BEATING METH: A CHANGE IN RECOVERY

The police have done their job. They arrested you in possession of meth.
You're addicted. You're likely to get picked up in the future if something
doesn't change. How do you break the cycle of this happening again and again?

"Curing the problem takes changing their lifestyle," said Bellevue Police
Chief John Stacey. "The next step is to break the cycle of meth with a very
strict process."

Imprisonment has been the long-used method. In recent years, bigger cities
with much bigger problems have had to change that method to deal with jail
overcrowding. Now, that shift has begun in Bellevue and Sarpy County.

"Incarcerating will only cut off the supply for a period of time," said
John Dacey, a counselor for Transitions Recovery Program in Bellevue. "It's
relatively naive to believe people are not taking drugs in prison."

This change in philosophy is a step in the right direction, Dacey said. The
Sarpy County drug court, although still in its infancy, and in the long
run, increased opportunities for rehabilitation will help more than simply
locking them up. Attorneys, probation officers, offenders and the police,
among many others, will have to work together.

"It's going to take a long period of time to rehabilitate, to turn yourself
around and put yourself on a different path," Dacey said. "It's a very
frustrating process. Your finances, your family, your career, and your
education are all haywire.

"Where do you begin to rebuild?"

Most times if you're in need of help you aren't going to seek it. You need
those agencies, your family, your friends or someone to tell you to go for
treatment. Out of Dacey's clients, 99 percent of them don't arrive on their
own accord, he said. Over the course of one year, he only gets about five
voluntary admissions.

"Typically they don't identify they need help," Dacey said. "Someone else
identifies they need help. The first question I ask them is 'Who wants you
to do this?'"

The process from there is unbelievably difficult. Dacey has to find a way
to capture their attention and determine how severe the problem is. Most
have an alcohol, marijuana, cocaine or meth addiction. They have tried
several different drugs and have one that is their primary drug of choice.

Meth is the most devastating, and it's quite common for this area. Dacey
said every 10 ears or so, a drug captivates the attention of the public.
Meth is in that cycle right now. People are addicted to many other drugs,
but it's meth's availability and destruction that make it stand out. In all
cases, a person who tries to stop using any drug will quickly become a
different person. Gary Rexroad of Bellevue is 11 months into the recovery
process and knows exactly how hard it is.

"When we quit using, we turn into a different person," Rexroad said, a
former meth addict and alcoholic. "We take frustrations out on somebody
else. We can't use drugs so we get mad at you and say nasty things, little
comments."

Through group therapy and strict rules, most of which are laid out by other
peers in the group, not the counselor, you can change your lifestyle, Dacey
said.

Many times you have to replace that rush you get from the drugs with
something else. For Rexroad, it's religion, coffee and cigarettes. Others
have to find different replacements. It's hard, but not impossible, Dacey said.

"Most of us want things to change outside of ourselves," Dacey said.
"Making the decision to alter behavior is not an easy process. It's
possible, I believe in it, I see it all the time, but it's a difficult
process."

Many do not make it. For every person who finds a way to change, many
cannot. They wind up in jail or worst of all, dead.

Dacey isn't giving up. He'd rather see someone given a chance than behind
bars first. He knows some will end up there anyway, left pondering what
could have been.

"I get letters all the time," Dacey said. "I got one recently from a guy in
jail. 'Now I'm thinking about what you said.'"