METH IMPACTS USERS, BUT IT ALSO HURTS COMMUNITY

PAGE - Experts from the community and Coconino County educated local
residents about the drug methamphetamine and how it is one of the
deadliest and most widely used drugs out there today.

In a panel discussion held at Page Justice Court last Wednesday, the
experts told a group of more than 40 about how dangerous the drug is,
not only to those who use it but also to the community at large.

John Looslie, a counselor with the Pathways treatment program in Page,
has more than 30 years of experience in the health care field,
including many years of helping meth addicts. He has seen the problem
with meth in this community first-hand and feels this area needs more
highly qualified healthcare professionals to help treat those who have
fallen under the drug's influence.

One thing that has helped curb meth addicts is the advent of intensive
treatment programs that kept track of people even after they were
released from a constant-care facility.

"We saw kids go away to treatment programs, come back to small
communities like this one, and have difficulty maintaining their
gains. There was kind of a need to have a broader spectrum of care
available to them," Looslie said. "My practice turned into developing
a partial-care day treatment program. It ran that way for about three
years, and then it turned into a residential program.

Looslie found that the more intensive program helped to ease addicts
back into society, giving them enough time to build a new support
system that would help keep them clean. Even though there are some who
can maintain their distance from meth after going through one
treatment program, it often takes two or three attempts before it
clicks in addicts' heads that staying clean is paramount, he said.

Meth has changed form over the years, mostly becoming more potent.
Most people addicted to the drug were hooked the first time they tried
it, Looslie said.

Detective Shawn Stice of the Page Police Department, a certified drug
recognition expert, told attendees that meth is one of the biggest
drug problems this community is dealing with. Although there are a
fair share of marijuana users in the area, there are a number of
criminal acts in the area committed by people high on meth, he said.

"The trends we see in law enforcement is that, once a person becomes
addicted and gets into the habit of using narcotic substances, their
checks and pay stubs that were once used to pay bills are now used to
purchase drugs," Stice said. "When they can't pay their bills, their
drug habits actually lead to other crimes - theft, robbery, burglary.
All of those crimes can be tied into narcotics use of one form or another."

Stice's training helps him to ascertain if a suspect is on a drug like
meth and detect signs that a person is high. He said some of the
obvious signs that a person is on meth include rapid eye movement and
fidgeting. Involuntary movements become more pronounced. However,
these signs could be attributable to other drugs as well, Stice said.

The drug's evolution has changed it from being a substance that looks
like brown sugar to something that looks like glass, one of the
nicknames for meth today. The substances manufactured today have three
times the potency that meth did when it was in a brown sugar form.

So what causes people to continue to use the drug, even if they
realize it is hurting them? Stice's training included spending time at
a jail in Phoenix talking with meth users, and most of them gave him
the same answer.

"They said they were chasing that initial high," he said. "They wanted
the same high they got the first time they ever smoked meth because it
is such a rush. It is such a brain stimulant that the way they
perceive everything is so great."

"Better chemicals, stronger chemicals, the way people manufacture meth
has evolved with time, just like everything else," Stice said.

Brad Mattingly of the Coconino County Drug Court said that 29 percent
of the people who come through the program have used meth. Many of
these users are from Page, and he said that there have been a fair
share of both success stories and "miserable failures."

Some meth users take the drug because it helps to accelerate weight
loss; Mattingly noted that many users lose 60 to 80 pounds while they
take the drug. Some teenagers have taken the drug in order to enhance
sexuality, he said.

"More often than not, the methamphetamine addicts I'm working with
like to use meth in combination with other things including alcohol
because sometimes the stimulated high when they drink will help them
to calm down a little bit," Mattingly said. "They also like to use it
in combination with marijuana and prescription drugs."

Besides physical impacts, there are also serious psychological
effects, including depression and paranoia, especially prominent when
users are coming off their high, he said. Long-term use can also lead
to permanent psychosis.

On the Web: More information about methamphetamine can be found by going to
www.azag.gov/stopmeth, www.drugfreeaz.com, www.drugfree.org, or
www.methresources.gov.