrine would have to be kept 
behind store counters or in locked cabinets.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman