'WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO TREAT THESE PEOPLE,' SAYS AUTHOR OF NEW STUDY

A Vancouver researcher hopes her three-year study will help to determine a
better way of treating crystal-meth addicts.

Assistant psychiatry professor Dr. Tania Lecomte says her look at 300
addicts will track those who have undergone one or more psychotic episodes.

Lecomte says the symptoms that addicts experience include extreme paranoia,
visual and auditory hallucinations and severe cognitive impairment.

She says addicts are often stuck between mental-health facilities and detox
centres and neither system has a proven treatment method.

"We don't have solutions. We don't know how to treat these people," she
says. "There's no integrated treatment people get unless they find it for
themselves. The problem is too new. People either don't know how to face
it, or it hasn't triggered the [alarm] bell."

A February 2004 survey of 40 street youth who used methamphetamines found
that 84 per cent suffered from psychosis and that their symptoms increased
as they used the drug.

In Japan, a country with a long history of meth addiction, studies have
shown that 36 to 64 per cent of users experience psychosis and psychotic
symptoms.

Other studies have suggested that long-term use can damage the brain's
ability to produce the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin --
essentially robbing the user of the ability to feel pleasure.

Lecomte's study has $138,000 in startup funding. She's hoping for another
$138,000 for Year 2 and $97,000 for Year 3. She's also hoping that the
provincial government will step in with financial assistance.

FOUR KEY OBJECTIVES

Key objectives of the provincial government's strategy to counter meth
addiction: prevent people from starting to use meth; reduce current use;
reduce harm and overdose deaths; reduce supply. Copies are available on
line at www.healthservices.gov.bc.ca/mhd/pdf/meth_final.pdf