A LOOK AT METH DAMAGE - AND HOW TO CONTAIN IT

The Battle Rages

* A decadelong meth epidemic has riddled Iowa with scars of war: Hundreds
are in jail or treatment after millions of dollars have been spent to fight
the drug. A steadily increasing number of toxic manufacturing sites litter
woods and fields. Record numbers of children are taken from families.

* Iowans aren't giving up the fight, though, focusing on improved treatment
and new tactics such as controlling the legal compounds that go into making
the drug.

Limitless Supply

* In Southern California deserts, meth is made by the pound in labs set up
to brew legal poisons into one of the most addictive substances. Law
officers say that 80 percent to 90 percent of the largest meth operations
in the United States have been discovered in California. Drug agents use
Black Hawk helicopters, infrared cameras and global positioning systems to
fight the Mexican drug cartels that run the labs. Still, despite the pounds
of meth known to be made in the"superlabs," treatment counselors and
addicts in Iowa say that most of the drug used here is made locally, in
makeshift labs that manufacture dabs of the drug by California standards.

Families Ravaged

* The number of parents in Iowa losing legal rights to their children is
soaring because of meth and federal laws that give troubled parents less
time to straighten out their lives. Human-services workers are struggling
to find families to care for children who have been neglected, abused or
abandoned.

* Doctors fight the meth scourge by treating children whose mothers took
drugs while pregnant. In the worst cases, fetuses suffer strokes and wind
up with permanent brain damage. Many meth babies sleep up to 23 hours a day
early in their lives. Later, they have a hard time staying asleep. Some
will have learning disabilities.

Treatment Hopes

* Getting a meth addict free of the drug is a tough medical challenge,
because the substance profoundly damages the brain. Methods are improving,
and new research increases hope that the brains of nearly all addicts can
heal over time. But the biggest initial hurdle is that many people trying
to recover can't think straight enough to succeed without intense help.