MANY USERS ARE LOOKING FOR TREATMENT

Cheryl R. of Tulsa knows the grip methamphetamine can have on an addict:

"I could do anything when I was on the drug, things I couldn't normally do.

"It was my hero."

Having been used off and on for 10 years and heavily for two years, the
crystalline drug had taken its toll. When she arrived in treatment, she had
been sleepless for three weeks and scarcely knew who her son was.

"When I came into treatment, I was knocking on death's door," said Cheryl,
30.

Her story is like those of many in the area who are coming into treatment
for meth use in unprecedented numbers, according to local substance abuse
centers.

Dr. Art Williams, the director of Metropolitan Counseling Services Detox
Facility, said his center had seen an increase significant enough to expand
its services.

"They are calling me night and day and day and night. I mean people are on
the phone all the time about getting help for this drug," he said. "You
need specialized services to treat a specialized problem."

Area treatment centers should re-evaluate their treatment process to deal
with the overload, he said.

By cases, the counseling treatment center's north Tulsa location has seen
225 patients for methamphetamine detoxification in seven months and 360
with a diagnosis of methamphetamine addiction, Williams said.

He estimates the figures of those who need treatment but haven't sought it
might be three times the numbers from his center.

His figures reflect an 80 percent increase for the clinic in patients who
seek help for meth use. More hours, more staff and more money are needed to
control the influx.

"As we get more involved we are discovering the ramifications of people
using the drug," Williams said. "We are trying to address the needs of
Tulsa County because it's out there and it's growing."

Williams, who has been in substance abuse counseling for 20 years, said
that what he is seeing is the same type of phenomenon that happened in the
late 1980s, when cocaine usage gave way to crack cocaine.

He sees meth drawing middle-class and teenage users, primarily white.
Because the drug is relatively inexpensive to produce and purchase,
traditional ideas of who can be addicted have to be re-evaluated, he said.

Other area detox centers said they have also seen an increase in meth users
who seek help.

June Ross, the executive director of Twelve by Twelve, said 90 percent of
the participants in its residential treatment program are meth users. But
her clients are not picking up the telephone to seek help.

"What we're seeing is people who are not voluntarily coming in," Ross said.
"They come as a result of meth lab busts and they want to minimize their
legal problems."

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation expects to uncover 900 labs this
year, compared with 781 a year ago and 269 two years ago. As meth-related
arrests go up, Ross expects her numbers to rise.

She said the physical and psychological pull of the drug makes most addicts
unable to realize they have a problem. They remain caught in the addiction
unless they are arrested and forced into treatment.

Still, when meth users do seek help they bring in a myriad of health
problems that include abscessed teeth, body sores, rashes and the extreme
mental dependence on the drug. Unfortunately, the mental dependence is the
strongest to kick, Ross said.

To her, the increase in meth lab arrests is inadvertently saving lives.

"From what we've seen, without meth lab busts, these people are going to
die," she said. "Because meth usage is a merry-go-round with no place to
get off."

S.E. Ruckman, World staff writer, can be reached at 581-8462 or via e-mail
at se.ruckman@tulsaworld.com.