FIGHTING METH AND WINNING

Laclede County's drug council reaches out to judges, educators and
employers to steer addicts over the long road to renewal.

Lebanon -- Laura Valenti is convinced that meth can be beaten, and she
is determined to make Laclede County a leader in that fight.

Valenti is a member of the Laclede County Drug Council, a former
jailer and one of a group of people in the Lebanon area shocked into
action by the meth epidemic.

"I've seen intelligent, beautiful young people ... land in (jail),"
said Valenti. "These kids were on their way to college. They were
going great places."

When a Laclede County industry survey in 2004 showed that an average
of four of every 10 job applicants failed their initial drug screen,
and the 35,000-population county had 27 meth-lab seizures, nearly
twice the per-capita rate of Greene County, the community stepped up
in a comprehensive way that other communities have not.

Over the past three years, the drug council, with Valenti as one of
its founders, has:

- - Begun working toward establishing a long-term rehab program that
appears to be the first of its kind in southwest Missouri.

- - Supported a court-ordered rehabilitation program that has meth users
routinely screened for drugs in order to remain free on bond.

- - Created an education program that has gone into every school in the
county and to every judge.

In addition, the council took special steps to keep former users in
rehab as long as needed, recognizing meth presents special challenges
because rehab can take a year or longer.

The council worked with an existing residential facility for women
leaving jail or prison and supported a transitional housing program
that will provide potential homes for clients while rehabilitating
abandoned houses.

A pivotal meeting

In 2004, when the statistics on meth in Missouri showed that the state
has led the nation in meth lab arrests since 2001, and the southwest
region -- including Laclede County -- led the state, a "town hall
meeting" was called.

More than 250 people attended. They learned about the personal toll
that meth can take, the environmental danger and the economic impact.

They learned that local industries were losing current and potential
employees to meth -- reporting a 40 percent failure rate on initial
drug screens of potential workers.

They learned that the cost of cleaning up a meth lab site averages
$5,000, but it can cost as much as $15,000.

They learned that too many people were losing their souls to meth.
Today, more than 1,000 people are being screened for drugs through the
county court system, which has dealt with more than 400 drug charges
this year.

And they learned that there was little education and no rehabilitation
treatment available in their county.

Ben Savittiere with the Lake Area Citizens Advisory Board, which was
brought into the county to establish an outpatient treatment program,
does drug testing for several area employers. With more careful
prescreening, those numbers have dropped, he said, but the issue is
not going away.

"The problem is (taking meth is) Russian roulette," he
said.

Savittiere has seen users suffer strokes and brain damage, as well as
emotional and social consequences.

"It's a horribly dangerous drug."

Working with the Missouri Department of Mental Health, the agency
provides a 13-week outpatient program and followup monitoring.

While the program treats all addictions, Savittiere finds that meth is
a common denominator among many treated in southwest Missouri.

"That's because just about anybody can make it and everybody does it,"
he said. "A lot of people here don't have a high education, but they
sure can cook meth.

"Just get the recipe and pray it doesn't blow up."

'Intense craving'

Establishing an inpatient facility could work long term with addicts
and their families in a variety of ways -- through individual therapy,
group treatment, 12-step programs, education, family involvement and
after care.

For addicts who have failed at other programs, such a program could be
the only answer.

"Meth has its particular difficulties," said Savittiere. "It actually
destroys brain cells. The relapse potential is a lot higher because of
the intense craving."

The Laclede County Drug Council is committed to using a modified form
of the Matrix Model, an intensive treatment plan developed by the
Matrix Institute on Addictions in California. The program would be
managed by Preferred Family Healthcare of Clayton.

Valenti, who also serves on the board of directors of New House
Ministries, introduced the model used at the New Life House, a halfway
house for women coming out of jail or prison.

She expects a meth rehab facility to follow some of the New Life House
policies.

"There's no reason to reinvent the wheel," she said.

Regardless of the reasons that New Life House residents end up in
jail, meth plays a role, said Norma Lehmoine, supervisor of the house.

"We do meth rehab by default," she said.

And she has seen people kick meth through the faith-based program,
which offers long-term assistance, as well as many of the same
elements as the Matrix Model.

