"HOW COULD WE NOT HAVE KNOWN?"

We pretty much led a perfect life until the police called to tell us
our youngest boy, Mike, was dead," says Mary McGuire of Hudson, Wis.
"Then our world changed forever." The police told the McGuires that
Mike, 21, had shot his girlfriend to death and then killed himself.

"Mike was bright, kind, charming," says his mother. "He could light
up a room. He was studying to be a licensed plumber and doing great.
We loved him so much." But Mike had secrets too: "We didn't know he
used meth."

In the two decades since the methamphetamine epidemic began in
Southern California, it has spread relentlessly across America,
overwhelming local law enforcement, hospitals and social agencies.
Furthermore, says Dr. Richard Rawson of UCLA Medical School, one of
America's top experts on the drug, "child abuse, neglect and
violence--including sexual violence--have been associated with meth
use. The effects on families, particularly children, can be devastating."

About 1.4 million Americans have used meth in the last year. But,
unlike other drugs, whose victims tend to be urban and poor, meth
consumption cuts across the socioeconomic spectrum and many users are
from white, working-class families in rural or suburban communities.
Young people are particularly vulnerable. So it is disturbing how
seldom the signs of meth addiction are recognized. No parent I spoke
with recognized the symptoms in a child until the addiction was
out-of-control.

Mike McGuire was high on meth when he took his own life and that of
his girlfriend. "They both had been using it before," says his
mother. "Other people knew. How could they not tell us? Oh, God, if
we'd known, we would have moved heaven and earth to help our child.
We didn't get a fighting chance."

But if the signs are recognized (see below) and someone intervenes,
meth addiction is highly treatable--though it requires months, not
weeks. Here are the stories of three who were saved:

Meth Was Her Life

"Meth was all I wanted," recalls Hope Philippi, 18. "In middle
school, I met this older boy who said, 'I've got something that can
make you happy.' He had a lightbulb that he'd cleaned out. He put
meth in it and heated it. We used a straw to suck the smoke out."

A single hit of meth produces a powerful euphoria--as intense as
cocaine but longer lasting. "It made me feel invincible, powerful,
energetic, happy--like the queen of the world," recalls Hope. "I
started skipping school, didn't listen to my mom, did everything
wrong that a teenager can do--sexual things, anything to get meth. I
didn't care."

A shy, small, pretty girl, Hope lives in suburban Minneapolis. Her
mother is a machinist, her stepdad a construction worker. We spoke at
Sobriety High West, a high school for kids recovering from addiction
in Edina, Minn. "My parents raised me with good morals," Hope says.
"Meth made me give up all my morals. Meth was my life."

What made her quit?

"The lies, sneaking around, losing all my friends. I just wanted a
hole to crawl in and die. Finally, after three years, I went to my
mom. 'I need help,' I told her. 'I can't live like this anymore.'"

Hope has been clean for more than a year. "I'm lucky," she says.
"There are lots who die before they ask for help."

Children Needing Rescue Meth has inflicted many cruelties on
children. Nationally, 62% of the counties surveyed in 2005 reported
increases in meth-related domestic violence. In many states, there
has been a significant increase in the number of children removed
from abusive homes with meth-addicted parents.

Jolene Bettle, 22, of Eugene, Ore., was herself almost a child when
she got sucked into meth's destructive world. Her dad is a college
linguist, her mom a teacher. "My brothers and sister went to Ivy
League schools," she says. "I planned on college too. Then I met Charlie."

Jolene was 16 when she fell in love with Charlie, 25, a former
Marine. Within a year, they were living together and before long had
a son, Conrad. "Charlie was doing meth," says Jolene. "Pretty soon, I
started smoking it too. Toward the end, I was injecting it. Then we
lost our apartment and had to live with my parents. Charlie was
paranoid, violent, threatening everybody."

Her parents asked them to leave but, worried about their grandson's
safety, they called Oregon's child-services agency. In April 2004,
Conrad, now 3, was taken into state protective custody.

"I was on the streets," Jolene recounts, "using more and more meth. I
lost weight, babbled incoherently. I didn't know what was real or
not. I'd hit bottom." Finally, she called her parents for a rescue.
"They got me into treatment and transitional housing." Soon
afterward, she learned she was pregnant again.

