METH ADDICTS FACE INNER BATTLE

He rests his elbows on the table and wipes it continually with a napkin, an
impulse of a nervous system worn thin by more than a decade of drug abuse.
He can't control the urge to wipe the table one more time any more than he
can control his urge to talk about the drug culture. Tim is 32. He is
white, slim and able to talk sense into and out of people -- typical
characteristics of a user of methamphetamine.

"I was in treatment 10 years ago, and it was a good deal," Tim said, a
napkin clenched in his hand. "Then I got around my old friends and habits.
The crank problem wasn't a big problem back then," he said. "It's not a
problem anymore. It's an epidemic."

While methamphetamine, called crank in some forms, is just another target
in the war on drugs, counselors and cops have seen it rise from an obscure
recreational drug to one of the most powerful controlled substances in the
country.

In 1973, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reported 41 meth lab
seizures. In 1999, it reported 2,025 seizures, thanks in large part to
Oklahoma. In 1999, the Sooner state ranked in the top five nationally for
meth lab seizures and meth use per capita.

"It's easier to get," Tim said. "You can get it on any street corner in
Oklahoma City."

Sitting next to Tim, Jill still bears the emotional scars of a teen-age
life on meth. The 21-year-old's physical scars have healed. It's in her
voice the pain of fighting meth comes out.

"I did it once and I didn't want to do anything else," she said, eyes
searching every corner of the room. "I love that drug."

Jill was introduced to meth during her days as a stripper. She wanted to
lose weight and within a month dropped from 125 pounds to 72 pounds.

The physical effects of methamphetamine are what separate the drug from
well-known stimulants such as cocaine. Cocaine gives the same initial
effect but does not come close to the physical toll meth takes on the body.

"It's a very powerful stimulant," said Dr. Harold Thiessen at St. Anthony
Hospital. "If you keep a large supply in your body, your blood pressure
goes up, your pulse goes up and we see a lot of tooth decay. We see lesions
on the skin that may be from scratching and clawing their skin."

In substance and usage, meth closely resembles cocaine. Typically it is a
white, odorless, bitter-tasting powder that easily dissolves in water. It
can be smoked, snorted or injected just like cocaine or taken orally. The
difference comes in the manufacturing of the drug and its long-term effects
on users.

Because a meth high lasts much longer than a cocaine high, meth users go
for longer periods without eating or sleeping. Their bodies lose nutrients
and don't rebuild, which causes massive weight loss and tooth decay.

Meth is becoming the most readily available drug because it is easy to
make. All the ingredients can be bought at the store and mixed together in
a garage or bathtub. Cocaine is derived from plants and requires a
laboratory to concoct.

"Anybody can do it," Tim said. "I can go within a five-mile radius and buy
everything to get it."

"Cooking" meth is just as easy as getting the chemicals. The Internet
offers several recipes. Tim learned while spending five years in prison on
drug charges.

While it may seem like a poor man's cocaine, the effects are just as
powerful. Cocaine takes a while before it seduces the brain and only lasts
20 to 30 minutes. Meth immediately takes control and lasts for hours.

"It's cocaine with a kick," said Victor, sitting on the other side of Tim.
"Cocaine is intense but it wears off in an hour."

Victor, sporting a patch of hair under his lip and a pin in his eyebrow, is
younger than Tim but speaks with the same tone. He has also spent the past
three weeks in treatment. For him, it was do it or die.

"(Meth) screwed up my life more than anything. I got to where I would stay
up for so many days, double-digit days. It leads to paranoia,
schizophrenia, super-duper anxiety. You clench your teeth constantly, which
eventually leads to losing your teeth."

Thiessen described it as being plugged into a 220-volt electrical outlet.

Meth has yet to surpass alcohol and marijuana as addictive drugs in the
United States. But meth has surpassed cocaine in both state and national
statistics, a troubling turn for those fighting the drug war.

"The thing that bothers me about meth is it obliterates all aspects of
life," said Judy Crain, triage director at the Norman Alcohol and Drug
Treatment Center. "The danger affects family, work, friends. It spreads the
danger more rapidly than other drugs."

Crain and her three patients follow the 12-step recovery program, but Crain
admits that because of meth's power and availability, its addicts are
more difficult to treat. She requires meth patients to spend 72 hours in a
detoxification center before being admitted to the Norman center.

Crain has found that meth users are more defensive, blame others for their
troubles, have much more hostility and demand much more from others.

"We have to adjust the group process. We have more discipline problems, so
we work close on an individual basis. We try to bring the family in more on
meth than other drugs like heroin," she said.

Unlike most drugs, meth does not circulate within a network or community.
Meth doesn't build "drinking buddies" and it is not passed around like a
joint. Most meth users don't know where the drug came from, who made it or
who sold it.

"The worst thing about it is unless you're right there seeing it
manufactured, you don't know what the heck you're putting in your arm or up
your nose," Jill said.

That didn't stop her from using it.

"Oh, no; oh, no. Nothing made me want to stop until finally I was 72
pounds," she said.

And should something go wrong, like an overdose or a cooking explosion, the
three meth users said not to expect help.

"Once you burn yourself, you cannot go to the hospital," Tim said. "You've
got to bandage your own self up."

"It's either that or get dropped off in front of a hospital," Victor said.

"And your friends are running," Tim said.

"They won't have anything to do with you," Jill added.

All three believe they can fight off meth cravings. Jill and Victor said
they rely on God for strength. Tim, by now wiping Jill and Victor's space
of the table, will stay away from his old friends and habits.

The three are not blind to the risks.

"It's everywhere," Jill said. "I was a stripper, and it's always there.
It's part of the lifestyle.

"But I do believe I have a chance."