WOMEN INCREASINGLY DRAWN TO METH USE, STUDY FINDS

Farrah Mason was 13 and extremely overweight when she first smoked
methamphetamine.

She found she wasn't hungry when she used it, and she immediately started
shedding pounds. On top of that, the drug gave her boundless energy.

"I was addicted after the first time," said Mason, of Oceanside.

A study released yesterday shows that women arrested in San Diego County
have tested positive for methamphetamine with greater frequency than men
since 1995.

According to statistics from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program, 38
percent of women arrested in San Diego County in 1999 tested positive for
methamphetamine, compared with 25 percent of men.

And a similar urinalysis program conducted on teen-agers entering juvenile
detention this year between January and June showed that 33 percent of
girls tested positive for the drug, compared with 6 percent of the boys.

The numbers were part of an annual report released yesterday by the San
Diego County Methamphetamine Strike Force, formed in 1996 to battle the
drug's grip on the county.

Experts say methamphetamine appeals to women because it increases energy
and acts as an appetite suppressant.

"It meets all the promises at first," said Richard Bradway, director of the
EYE/Family Recovery Center in Oceanside.

The residential portion of the recovery center he directs is a 90-bed
facility for women who are either pregnant or are mothers, and 85 percent
of the clients are addicted to methamphetamine, he said.

Mason, now 23 and a mother of three, is living there and trying to get
custody of her infant daughter and her 5-year-old. Her 2-year-old has been
removed permanently from her care.

Clean for six months, Mason said her daughters were taken from her after
she admitted she used the drug multiple times every day.

"I've been paying a lot of consequences for using," she said.

The Methamphetamine Strike Force members are concerned about the drug's
growing appeal to young women, said Susan Pennell, director of the San
Diego Association of Governments' criminal justice research.

"For too long we've ignored girls and women, and part of that lack of
attention is that more men enter the criminal justice system and they get
all the attention," Pennell said.

The report released yesterday also looks at general statistics about
methamphetamine use in the county. It shows the number of deaths from
methamphetamine use has dropped 36 percent since 1995. During the same
period, drug treatment admissions were up 10 percent while the number of
arrests for methamphetamine sales and possession are up 23 percent.

San Diego Police Department Lt. Bob Kanaski said the narcotics task force
he heads will explore why so many women are testing positive for
methamphetamine.

"It's surprising to us," he said. "We don't know why that increased usage
occurs."

But Capt. Larry Moratto, who supervises narcotics investigations for the
San Diego Police Department, said methamphetamine has long been just as
popular among women as it is among men. He hasn't seen any "skyrocketing
use" by women, he said.

"Women have been using meth for a long time," Moratto said. "I don't think
that's a big revelation."

To report a crime involving methamphetamine or to get help with a problem
related to the drug, call (877) No2-METH.