NO QUICK SOLUTIONS FOR COUNTY'S METH PROBLEM (PART 8)

Editor's note: This is the eighth in a series of stories on the local
methamphetamine crisis. The series concludes Thursday with a look at
legislative plans to combat meth. The Daily Times will also provide
extensive coverage of the San Juan Safe Communities Initiative
Summit, set today and Thursday at the Farmington Civic Center.

FARMINGTON -- There is no silver bullet when it comes to solving the
problem of methamphetamine in a community like Farmington, said David Monnette.

Monnette is the demand reduction coordinator and public information
officer of the El Paso Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

The answer, said Monnette, lies in cooperation and employing a
multifaceted approach.

Monnette's job is to train "kids to be prevention programs"
themselves. His operating principle is that there are no better
advocates for staying drug-free than the kids themselves.

Monnette cited research that has found that the majority of drug
users are first-time users and acquire the drug from a familiar someone.

"About 85 percent of the kids who use illicit drugs get it from a
friend and get it for free," Monnette said.

Monnette's review of the literature is consistent with what local
drug counselors have seen in their practices. They report that drug
dealers do not come into the picture until a person gets hooked.

"Sometimes it's a parent, a sibling, a friend, or hommies,' as they
call them. Those are the typical avenues for getting started," said
James Brown, the clinical services supervisor at the adolescent
residential treatment center at Presbyterian Medical Services San
Juan County. "Less frequent is the drug dealer on the street corner."

According to Brown, current research indicates that meth addiction
problems are more easily remedied if caught in its earlier stages.
For treatment counselors, the problem is that people are using at
younger and younger ages.

"Monitoring the Future," a survey project conducted by the University
of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, found that one in two
children will have tried an illicit drug by the time they graduate
from high school.

"Clearly, the problem of substance abuse among American young people
continues to remain sufficiently widespread to merit concern. Today,
half (50 percent) have tried an illicit drug by the time they finish
high school. Indeed, if inhalant use is included in the definition of
an illicit drug, nearly a third (30 percent) have done so as early as
the eighth grade - when most students are only 13 or 14 years old,"
the report stated.

In Brown's practice, he has seen substance abuse, in general, start
at around the age of 10. By the time the children are put into
therapy, at the age of 16 or 17, they are already deep into the
addiction. Such younger users have not yet suffered the kinds of
devastating life consequences from their addictions that older users have.

"They haven't lost the family. Lost the job. Been incarcerated. They
are not as motivated," he said.

Monnette said that treatment options are always a long and
treacherous road for people already addicted. Far more effective and
desirable is prevention, he added.

"If a person reaches the age of 21 without (ever having tried it), we
can be 99.9 percent certain they will never try it," Monnette said.

Jason Sandel, Farmington city councilor and vice president of
operations at Aztec Well Servicing, believes that meth is uniquely
suited for prevention techniques.

To foster prevention efforts, Sandel's company has financed the
purchasing of two billboards in the area warning of the adverse
consequences of methamphetamine use. Sandel justifies the purchase by
pointing out evidence that these methods work.

"Methamphetamine is one of the only substances that research has
proven that scare tactics work," he said. "There is a disbelief about
effects of methamphetamine and what it can do. Kids don't believe
they'll get hooked, get crank sores, Advertisementand that their
teeth will be destroyed because there is no other substance that acts
in that way. Express to them that it makes you ugly and you'll be
hooked forever."

Sandel said that informing the public as to what meth does to
people's bodies is the most effective argument for prevention.

Brown is similarly optimistic about the chances of beating this drug.
He justifies his position by saying that the results speak for themselves.

"We see the treatment works. We see that people do turn their lives
around and make things happen," he said. "There are resources for
treatment in San Juan County that didn't exist three years ago."

"Monitoring the Future" found that in 2005, 1.8 percent of all eighth
graders, 2.9 percent of all 10th graders, and 2.5 percent of all 12th
graders had tried the drug. The numbers had been nearly twice that in 1999.

Its summary reports that "despite growing publicity about the
methamphetamine problem in this country, this population at least has
shown a fairly steady decline in its use over the past six years."

Joseph Thompson, program director with White Eagle Counseling and
Education Service in Farmington, said that his treatment programs
push accountability.

"Every time a client comes through (the) door, they pee in the
bottle," he said.

Although it sometimes feels as though the "sky is falling, everyone
is using," DEA agent Monnette said progress has been made.

In 1979, he said 30 million people used illicit drugs. Today, only 15
million do. Enforcement, prevention measures and treatment programs
are working, he said.

And though Thompson grimly reported that only 15 percent of people
who get hooked on meth manage to recover from the addiction, he said
that more and more prevention and treatment options are emerging all the time.

Treatment options in San Juan County are primarily drug counseling
services. There are organizations such as Four Winds Recovery Center,
White Eagle Counseling and Education Service, Bonham & Associates,
Presbyterian Medical Services Counseling Services, New Horizons and
others that addicts can visit for an assessment. A new meth treatment
facility, possibly to be located in the old county detention center
in Aztec, has also recently been discussed by San Juan County officials.

Dr. Michael Riley of Southwestern Behavioral Services in Farmington
said there are many competent and effective licensed alcohol and drug
counselors in the area. However, he noted, their credentials prevent
them from being able to help with the entirety of an addict's troubles.

"They can only diagnose substance-related conditions," he said. "They
cannot diagnose mental health conditions."

According to Riley, most methamphetamine addicts are a "dual
diagnosis," meaning they have not only a substance abuse problem but
some underlying mental issue that contributes to the addiction.

Riley said he has to refer most of his patients with meth addiction
out of the county -- the youngest meth addict he treated was 8 years old.

Riley said he is not confident that the problem will go away unless
more funds are distributed to treatment programs.

"San Juan County has a meth problem," he said. "We need to quit
talking about it and give me (and other counselors) some money and
(we'll) help contribute to eliminating the problem. ... Words are not
going to do it. (Only) treatment and resources can."