ADDICTS FIGHT TO GET AND STAY CLEAN

Giving up the drug for good is a long and difficult process, say experts,
but treatment programs can help.

Drug counselor Michael Halcomb knows what he's talking about when he warns
clients about the cravings, sleep disorders, concentration problems and
emotional instability common to recovering methamphetamine addicts.

Three years ago, Halcomb received counseling himself through the San
Bernardino County Drug Court program for his own meth addiction, after
serving a year in jail for methamphetamine manufacturing.

"I see a little bit of myself in each of them," said Halcomb, 42, a
certified drug and alcohol counselor with the Drug Court program. "It's not
so long ago that I was where they are."

Although success stories abound, overcoming an addiction to the powerful
synthetic stimulant is an excruciating, lifelong process.

The disruption to brain activity that causes the euphoric high also results
in irreversible damage to normal brain function.

After an initial period of detoxification that can last up to a week,
long-term methamphetamine users experience an array of physical disruptions
that often add to cravings for the narcotic.

Post-acute withdrawal (PAW) symptoms, as they are called, include an
inability to think clearly, memory problems, vast mood swings and a lack of
physical coordination.

The symptoms are aggravated by stress.

"The higher the stress, the more intense the PAW symptoms. The greater the
PAW symptoms, the greater the stress. It's a cycle," Halcomb said. "We
address each of those issues, and the person just learns to adapt to it
until the stress level goes down."

For many meth users, the symptoms N which peak about six months after
methamphetamine use ends N can be too much to overcome.

Success often depends on the users" mental health, whether there is a
family history of drug use, the quality of the drug used and the method
used to administer the drug.

Addicts who have smoked or injected methamphetamine for long periods face a
difficult time quitting.

"The main route of manufacturing methamphetamine these days is with
ephedrine," said Janice Stalcup, who heads New Leaf Treatment Center in
Concord.

"It gives you a very pure drug. It's basically about twice as strong as
what the old bikers used to make," Stalcup said.

"If you smoke it or inject it, it's a very intense high."

Nearly a third of addicts at New Leaf are recovering from meth addiction.
Four years ago, Stalcup's firm treated mostly cocaine users.

New Leaf researchers are 18 months into a three-year federally funded study
to compare two widely used models for treating drug addicts.

One relies heavily on education and family support. The other focuses on
intensive one-on-one counseling to help addicts manage their drug cravings.

Other models also show promise.

In the Drug Court program, nonviolent addicts convicted of crimes get
counseling in every aspect of their lives: education, employment, family
and drug use.

Failure to follow through with the program can land them back in jail.

Drug courts have been criticized by some prosecutors, who complain

that the program coddles criminals N particularly addicts convicted of
manufacturing or selling small amounts of methamphetamine.

Dale K. Sechrest, professor of criminal justice at California State
University, San Bernardino, helped write a limited 1998 study on the
success rate of Riverside County's Drug Court program.

Of 38 participants who graduated from the yearlong program, just two were
arrested within 18 months.

Of 38 participants who were removed from the program, 13 committed new
offenses.

Researchers used the study to demonstrate that, among a select group of
addicts, the program could reduce the need for jail beds and reduce court
costs.

"It's not a panacea, but there are some people that we can help, and we
ought not stop doing that," Sechrest said.

The drug court model is less effective for younger addicts, the study found.

"You try to work with a 21-, 22- or 23-year-old speed user, and it's
extremely difficult," Sechrest said.

"They can"t even get them into the program. They"re screened out. They've
committed violent crimes or they"re not committed to the rehabilitation."

Consistency is key to recovery, many drug experts say.

"Treatment really does work," New Leaf's Stalcup said.

"There's some matching between clients and treatment methods that has to
happen, but no matter what the method, if you stay in treatment, you can
get well."