Meth, Shattered Lives, Part 5A

METHAMPHETAMINE CRISIS PROMPTS CALLS FOR CHANGE

When more than 150 people crowded into an Oklahoma City church to talk
about the state's methamphetamine crisis last Tuesday, one man warned that
even the experts didn't know how bad the problem had become.

The rest of the week only served to prove his point.

On Wednesday, a state senator's daughter was arrested when a meth lab was
raided north of Marlow.

And on Friday, a man who had barricaded himself in his apartment after
police were tipped off that someone might be cooking meth, was shot to
death, ending a standoff that left other occupants of the complex stranded
on the street for more than 12 hours.

While experts admit that the meth crisis is far from under control, a
consensus is emerging among law enforcement, the court system, treatment
providers and the public that the state, for starters, must:

Increase emphasis on early intervention and adolescent treatment programs.

• Provide substance users with access to "after care" programs, job
training and temporary housing to reduce their propensity to relapse and
improve their chances of getting a job.

• Incorporate more non-conventional approaches, such as drug court and
community sentencing programs, into the court system and provide more
offenders with access to drug counseling.

Re-evaluate state programs to protect children's rights, build more
safeguards into the state's welfare system so that it doesn't indirectly
fund the meth trade and speed up the justice process.

• Educate the public more about the dangers of meth and increase support
for treating addiction as a disease rather than respond to it first and
solely as a crime.

Change also has to happen on a grassroots level, said Jan Miller, executive
director of the Citizens League, which coordinated Tuesday's meth forum in
response to a special report on meth by The Oklahoman and KWTV NEWS9.

Getting involved
Frank Judkins retired to Lake Texoma a long time ago, but he drove to
Oklahoma City for Tuesday's forum because he said he's no longer content to
let somebody else fight the war against meth.

"Our sheriff in Marshall County is doing a wonderful job as far as
arresting (meth) cookers, but he can't get all of them. So I asked him how
can Alma and I, she's my wife, help, and he said he didn't have the
slightest idea.

"Well, people need to determine what we can do, because there aren't enough
law people to stop meth."
Some participants emphasized how the highly addictive stimulant is ruining
the lives of entire families, from the parents of people on meth to the
grandchildren they are left with no choice but to raise. Some complained
the state lacks a coordinated approach to the meth crisis. And others, such
as Judkins, came searching for ways they can help.

A brain-altering drug, meth poses problems previously unseen in the drug war.

Law enforcement has its hands full because meth doesn't have to be imported
across any borders, said Lt. Tom Terhune, of the Oklahoma City Police
Department's special operations unit. Recipes for cooking meth are
available over the Internet and ingredients are inexpensive and easy to obtain.

Health professionals, meanwhile, are not sure how to best treat users
because of the drug's addictiveness and users' unpredictable nature.

Prevention programs
With the state already behind in combatingthe problem, Ben Brown, deputy
commissioner of substance abuse for the Department of Mental Health and
Substance Abuse Services, warns that solutions won't come overnight.

"Unfortunately, there won't be a system-wide change," he said. "It will be
one family at a time."

Because statistics point out a high demand for alcohol and drugs among
teen-agers in Oklahoma, Brown said it's important to focus on the next
generation of potential meth users.

"A 25-year-old isn't going to pick up meth for the first time without
having tried something else first," he said.

With statistics showing that drugs and alcohol contribute to 80 percent of
the crimes committed in the state, Brown said it's time to look at the
broad picture of damage that alcohol and other drugs do to society.

"Most people who abuse drugs start very early, maybe as young as 10 and 12
years old," he said. "That's where we really need to target our treatment."

Currently, there are only two state-contracted drug and alcohol adolescent
residential treatment centers and one halfway house for adolescents in the
state, at Wetumka, Arcadia and Lawton. A fourth is scheduled to open in
Norman in the fall, but even with that, Brown said they will still have
"horrible waiting lists."

Last week, there were 65 teen-agers on the waiting list for Second Chance
in Wetumka, where the state contracts for 24 beds. At the House of Life in
Arcadia, where the state contracts for 27 beds, the waiting list reached 65
earlier in the year.

Early intervention could prevent adolescents from "graduating" from
so-called gateway drugs such as alcohol and marijuana, to harder drugs such
as meth, Brown said.

The state also plans to divert more money to assessing whether a drug or
alcohol problem is contributing to a first-time offender's behavior.

While federal funds have been made available to help Oklahoma process and
clean up the more than 900 clandestine meth labs confiscated last year,
money for education has been scarce.

