METH GETS STRANGLEHOLD

WASHINGTON - Whether it's smoked, snorted, swallowed or injected,
methamphetamine is more addictive and more damaging to the brain than
cocaine, heroin and most other illegal drugs.

It's also unusually efficient at ruining lives, ensnaring entire families
and turning parents and children into addicts fixated only on their next
euphoric high.

"If the adults use it, the kids are going to be around it and get roped
in," said Dr. William Haning, director of the Addiction Psychiatry
Residency Program for the University of Hawaii's medical school. "As crazy
as this sounds, the parent won't necessarily see this as a bad thing."

Many recovering methamphetamine addicts say they were hooked after using
the drug just once. They say meth took over their lives, destroying their
ability to work and to function as parents

"If you want to lose everything in your life, just try meth," said Paula
Cook of Muskogee, whose addiction cost her a job as a police dispatcher and
custody of three of her six children.

It takes meth addicts between 12 months and 24 months to fight back from
their habit, longer than it takes cocaine or heroin addicts to recover.

And recent studies show meth does more damage to the brain than other
drugs. A 2004 study by UCLA researchers, for example, showed meth causes
"severe gray-matter deficits" in the brain - comparable to the damage
apparent in the early stages of dementia.

"It erases all your feelings and rational judgments because it is so
addictive," said Cook, 41. "It is not a recreational drug but a progressive
disease."

Meth addiction is facilitated by a misconception - that it's safe to use
because amphetamines have legitimate medical uses as weight-loss aids or to
treat sleep disorders or attention deficit disorder in children.

"People claim that it helps them work better," Haning said. "It's sometimes
easier for the family to legitimize usage."

But he and other experts warn that there's nothing safe about meth. The
drug causes large increases in the brain's production of mood-enhancing
dopamine, in some cases permanently damaging dopamine cells.

"It is one of the most toxic drugs to the brain, ranking high with gasoline
inhalants," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on
Drug Abuse in Washington. "It lasts in your brain much longer than cocaine."

Bonnie Roller, 42, of Sparta, Mo., said that when she began using and
making meth at home, she was determined to keep her teenage son away from
it. But her addiction quickly destroyed any control she had over her own
life and his. Her son also ended up hooked.

Both were arrested in 2001, Roller said, as they tried to buy ingredients
to manufacture more meth.

"Meth will eat up your mind," said Roller, now recovering from her
addiction. "I wanted to be a good mother. It breaks my heart that I wasn't."

Such stories have become increasingly common as the meth epidemic continues
to sweep from west to east across the country.

"The threat associated with methamphetamine trafficking and abuse has
increased sharply since 2002 and now exceeds that of any other drug,"
according to the National Drug Intelligence Center.

Meth's harmful side effects include psychotic and aggressive behavior,
hyperactivity, paranoia, disturbed sleep patterns, irritability, shortness
of breath, involuntary muscle movements, malnutrition and severe depression
with suicidal tendencies.

"People hear voices, they become suspicious and can get extremely violent,"
said Rick Rawson, associate director of the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse
Programs, one of the nation's largest substance abuse research groups.
"Domestic abuse and neglect is a big problem."

Psychotic symptoms can persist for months or years after a meth addict has
stopped using the drug, according to the Office of National Drug Control
Policy.

Unlike cocaine or heroin, meth can be "cooked" at home using recipes found
on the Internet.

The ingredients used to make the drug can be purchased cheaply at a local
pharmacy, although some states have restricted access to those ingredients
in an effort to combat the meth epidemic.

Jody Gentry, 36, of Reed Springs, Mo., became so dependant on meth in 2000
that he abandoned his wife and moved into her car. That allowed him to
spend all his time looking for remote places in the woods to set up his
portable lab, cook meth and get high.

"All I cared about was me and my habit," said Gentry, now recovering from
his addiction. "Once I tried it, I was hooked and thought about it every day."