SCIENTIST: METH USE NOW AT EPIDEMIC LEVEL

Methamphetamine use is at epidemic proportions, a government scientist said
Wednesday in Des Moines, and it's reaching into more sectors of society.

Timothy Condon, associate director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse,
said meth users typically are white, male high school graduates 20 to 35
years old and of low to moderate income. But an increasing number of women
and people older than 35 are beginning to use the powerful, addictive
stimulant.

"That's not childhood indiscretion. That's not adolescent experimentation,"
he said.

Condon said it's difficult to even keep an up-to-date list on all the
different names for the drug - "fire," "zip," "go fast" and "redneck
heroin" among them.

The Maryland-based institute, part of the National Institutes of Health,
held a town meeting in Des Moines, sharing the latest research on drug use,
addiction and treatment.

Institute scientists came to Iowa after Gov. Terry Branstad invited them
here because of the state's burgeoning problem.

Iowa is among several states struggling with an influx of meth, but its
resources are strained. So far this year a special team has been sent to
nearly 200 meth labs, more than double what officials expected. Last year
the team raided 63 labs.

But those raids may be making a minor dent, because federal officials say
85 percent of the meth in Iowa is originating in desert labs in Mexico and
California and is smuggled here.

At Wednesday's town meeting, officials with the National Institute on Drug
Abuse issued a "community drug alert" to raise public awareness of meth's
threat.

The alert, which consists of a four-page fact sheet on the drug, will be
sent to emergency rooms, treatment centers and other places across the
country.

"We think it's serious enough that the nation needs to know about this,"
Condon said.

The town meeting brought together a diverse crowd from across the Midwest,
including a Catholic priest and a woman who works with intravenous drug
users.

Sharon Haught, outreach worker and educator with the Project in Des Moines,
said she wanted "to see what they're trying, what's upcoming and how I can
connect this to my program" for drug users.

Said the Rev. Marvin Boes of peace and justice action network of the
Diocese of Sioux City and pastor at St. Malachy's in Madrid: "I thought it
would be good to know what's going on."

What's going on, the experts said, is that science is revolutionizing
Americans' understanding of drug abuse and addiction and will help prevent
and treat it.

Science shows that drug abuse is a preventable behavior and drug addiction
is a treatable illness, said Alan Leshner, director of the institute.
Addiction changes the user's brain, he said, and treatment providers must
compensate for that - something that police on the street and correctional
officers already know.

What is frustrating to the institute's scientists is the taint associated
with addicts.

"People don't like addicts," Leshner said. "They're ignored and abhorred.
The stigma results in tremendous moralizing that goes on and runs counter
to making serious progress."

Leshner wants to set up a national clinical trial network for drug
treatment. He said he didn't think Iowa would be left out.

"I can't imagine," he said, "that there wouldn't be one in an area like this."