METH USE REPORT DRAWS CRITICS

Montana Attorney General Mike McGrath and Missoula-area social workers
are balking at a report by the Sentencing Project, which this week
said the prevalence of methamphetamine use in the United States has
been overstated.

"I think these people have their heads in the sand," McGrath said
Thursday. The Sentencing Project is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit
group that supports alternatives to prison terms for convicted drug
users and other criminals.

The report, issued Wednesday, cited statistics compiled by the
government in 2004 that show 0.2 percent of people had used meth in
the past month, compared with 0.8 percent who said they had used
cocaine within the past month.

A separate survey of high school students showed a 36 percent drop in
meth use between 2001 and 2005, the group found.

Still, the report acknowledged that meth is more widely used today
than it was a decade ago.

Data from jail populations in cities on the West Coast show what
Sentencing Project policy analyst Ryan King called a "highly
localized" problem.

"While meth use may not be the most serious drug problem in every
major city in the East, to the rest of the country - particularly the
West - it's overwhelming," McGrath said in a phone interview from Arizonia.

"Indeed, to say methamphetamine is not a significant problem - then
cite data from Phoenix showing that more than one-third of the men
arrested there test positive for the drug is absurd," McGrath said.

But nationally, the report says, 5 percent of men arrested had meth in
their systems, compared with 30 percent who tested positive for
cocaine and 44 percent who tested positive for marijuana.

The Sentencing Project also said news reports have inaccurately stated
that meth users do not respond as well to treatment as do users of
other drugs. King said programs in 15 states have shown promising results.

"Mischaracterizing the impact of methamphetamine by exaggerating its
prevalence and consequences while downplaying its receptivity to
treatment succeeds neither as a tool of prevention nor as a vehicle of
education," he wrote.

In Montana, the Montana Meth Project runs graphic television, radio,
newspaper and billboard ads showing the effects of the drug on teens.

King called for a tempered approach to the problem, keeping the focus
on local trouble spots and using federal money to beef up treatment
programs.

"Although I commend the Sentencing Project for recommending expansion
and funding of meth treatment programs, in my view, the report got it
wrong," McGrath said. "Meth is unlike other drugs, and this country
has a meth problem.

"It's typical of what happens when you get an academic perspective
without real input from people on the ground - police, social workers,
prison workers who actually deal with the problem."

Missoula County Sheriff Mike McMeekin also took exception with the
Sentencing Project report.

"If they want to make that allegation, let's see the facts," he said.
"Because I know better."

So does Joan Miles, director of Montana's Department of Public Health
and Human Services.

"Nationwide, there's definitely states and communities impacted
heavier than others," she said. "Montana is one of those states that
have seen significant impacts of meth use. In Montana, we are seeing
meth use growing."

While Miles admits that in terms of sheer numbers meth is not an
epidemic, she says that when its enormous impact is taken into
account, it eclipses alcohol and other drug problems.

"The impacts of methamphetamine are so significant," Miles said. "That
is what is really impacting our health and social services compared to
alcohol and other drugs."

The number people in prison for meth-related offenses is on the rise,
Miles said, as is the number of children who are placed in foster care
as a result.

Of the 6,000 clients the state serves in chemical dependency programs,
about 1,500 report meth as their reason for admission, she said.
"That's quite a bit. We don't have enough capacity to treat everyone."

The treatment programs aren't cheap, nor are they short in
duration.

"It can be a year to a year and a half to successfully get off meth
because of its addictive nature," she said.

"Because meth leads to such violent behavior and strong sexual desires
on the part of users, these are people who have children removed from
home," she added.

It all adds up. At any given time, Miles said, "we have about 2,000
kids in foster care, 50 percent (of whose cases) are drug related."
Meth is responsible for about 700 of those children, she said.

According to figures from the Montana Meth Project, the state ranks
10th in the nation in meth admissions to state-approved chemical
dependency treatment providers per 100,000 people, and saw its
admission rate jump 520 percent from 1992 to 2002.

Their figures back up Miles' claims, with 1,246 patients currently
admitted to state-approved chemical dependency treatment providers
listing meth as a primary or secondary drug.

"It is truly not a big issue in the cities back east," McGrath said.
"You look at national figures you may reach that conclusion.

"In the West and Midwest, meth is indeed an epidemic. To argue this is
a media hype is a totally absurd conclusion."