Pubdate: Sun, 25 Mar 2007
Source: Ventura County Star (CA)
Copyright: 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co.
Contact:  http://www.venturacountystar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/479
Author: Tamara Koehler
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

'METH IS A MONSTER,' SAYS RECOVERING ADDICT

Methamphetamine has invaded Ventura County.

In the past five years, addiction to this devastating stimulant has 
surpassed heroin, cocaine and other drugs, spreading a trail of 
victims from the county's gated communities through quiet suburbia to 
seedy motels.

Children as young as 11 are getting hooked on methamphetamine, 
permanently altering their developing brains.

Teenagers in every school are increasingly using this corrosive drug, 
which is cooked up in kitchen sinks using cold medicine and poisons 
like battery acid, drain cleaner and gasoline additives.

Families are being destroyed. More than half -- 57 percent -- of 
child abuse and neglect cases in Ventura County involve methamphetamines.

Schools are seeing a rising number of children who were exposed to 
meth in the womb and now are slow to learn and difficult to control.

Hospital emergency rooms are treating rapidly growing numbers of 
people under 30 with heart failure, soaring blood pressure and brain 
damage from meth.

And crimes that threaten everyone, such as identity theft and 
burglary, are on the rise. About 80 percent of felonies in the county 
courts are meth-related and 95 percent of teenagers in juvenile court 
have used the drug.

"Meth is a monster," says 18-year-old recovering addict Alejandra 
Herrera, a mother of two children. "It steals your will, your 
motivation, so you only care about getting more of the drug."

In the coming year, The Star will examine the tentacles of meth in 
the county. Today's story looks at the rise of identity theft crimes 
by meth users.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman