US WI: EXPERT GIVES STRAIGHT TALK ABOUT METH ADDICTION - 'KISS YOUR FUTURE
GOOD-BYE'

Tim Schultz has had many years of experience with people addicted to
methamphetamine - and he doesn't like what he sees.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice special investigator was the
keynote speaker at the Dunn County Community Forum on Methamphetamine
at the Menomonie Middle School Wednesday evening.

"People ask me if there's a way to tell who is going to use
methamphetamine," Schultz said. "Meth is not an entry-level drug. The
gateway drug is marijuana."

People who use methamphetamine have most likely used marijuana first, he said.

Although methamphetamine is said to be addictive with just one use,
that's not necessarily so. For example, if you take 100 people and
give them alcohol to drink every day for three weeks, eight of those
people - or 8 percent - will become addicted to alcohol, Schultz explained.

On the other hand, out of that same group of 100 people, if you give
them methamphetamine twice, 90 of them - or 90 percent - will become
addicted to methamphetamine.

"With your first high, you can kiss your future goodbye," Schultz said.

Dopamine:

A natural high

The reason methamphetamine is so highly addictive is that it causes
the brain to release large quantities of dopamine, the "feel-good"
neurotransmitter.

Unfortunately, the repeated release of high quantities of dopamine
eventually backfires - and the brain becomes unable to naturally
produce dopamine.

That's one of the reasons meth users need more and more of the drug
to achieve the same level of euphoria, Schultz said. It is also the
reason meth users have a high relapse rate after treatment.

Once the brain's ability to produce dopamine is lost, it cannot be
recovered. Meth addicts who have gone through a treatment program and
who are not using methamphetamine have lost their ability to feel
pleasure of any kind, Schultz said.

Methamphetamine first appeared in western Wisconsin in the mid-1990s,
and at that time, conventional wisdom was that no one would ever
recover from a meth addiction. Today, it is now known that about 30
percent of meth addicts can recover from their addiction.

Signs and Symptoms

The number one reason teenage girls say they try meth is for weight
loss, Schultz said. Rapid weight loss is one of the hallmarks of meth
use. Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant, and people can stay
awake for days at a time.

One man who was addicted to meth reported to Schultz that he had
gotten only 12 hours of sleep in the last three weeks - one hour
every other day.

Other signs or symptoms of meth use include bad skin, bad teeth and
gums, no appetite and poor personal hygiene. Care comes at a high
cost to taxpayers.

St. Croix County, for example, spends $5,000 a year on tooth
extraction for inmates in the county jail who have been incarcerated
for methamphetamine, Schultz observed.

Meth users also exhibit hypersexuality and tend to become violent as
well. Children who are present in homes in which parents are using
meth often are physically and sexually abused.

In addition to the abuse, because parents have no appetite, they do
not feed their children.

And to make matters worse, Schultz noted, homes or other places where
meth is cooked become toxic waste sites, requiring the same measures
that are used to clean up any toxic waste site. Children who are in
those places where meth is cooked are considered to be contaminated
with toxic waste.

State law

The good news is that the state law that limits the amount of the
decongestant pseudoephedrine that can be purchased at one time has
virtually put a stop to meth labs in Wisconsin.

The bad news, however, is that putting restrictions on the purchase
of pseudoephedrine (brand name Sudafed) has not put even a tiny dent
in methamphetamine use.

"Ninety percent of (the meth used in Wisconsin) comes from the
Mexican drug cartels," Schultz said.

Some of the ingredients of methamphetamine include pseudoephedrine,
sulfur, battery acid, lighter fluid, fingernail polish remover or
other highly-flammable substances - the reason that meth labs have a
tendency to explode.

The trademark aging of meth users - who look as if they have grown
decades older - occurs only after a couple of months of meth use.

"The bottom line is that it is easier to stay off drugs than it is to
get off drugs," Schultz concluded.

For more information about substance abuse drugs, the investigator
recommends several Web sites, such as:

www.erowid.org

www.theantidrug.com

www.colodec.com

www.dancesafe.org.