Pubdate: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 Source: Des Moines Register (IA) Copyright: 2007 The Des Moines Register. Contact: http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123 Author: Reid Forgrave Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) METH LAB BUSTS PLUNGE, BUT PROBLEMS PERSIST Iowa still ranks in the nation's top 10 for the rate of addiction, and the number of people seeking treatment has gone down only slightly. Iowa's meth problem - once among the worst in the country - hasn't disappeared even as meth lab seizures have plummeted. Since Iowa enacted a pseudoephedrine-control law in 2005, meth lab seizures in the state dropped 77 percent in 2006 compared with two years before, according to the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy. But even with far fewer people manufacturing meth in the state, meth continues to flow into Iowa from other states and Mexico, and people continue to use. "A lot of the hoopla has gone away because of the modest successes we've had," said Dale Woolery, associate director of the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy. "We've had great success with the meth lab piece of the issue. Much of the attention has gone away because the most visible piece of the meth problem has mostly gone away. ... That's taken (Iowa's meth problem) from a very visible issue to a quieter issue." Methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant also known as speed, crank, crystal or ice, began infecting Iowa in the early 1990s. It has a similar chemical structure to adrenaline or dopamine, but it's chemically altered to last much longer. Abusers can become addicted quickly. Meth addiction creates numerous problems: violent behavior, anxiety, paranoia, insomnia, confusion, tremors, anorexia, memory loss, severe dental problems, hallucinations, mood swings, sexual dysfunction, depression and a high suicide risk. "Iowa communities weren't prepared for the flow of meth coming into the state as fast as it did," Woolery said. So why else has meth use exploded in Iowa, especially in rural parts of the state, during the past 15 years? Part of the reason lies in how powerfully addictive meth is - and what a high rate of relapse recovering meth addicts have. "Meth users need a longer period of time to get their head clear and a longer period of treatment. Meth is a super-addictive drug," Woolery said. "But any way you cut it, it's costing society to allow people to continue those cycles." Between 1994 and 1995, the percentage of Iowa adults in treatment who reported meth as their primary drug of abuse more than tripled, from 2.2 percent to 7.3 percent. By 1998, 12 percent of all Iowa adults in addiction treatment reported meth as their primary drug of abuse. Meth lab busts continued to rise, too. In 1994, law enforcement reported just two meth lab incidents in Iowa. The number jumped to 320 in 1998, more than doubled in 1999, and doubled again in 2004. The 2005 pseudoephedrine-control law caused the number of meth lab incidents in Iowa to drop precipitously. Recent state data show that, even as meth lab incidents in Iowa have declined, meth abuse has not. The number of meth labs seized in Iowa dropped from 1,500 in 2004 to 345 in 2006. Through September 2007, law enforcement reported 107 meth labs being seized in Iowa. However, the number of people seeking treatment has not seen that dramatic decline. The percentage of people getting treatment for meth addiction has dipped only slightly - from 14.6 percent of all treatment admissions in the state in 2004 to 13.6 percent in 2006. In 2006, more than 6,000 Iowans received treatment for meth addiction, according to the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy. And Iowa still has the eighth-highest rate of meth addiction in the country. "The demand has not decreased," said Gary Kendell, director of the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy and a former attorney who prosecuted drug cases. "Meth is the biggest illicit drug in Iowa." Since 1992, treatment admissions for methamphetamine abuse have increased sevenfold nationwide, to more than 150,000 people, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. A majority of those addicts don't have health insurance. In Iowa's prisons, the problem is even more apparent. Twenty years ago, 2 percent of prisoners in the Iowa Department of Corrections system were drug offenders. Now, 27 percent of Iowa's 8,800 prisoners are in the slammer for drug offenses - the majority of those being meth, said Fred Scaletta, spokesman for the Department of Corrections. Iowa's prisons run 17 different licensed substance abuse programs. The in-prison treatment programs - which cost just over $3 million in 2007 - focus on how values and belief systems lead to thinking patterns, which in turn lead to addictive behavior. An estimated 80 percent to 85 percent of Iowa's prisoners have a substance abuse problem. Still, only 40 percent of Iowa's prisoners with substance abuse problems ever receive treatment, said Jeanette Bucklew, the deputy director of offender services for the Department of Corrections. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman