Pubdate: Mon, 17 Sep 2007
Source: Daily Southtown (Tinley Park, IL)
Copyright: 2007 Daily Southtown
Contact:  http://www.dailysouthtown.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/810
Author: Emily Udell, Staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

ILLINOIS BEGINS VIDEO CAMPAIGN AGAINST METH

A girl says she would rather have gotten into a car  accident than
gone to the party where she first tried  methamphetamine. A child
recalls making pancakes with  her father before he became addicted to
the drug and  disappeared from her life. A woman talks about losing
custody of her son when she was hooked on meth.

These real testimonials are part of a dramatic new  advertising
campaign launched in Illinois and seven  other states with high rates
of meth use by White House  drug czar John Walters. The $10 million
campaign aims  to raise awareness about the dangers of meth and about
the availability of treatment.

"It's both trying to prevent use of the drug as well as  showing
people that there is hope," said Stephen  Schatz, a spokesman for the
Office of National Drug  Control Policy. "Unfortunately, there is this
  perception out there that you can't recover from meth  addiction."

The campaign targets 18- to 34-year-olds, who use the  drug at a
greater rate than other age groups, with  print, radio, television and
online ads. It was slated  to run through March in Alaska, Washington,
California,  Oregon, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky - all
states with high levels of meth availability and  treatment admission
rates.

The ads can be viewed on the campaign's Web site at
www.methresources.gov, where information about  treatment options also
is available.

"Any prevention that can be done is worthwhile," said  Dr. Abhin
Singla, an addictionologist who practices in  Joliet. "I would put
meth up there with most of the  hard-core drugs that are very
difficult to treat; it  really quickly creates a lot of destruction in
  someone's life."

The highly-addictive drug can precipitate depression,  severe tooth
decay, and high blood pressure and heart  rates that can lead to
stroke, heart failure and death.

Joanna Zoltay, a spokeswoman for the Chicago office of  the Drug
Enforcement Agency, said Illinois has seen an  increase in trafficking
of meth from Mexico since  legislation aimed at cracking down on
homegrown labs by  limiting the sale of products with pseudoephedrine
- -  the key ingredient in meth - went into effect last  year.

The imported meth is "not as pure, but just as deadly,"  she
said.

Meth is a highly-addictive stimulant that can be  smoked, inhaled,
injected, or taken orally. It can be  manufactured by combining
chemicals found in  over-the-counter medications and household products.

The presence of the drug has remained low in the  Chicago area, but
the city has become a distribution  hub for meth produced south of the
border, according to  the drug control policy office.

And despite the new law, some mom-and-pop meth shops  still operate
around the state.

In 2006, there were 778 meth lab seizures in Illinois,  according to
the DEA. That's down from the 1,189 labs  that were dismantled in
2005, but Singla said the  availability of imported meth will keep the
market  robust.

"We see a fair amount of it in Joliet and Chicago, and  it's probably
going to get bigger," he said.

A 2005 survey conducted by the U.S. Department of  Health and Human
Services found that 10.4 million  Americans age 12 and older have used
meth at least once  in their lives. In 2006, there were 259,000 people
who  tried the drug for the first time, and the mean age of  the
initiates was 22.2 years old.
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MAP posted-by: Derek