METH ADDICTION HARD TO KICK

Betty Bomar began using drugs at age 11, raiding her parents' medicine
cabinet to get her fix.

"I remember the first time I used, I knew I was in love," she
said.

Her 32-year affair with drugs and alcohol included a tryst with making
and abusing methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant that creates
an energy surge for the user.

When she entered treatment, she was experiencing emotional
claustrophobia, she said.

"I felt like if I didn't die or didn't get help, my sanity was
literally going to snap and I wasn't coming back," she said.

After engaging in intensive treatment, Ms. Bomar, 48, has been in
recovery for five and a half years.

But parting ways with the drug is not easy. More than 90 percent of
meth users who kick the habit relapse, according to the Governor's
Task Force on Methamphetamine Abuse.

Ms. Bomar thinks her treatment at the Council for Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Services in Chattanooga, where she now works, was successful
because she received a lot of information about addiction as a disease
and the relapse process.

Treating meth addiction is challenging because users often are as
addicted to making meth as they are to taking it, said Judge Seth
Norman of the Davidson County Drug Court in Nashville, which has run a
long-term rehabilitation program for the last two and a half years.

"In the first experience with meth, you hit this terrible rush and
great high," he said. "Now they're trying to manufacture something to
get them back up to that original feeling."

Meth makers also try to one-up each other, hoping to concoct the best
meth in their area, he said.

The Nashville program, known as the Davidson County Drug Court
Developing Character During Confinement, has had zero patients
relapse, though Judge Norman said it is too early to determine relapse
rates. The program focuses on a 12-step method to help users ignore
triggers that may make them think of the drug and to build self-esteem
and teamwork.

A drug court in Hamilton County, known as the Hamilton County Recovery
Court, celebrated its two-year anniversary in October.

Meth's addictive nature makes it harder to kick than other drugs, said
David Brown, director of transitional housing for CADAS. The euphoria
it elicits can last anywhere from eight to 12 hours.

"The high lasts so long," Mr. Brown said. "The memory of it is so
powerful, it's quite an addiction."

Taken in its oral form, meth stimulates brain cells, enhancing a
person's mood, wakefulness and physical activity while decreasing
appetite, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

But meth also causes increased heart rate and blood pressure, which
lead to irreversible damage of blood vessels in the brain and can
cause strokes, irregular heartbeats, cardiovascular collapse and even
death. Brain cells are damaged by the increased release of dopamine,
eventually reducing the amounts available to the brain and causing
symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease, severe depression or both.

Mr. Brown said the longer the treatment period, the greater the
success rate. About 55 percent of all clients who enter CADAS for
addiction treatment remain sober after six months outside the program,
he said. Those who stay active in programs for a year experience an 80
percent success rate.

Users in uncontrolled environments can have even more trouble giving
up meth.

Larry C. Black, commander of the Lookout Mountain Judicial Task Force,
said those who are sentenced to prison for meth offenses struggle when
they leave the judicial system.

"Once they've served their sentences and are released not in a
controlled environment, they're back to using it again," he said.

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SHORT-TERM EFFECTS OF METH USE

Increased attention

Decreased fatigue

Increased wakefulness

Decreased appetite

Euphoria

Increased respiration

Rapid, irregular heartbeat

Hyperthermia

EFFECTS OF LONG-TERM METH USE

Anxiety

Confusion

Changes in brain structure and function

Insomnia

Mood disturbances

Violent behavior

Paranoia

Visual and auditory hallucinations

Severe dental problems

Delusions

Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse