Series: Meth: Shattering Lives In Northern Nevada

A three-month Reno Gazette-Journal investigation found that
methamphetamine's grip on the Truckee Meadows has become a stranglehold.

'BIG NEED' FOR HELP FOR TEEN ADDICTS

Treatment options for adolescent meth addicts in Washoe County got a
boost recently when Elko-based Vitality Center was awarded more than
$700,000 in federal funding for residential and outpatient treatment.

Vitality Center will replace Reno's SageWind, which is suspending its
juvenile residential and outpatient program at the end of June for
financial reasons. Sagewind had been the only juvenile residential
treatment center in the area, while Quest Counseling, a 3-year-old
Reno outpatient center for juveniles, is trying to expand into a
separate 10-bed residential facility.

Quest received no state Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse funding
during this last disbursement cycle because evaluators said Vitality
Center could help more children. Instead, it will rely on funding
from contracts and private donations.

In 2003, 12.4 percent of Washoe County high school students reported
using meth at least once, compared with 12.5 percent of all high
schoolers in the state and 7.6 percent of all high school students nationally.

Treatment A 'Priority'

Vitality Center has been offering adolescent services since 1979,
most recently in Elko. The new BADA funding will go toward three
buildings in Sun Valley that will provide a total of 30 residential
beds for juveniles. Those buildings had been used for adult treatment.

"There is a big need for adolescent care in Washoe County," said
Vitality Center CEO Dorothy North. "Just looking at the numbers you
can see treatment is a priority. Even if we fill all of our beds to
capacity, there will be plenty of room for other agencies to fill
their capacities, too."

Tammra Pearce, executive director of Bristlecone Family Resources,
which operates SageWind, said the lack of funding for adolescent
services is creating a crisis.

Pearce said that during the last three years, her agency had to take
about $150,000 a year from the adult programs to subsidize the
adolescent program, which costs about $650,000 a year to run. She
said federal funding for juvenile drug treatment services has been on
the decline annually for the past five years. Her agency decided they
could better serve their clients if they cut the juvenile program.

"There is help, but it's hard to come by," Pearce said. "I think it
almost has to be a crisis to get awareness going in the community."

Nevada Programs Underfunded

Last year, juveniles accounted for 15 percent of all admissions
involving meth into BADA-funded treatment centers.

Nevada has historically underfunded all substance-abuse treatment,
but especially treatment for youth, said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie.

"There is a strong sense of denial about the seriousness of the
problem," Leslie said. "No one likes to think about the image of a
youth shooting up meth or prostituting themselves to buy drugs, yet
we know the situation exists today right here in Reno."

"There is an abysmal lack of resources for juveniles with drug
problems," said Washoe Deputy District Attorney Jo Lee Wickes. "We
have some very skilled counselors but not enough of them. One of the
biggest problems now and for the immediate future is the lack of
residential programs for juveniles."

Wickes, who prosecutes juveniles, said the juvenile justice system
struggles to find programs meeting the needs of children and teens in
the community.

Juvenile justice and treatment officials said the number of teens in
trouble with the law who admitted using meth increased 43 percent
from 2004 to 2005, making methamphetamine the No. 1 drug for that age
group. Many also use other drugs and alcohol.

According to BADA, the numbers of juveniles admitted to state-funded
treatment facilities in Washoe County for meth have ranged from 103
in 2001 to 177 in 2004. Last year, there were 108. Many are ordered
to enter treatment centers by judges following an arrest.

Parents Scared Off By High-Cost Treatment

Washoe Family Court Judge Victoria Van Meter, who presides over
juvenile drug court, said the high cost of treatment can scare a lot
of families, prompting them to not seek help, she said.

"We have good service providers here locally, but we clearly don't
have enough," she said. "The first thing that struck me when I took
over drug (court) was that we need more treatment providers."

Of the 1,526 adolescents admitted for treatment in BADA-funded
centers in 2004, 26 percent listed methamphetamine as their primary
drug. About half received outpatient counseling, 22 percent had
intensive outpatient therapy, 16 percent received long-term
residential care and 2 percent had short-term residential care.

Federal funding given to Nevada to disperse to non-profit and
government treatment centers this year is less than $13 million """"
including $2 million for adolescent treatment services.

Without more resources for juveniles, Leslie said many drug abusers
will end up in the criminal justice system.

"If we turn our backs on these kids, we are virtually throwing away
their future," she said. "We know treatment works and recovery can
happen. It would be tragic if Nevada and our community was unwilling
to offer that opportunity to our children."

A 2004 BADA report said Nevada juveniles are using alcohol and drugs
at younger ages and the rate at which they drink and use meth before
age 13 exceeds the national average.

"Running At A Loss'

Quest was founded by former SageWind directors Debra Kamka and Jolene
Dalluhn, who used their credit cards to open the facility.

"When you are a nonprofit and provide services to a population who
can't afford it ... and you don't receive money from the government,
foundations or donations, you are constantly running at a loss," said
Quest Director Denise Everett. "We have no guarantee of grants or donations."

Quest receives state and county grants for court-ordered evaluations
and counseling sessions.

"At least we are trying," Everett said. "Everyone here is so
committed to the idea of helping these kids that we are willing to
put blood, sweat and tears and our own money to make sure we keep going."

During Quest's first year of business, it had 300 referrals for
juveniles with substance abuse issues. Referrals doubled its second
year, and last year it rose to 800. About 40 percent of its caseload
is meth-related.

"Since we opened, the severity of the meth problem has grown,"
Dalluhn said. "I evaluated a 9-year-old last year who used meth."

Kamka said meth use causes problems that don't always arise from teen
marijuana and alcohol abuse, making treatment more complex.

"The quickest route to more trouble is meth; it has a quicker
decline," she said. "Burglary becomes something they get involved in,
domestic violence, just crazy stuff. At 5 a.m. they're looking into
open garages and stealing what's inside.

"But they still continue to use after bad things happen," she said.
"They don't realize that meth is how they got there."

A Potent Drug That's Hard To Kick Alone

Because crystal methamphetamine, more potent than powder meth,
provides an instant, addictive and euphoric rush that makes kids feel
invincible, teens say they can't kick it without intervention or
getting arrested or losing everything.

"I'm lucky I got caught and was in trouble with the law," said Lexi
Finnell, 17, a recovering crystal meth addict who started using at
15.Finnell, a Galena High School student, at one point lived on the
streets for six months and used meth daily. It wasn't until she was
arrested for trying to cash stolen checks that she wanted to stop
using. She said counseling helped her beat her addiction and she
continues to go even though she is no longer under a court order.

Everett said all addicts have to want to quit before they will give
up drugs. Juveniles, though, mostly are in treatment not because they
wanted to be, but because it was their parents' idea or a judge
ordered them. She said being forced into treatment can cause delays
in its effectiveness.

"You don't make the decision to be a drug addict in the sandbox,"
Everett said. "If you are in an environment where good things are
celebrated with alcohol and negative things are drowned with alcohol
and popping a few pills, that's the message kids get."

[SIdebar]

By the numbers

14.5: percentage of Washoe high school students who said they had
tried meth in 2001. 12.4: percentage in 2003

7.6: percentage of all high school students in the U.S. in 2003 who
had tried meth

5: percentage of Washoe County middle school students in 2005 who had
tried meth

10: percentage of Washoe high school students in 2005 who had tried
meth (national figures were unavailable)