ANTI-METH HELP NEEDED

Topic: Meth epidemic

Our View: Combating the phenomenon is a community project that calls
for additional resources.

Methamphetamine addiction is an epidemic that is ravaging our cities,
our rural areas and our nation. It is a disease that everyone wants
to cure, but hardly anyone fully knows how. Our tentative first steps
involve a complex set of social-psychological, medical, legal and
economic strategies. Getting well is a community project that
requires more resources than are currently being invested.

Some are trying. Law enforcement agencies, of course. And treatment
facilities set up to manage drug and alcohol addictions. Quest
Counseling and Bristlecone Family Resources in Reno, Vitality Center
in Elko, the Partnership Carson City Anti-Meth Coalition in the
state's capital and the new Meth Community Response Alliance are
soliciting the full force of community resources to combat this
scourge. Contacting any of them can turn a person back toward a
normal, fulfilling, human existence. This society and this community
can ill afford to ignore them.

Characterizing the meth phenomenon as a "disease," a "scourge" and a
"ravaging epidemic" invites criticism that the media is exaggerating
the situation. It is arguable that the largely ineffective war on
drugs jaded and blinded the public to abuse of this particular
substance until it was too late. The situation has been nearly 40
years in the making.

Talk intended to warn young people, especially, away from chemicals
that suffuse the brain's pleasure centers and could increase
curiosity and lure people with personality problems. How else would
anyone be tempted to ingest a substance that destroys the natural
beauty of the human being? The alliance and other groups are
addressing this one by asking kids to help design effective
campaigns. A Carson City youth produced a film.

The critiques may come close to truth. But understand this: The
seriousness of the meth phenomenon is no exaggeration. It is no myth.

What makes it hard to eradicate is the force and tenacity with which
it takes hold. It is a lifestyle supported by relationships -- and of
course, the drug. The RGJ's special report "Meth: Shattered Lives in
Northern Nevada," the result of a three-month inquiry that was
published June 25, has the facts:

Meth addiction is no respecter of age, race, class or profession.
College presidents, business people and substance abuse counselors
were caught in its web. Ten percent of Washoe County high school
students said last year they'd tried the drug; 5 percent of middle
school kids did, too. Also, 15 percent of all admissions into
treatment centers funded by the state were juveniles. It's a parent's
worst nightmare.

There's a problem with the numbers. They represent only the cases we
know about, people who already are in trouble with the drug and the
justice system, who commit crimes to support their cravings. There
are others we know nothing about.

The drug is so damaging that users no longer respond humanly.

But meth addicts are our children, siblings, parents and neighbors.
It wouldn't do to turn our backs or to stand by helplessly. Those
with the worst problems are what the best of us could become if
circumstances were different. Their grief and ours is a quality of
life indicator.

The window of opportunity is small for those who seek help on their
own. Unless help is immediately available, we risk returning users to
the streets and the drug. It can take six months to a year before a
user in recovery can understand what has happened. It can take many
more months to relearn the value of family, how to hold a job and to
enjoy the sun or the breeze at lakeside.

The ratio of treatment beds to willing patients, however, is
inadequate, meanwhile funding for services is drying up. Mental
health providers and community-based advocates have joined with
lawmakers, court officials and law enforcement officials to pin down
a strategy that asks the community's help. Helping them helps all of
us to take ownership of the problem and responsibility for solving it.

Arrests take users and dealers off the street and can be a wake-up
call for the willing. They are a partial solution. Effective
strategies need community, legislative and budgetary support that
includes education, timely treatment that is long enough to restore
cognition and to modify behavior. The principle of supply and demand
is practical. Reduce demand to reduce supply, which cuts demand.

Think of the meth epidemic as a terrorist threat that requires a
comprehensive and proactive defense in terms of funding, staffing,
education and treatment. Think of it when lawmakers ask for
legislative and popular support for programs and when community
leaders ask for cooperation and for dollars. We need your help.