The most recent addition to the program will be transitional housing.
With the help of USBank, Lehmoine has started the Alliance for
Community Transition, which will purchase abandoned houses in Lebanon,
rehabilitate them, then rent them to people referred by New Life as
well as other assistance programs. If a client maintains the home and
continues successful compliance with a rehab program, the client can
purchase the home, Lehmoine said.

She has already located 40 houses in Lebanon that could qualify, and
she knows just who she will nominate as the first resident.

Jo Ann Rook has been at New Life House for three months. The
50-year-old woman has battled alcoholism and meth, eventually spending
two years in prison. There, she found God and New Life.

"She's a star," said Lehmoine. "She has a plan and she's on her
game."

Today Rook has a job and a good relationship with her family. "I love
my children and my grandchildren," she said. "I'm going to be there
for them."

Despite years of alcoholism, meth was her final addiction.

"I used occasionally for energy, then I needed it to get through the
day," she said. "It could have ruined my life. It could have taken my
life."

Treatment models

The long-term residential rehab center the drug council has envisioned
would be unique in southwest Missouri, but there are other successful
models in the country.

On Track is a long-term, multi-phase rehab program in Medford, Ore.,
that has more than 10 years experience with meth. Rita Sullivan is the
executive director.

Meth arrived on the West Coast in the early 1990s, quickly turning
into an epidemic that took a big toll on the state foster-care system.

"We had a foster-care crisis," said Sullivan. Rising numbers of
children were entering the system -- there because of parental
substance abuse.

On Track proposed an innovative way to reduce foster care, a program
that cares for both parent and child to provide long-term drug
rehabilitation treatment, and was awarded a grant to start what is now
the standard of care in Oregon.

The cost offset made sense.

Talking about the price tag for treating newborns born addicted,
Sullivan said, "One baby in neonatal care has paid for treatment for a
year."

On Track's program works with the whole family, keeping parents and
children united even while mom and dad are in individual treatment.
The presence of their children provides an incentive to succeed while
mom and dad are also learning important parenting skills, Sullivan
said.

The average length of residential care at On Track is four months,
with active treatment for at least a year. Data on meth shows that it
takes at least a year to reverse the changes in brain chemistry, she
said.

But even after rehabilitation, the chances of relapse are increased
when a former meth user returns to a community that is still plagued
by meth. On Track responded to that need by building affordable,
drug-free housing for its successful clients.

Another program, Recovery Works, partners with area employers who
agree to hire On Track graduates. In fact, 22 On Track employees are
former clients.

On Track serves about 5,000 clients a year. While statistics on
success rates are difficult to track, when mom, dad and kids are in
the program together, success reaches about 70 percent, Sullivan said.

"You invest in them, give them a job, a place to live, you have a
better chance of success," she said.

Keeping tabs on users

Before most people seek rehabilitation for meth addiction, they find
themselves facing criminal charges.

The Laclede County court system has introduced an innovative way to
address the problem of rising numbers of meth arrests.

Every person who is charged with a meth-related crime is put on a
"supervised bond," which requires regular drug tests every 48 hours.
The county now has 51 defendants participating.

"I'm very proud of that," said Associate Judge Christine
Hutson.

The program allows the judge to set a lower bond and keeps suspects
out of jail while awaiting trial so they can continue to work. The
cost to the suspect is $45 a week, compared to $45 a day if he or she
is held in jail.

A positive drug screen means jail, Hutson said.

"Defense attorneys love it," she said, especially if they can show
their clients' consistently negative drug tests in court.

"I just know in my heart people are doing better" with the supervised
bond, the judge said.

Charlie Maguire is the owner of Outreach Consulting and Counseling
Services in Lebanon, which has provided the drug screens for the
courts in five counties for the past seven years.

The program was started when the courts were finding suspects
reoffending before their first court date, he said.

"With meth, this is a tool that helps them stay clean."

Maguire, also a member of the drug council, sees a need for more
tools.

"This area has always had a gap in treatment," he said. "It's time. We
need a center."

Support needed

Getting financial support for a residential rehabilitation center has
been more difficult than convincing Laclede County citizens that meth
is a problem in their community, Savittiere said.

"The answer is in the community," he said, calling on residents,
businesses and government to financially support solutions.