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.

AS MORE AND MORE WOMEN GO TO PRISON FOR METH, RESOURCES TO HELP THEM
ARE STRETCHED

Barbara Pierson is no clinical substance abuse expert.

But she is a former "crack head" and alcoholic who's been sober for
nearly a decade.

These days, she calls herself a wounded healer. Pierson has used her
own money and opened two homes in Sparks for transitional housing for
women battling substance abuse, many of whom are mothers with
methamphetamine addictions.

Pierson's homes are a welcome resource to the county, strapped for
resources to support female drug addicts recently out of prisons,
jails and treatment centers, treatment officials say.

The rates of women being incarcerated in the Washoe County Jail due
to meth sales, trafficking and possession increased 523 percent
during the last five years, according to the sheriff's office.
Detention officials say this increase has prompted a need for an
expansion in the jail.

In 2001, 141 were arrested for meth offenses compared to 878 in 2005.
The rate had been steadily increasing between 3 and 44 percent
between 2001 and 2004 before the spike in 2005.

Pierson is hoping to obtain non-profit status so her program, The
Launching Pad, can qualify for grants. Her first home was opened
January 2005 and the second in December 2005. The program typically
lasts about 9 months, about the time it takes to complete the 12
steps of recovery.

A live-in house manager is at each home and Pierson has daily contact
with the women.

While her clients are working to maintain their sobriety, she said
it's important they have a place to live safe from the temptation of
drugs. The program is centered around the Alcoholics Anonymous
12-step recovery system and clients are expected to attend five AA or
Narcotics Anonymous meetings each week in addition to in-house
meetings. The women have to get a sponsor and pay Pierson $135 rent
per week, which goes toward maintaining the homes.

Included in their program is praying, working out and having weekly
coaching sessions with Pierson. They also must have a job

Currently, Pierson has eight clients and is trying to remodel her
second home to accommodate more.

Pierson, who counseled female inmates at the Washoe County Jail on
substance abuse, noticed many of the women in her group had abused
methamphetamine.

"One woman said meth was really a dream come true for women," Pierson
said. "You can be a supermom and raise your family and be skinny. The
crystal meth diet is more popular than Jenny Craig and you can cook
it in your kitchen."

Perhaps the most troubling issue with her clients is the removal of
their children due to their meth abuse.

"They are devastated, and so are the kids," she said. "It's a hard
drug to kick and it takes every effort in the world. But after they
lose their children, they do want to clean up."

Jena, a pregnant 21-year-old crystal meth addict who is recovering at
Pierson's transitional home, gave birth to a boy last year with
methamphetamine in his system. Her last name is being withheld
because her recovery program is based on anonymity. Jena's mother now
has custody of the boy, but Jena believes she will regain custody in
the upcoming months.

"I did the drugs the whole time I was pregnant," she said. "I was on
the streets, sleeping under stairways ... I would go to the pregnancy
center right after I smoked meth. I knew I could be bad and I didn't care.

"I was high and the reality didn't hit," she said.

But Pierson said that now that Jena is out of the drug environment
and supported by other women with similar battles, she can focus on
getting her life back together.

"The difference now is that I've had clean time," Jena said. "I know
sober people now, I do the 12 steps and have group support. Who was I
supposed to turn to before? My drug dealer? Look in the mirror and
talk to myself when I have bags under my eyes and look like a
skeleton? My mother?"