Jolene has been clean for two years. Her second son, Marcus, is now
1. "I work hard, take care of my boys," she says. "My bonds with my
family are stronger than ever. And I'm stronger. I want to go back to
college and set a good example for my sons."

A First Step to Crime

The principal ingredient in illicit meth is pseudoephedrine, found in
Sudafed and other patented cold medicines on drugstore shelves. Once,
illegal meth was primarily produced ("cooked") in mom-and-pop labs in
people's homes. In March, following the lead of 35 hard-hit states,
Congress placed modest limits on over-the-counter sales of cold
remedies, antihistamines and other medicines containing
pseudoephedrine. But the Combat Meth Epidemic Act may be too little,
too late. Today, 80% of illicit meth is smuggled into the U.S. by
Mexican drug gangs. The potency of imported "crystal" meth is, on
average, twice that of "home-cooked" meth.

Meth is breeding a new class of criminal. Nearly 50% of the 500
sheriffs recently surveyed said meth is their top drug threat.
Meth-related crime in many categories--including ID theft,
prostitution and violent felonies--is up.

Many users are turned on to the drug--and to criminal activity--in
the schoolyard. Nick Kartchner, now 19, is one example. "I was a
normal kid," he says. "I liked school, played soccer, had a lot of
friends. I was raised in a Mormon family. We went to church every
Sunday. By high school, I was selling and using meth."

A classmate introduced Nick to meth in the eighth grade. "We did it
during lunch break every day in a treehouse near the school. The cops
caught us. I was arrested. I was 14."

Nick was sentenced to probation and ordered to attend outpatient
therapy five days a week. "It didn't do any good," he says. "I was an
addict at that point. Then I attended a residential treatment center.
Five months later, I was stealing stuff to take to chop shops to get
money to buy meth." In November 2005, Nick was arrested in Salt Lake
City for possession of drugs while driving a stolen car, among other
offenses. He was 18, facing a maximum of 20 years in prison.

"That was the last time I used drugs," he says. "I knew I'd end up in
prison or dead if somebody didn't help me. I didn't think I had
anyone left in the world who would." He was wrong. His paternal aunt,
Fredy Bush, a business executive in Hawaii, heard of his plight. "I'd
only seen her twice before in my life, years ago, yet she was worried
about me," Nick says in wonder. "She came to see me in Utah. She got
me a lawyer and sent me to rehab."

Today, drug-free, Nick lives with his sister in northern Virginia,
where he's a college freshman. He maintains a 4.0 grade-point
average. "I owe my life to my aunt, who believed in me," Nick says.

"I'm happy. I'm going to be all right."

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WHAT PARENTS SHOULD KNOW

Here are some of the symptoms that show up first and should be seen
as red flags:

Changes in sleeping patterns. Staying up very late and displaying
energy that's not typical.

Unreliability. Skipping school or work. Breaking promises.

Abrupt changes in relationships. Old friends often are replaced with
a new group who are into drugs.

Motormouth. Rapid obsessive speech. Agitation and fidgeting.

Irritability.

Weight loss.

Additional symptoms:

Suspiciousness.

Secretiveness.

Obsessive-compulsive behavior. Repetitive, energetic activity, like
folding and unfolding laundry; fixing things that aren't broken;
cutting the lawn with scissors.

Scratching. In later stages of meth use, you may see scratching
andpicking at the skin. Meth makes the surface of the skin itch.

Rotten teeth.

Intense levels of anxiety. Exaggerated, excessive, unreasonable worry.

Paranoia. A constant irrational fear that one is being followed or
threatened by unseen enemies.

Uncontrollable anger and rage. As meth use progresses, symptoms
worsen and become chronic. Paranoia deepens, irritability becomes
rage. Violent outbursts occur, often against close friends and family.

Delusions. Seeing and/or hearing things that are not there.

Psychosis. The loss of contact with reality.

Meth Information Hotline

Have a problem with meth, or need answers to your questions? Call
1-888-8NO-METH (1-888-866-6384). The hotline is available weekdays
8am to 8pm ET to get the information you need and to talk with
someone who can help.