"Interdiction doesn't work as long as there is a demand," Dr. Hal Vorse,
medical director for A Chance to Change Foundation, said at Tuesday's
public forum. "We have to work with kids through families, schools and
churches, jump on the problem and get help when they need it. We need to
spend 10 times more on prevention than we do."

Developing a plan
Based on public reaction, there also are growing concerns about the lack of
a statewide approach to the meth crisis.

To address those issues, the Quality Behavioral Services Alliance is
calling for a joint legislative task force to examine the delivery of all
behavioral health care, including substance abuse treatment.

Vickie White Rankin, a lobbyist for the organization, said:

• An objective, detailed needs assessment, examining services and gaps in
services, must be conducted.

• Duplication of efforts and competition between state agencies must be
examined and eliminated.

• Services need to be streamlined. Many clients must muddle through red
tape and an array of often-conflicting requirements of various state
agencies in order to obtain needed care, White Rankin said. Tuesday's forum
also exposed the conflicting feelings family members of meth abusers
experience.

One woman who attended the meeting said she is raising her granddaughter
and while she loves her daughter "right now I don't like her very much"
because of the toll her addiction has taken on the family.

"There are times when Lisa (not her real name) wants help but there are too
many times when she doesn't," the woman said. "We want her to get better,
but most of her teeth are gone (meth absorbs calcium in the body) and she's
overdosed before. She's made her choice, but her baby didn't ask for this."

Many meth users pass in and out of treatment. It was widely agreed at the
forum that seven-day and 30-day treatment and counseling programs are
merely the first step toward recovery.

"I see women who come out of treatment but they don't have any place to go,
except go back to that man," Sandra Wolf Landrum said. "And you know who
loses: the children.

"There needs to be a place where women can go, where they can have a safe
house and get the training they need to get a job."

Brown agrees that the state lacks the means to provide long-term treatment.

"We are not doing a very good job with after care for people coming out of
treatment or prison," he said. "A lot of people, particularly women, have
no job skills, no job, no house and no place to go."

Brown would like to expand the use of residential treatment programs and
extend outpatient care at least a year.

"It's a resource question," Brown said. "To do it effectively, we have to
hire a staff, make arrangements for housing or to pay for temporary
housing, and there may be literacy skill issues involved, too. But for the
long-term good of society, we will have to invest something in these programs."

What works
Drug court, a 12- to 18-month program for repeat nonviolent drug offenders,
includes an extensive after-care program that features random drug testing
and a strong support system.

Almost 2,000 offenders in 23 counties are participating in 27 drug-court
programs, considered one of the most effective tools in the drug war.
Thirteen other counties are planning to start drug courts.

"We started without an after care component, but we learned we needed to
follow participants and keep them engaged so that they were doing what they
needed to do to remain drug free and productive," JoAnn Bronstad,
coordinator for the state drug-court program, said.

She said drug courts are effective because they rely on a lot of
partnerships and collaboration between law enforcement, the district
attorney's office, the court system, Department of Corrections and
treatment providers.

Bronstad said the support of officers on the street and prosecutors has
been essential to the success of drug court and will be instrumental to
gaining political support for alternatives to prison.

"Most of the time, we're not doing anything very well," District Judge Tom
Lucas of Norman said. "Putting addicts in prison isn't helping. Addicts
need treatment."

A former legislator, Brown said it will be difficult for lawmakers to
divert money from prisons to treatment.

"The cost of incarceration is about $18,000 an offender and the Department
of Corrections budget is about $400 million a year," Brown said. "It will
be difficult closing jails and putting people out of work in towns around
the state."

Stephen P. Alcorn, assistant district attorney for Oklahoma County, offered
some encouragement when he addressed the audience Tuesday.

"What's working," he said, "is that there is standing room only here tonight."

(SIDEBAR)

The Cost of Substance Abuse

State Reach-out hot line provides crisis intervention and information on
substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence and sexual assault:
(800) 522-9054.

Teen Line telephone hot line for crisis intervention, information and
referral for teens and parents of teens: (800) 522-8336.

To report suspicions of a meth lab or narcotics' use in Oklahoma City:
232-6272. Call 911 to report a meth lab that is in operation.

To learn more about Narcotics Anonymous chapters in Oklahoma: www.okna.org.

To learn more about the meth epidemic: Richard Rawson and Jeanne L. Obert,
two of the nation's leading experts on meth, will be featured speakers at a
workshop Aug. 30-31 sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health
and Substance Abuse Services. Call (405) 573-8226 for more information.