LAW BANQUET HEARS OF METH'S HORRORS

Dr. Mary Holley Warns Of Drug's Immediate Damage

Speed. Crank. Glass. Ice. Dr. Mary Holley has heard many slang terms for
methamphetamine. She has even started to keep count, collecting a list of 325.

She hates them all.

"They call this stuff ice," Holley told members of the North Alabama
Optimist Clubs Monday night. "This isn't ice. It's a raging fire burning
down whole communities."

Holley, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Arab, knows better than most the
damage meth can do. After her younger brother Jim was hooked on crystal
meth, he became paranoid and depressed. He came to live with Holley and for
more than a year she tried to nurse him to recovery.

Then, on July 4, 2000, at age 24, he committed suicide.

Holley has been on a crusade against drugs ever since. But she focused on
meth in particular, not just because of her brother's death, but because it
can be so destructive so fast.

"It takes alcohol 10 years, and cocaine six months, to do that kind of
damage," she said, pointing to a slide showing a scan of a meth user's
brain damage. "Meth can do it in one night."

Holley last year founded Mothers Against Meth-Amphetamine (MAMA), an
international group that now has more than 1,500 chapters in Europe, Africa
and across the United States. She has personally donated more than $400,000
to the venture.

She normally delivers her speech to drug addicts in hospitals or in
prisons. On Monday she was addressing community leaders and law enforcement
officers at the Optimist Clubs' Respect For Law Banquet. But if Holley was
preaching to the choir, then the graphic images she used to accompany the
talk still had the power to shock.

One photograph showed an addict shooting up, injecting meth straight into
his arm. Another showed another addict lying on the floor, surrounded by a
pool of his own blood.

After the initial highs, said Holley, the come-down produced by meth causes
insomnia, paranoia and delusion.

"Jim had a little cat he'd had since he was 10 years old," said Holley.
"One day, he flew into a terrible rage and beat that cat to death. Now
imagine if that was someone's child."

Holley described meeting another meth addict who was suffering from severe
hallucinations. "I met a girl who had pulled out each and every one of her
eyelashes trying to get 'bugs' out of her eyes."

Holley said that even with proper rehabilitation, it can take 12 to 18
months before an addict's brain function returns to normal, and permanent
brain damage is likely.

She spoke to the Respect For Law Banquet, which was renamed the Jefferson
Davis Smith Respect For Law Banquet on Monday, in honor of the founding
member of the local Optimist Club who was in charge of the event for many
years and died in December.

Holley was awarded the Civilian Law Enforcement Award by the Optimist Club
of Arab.

The 2004 Officer of the Year Award winners were:

Madison Police Department investigator Jim Cook, honored by the Optimist
Club of Madison.

Madison County Deputy Jason McMinn, honored by the Optimist Club of Huntsville.

Arab Police Capt. Barney J. Harper, honored by the Optimist Club of Arab.

Huntsville Police Department Lt. Kirk Giles, honored by the South
Huntsville Optimist Club.

On the Net:

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