Editor's Note: This Is The Third Article In A Series About
Methamphetamine Use In Hawai'i.

METH ADDICTION'S MANY FACES

LIHU'E - Lots of people have seen the TV images of how a healthy,
vibrant person can transform into a scab-covered, scary-looking
criminal once in the clutches of methamphetamine addiction.

But recent research indicates the meth addict may be your co-worker,
possibly someone in the next cubicle.

Diagnostic Laboratories, which conducts workplace blood and urine
tests for alcohol and drugs, found workforce meth use in Hawai'i
increased 33 percent last year compared to 2008, and was up 22
percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period
last year, according to statistics compiled by the Hawai'i Meth Project.

Meth use and treatment in Hawai'i are considerably higher than the
national average, with Hawai'i ranking fifth in the nation for meth
use by people ages 12 and older, project research indicates.

While the TV images show ghoulish-looking figures as the faces of
meth addiction, reality in Hawai'i is that an addict could just as
easily be a normal-looking, normal-acting golfing buddy or shopping friend.

"We think we know what a meth addict looks like, but a meth addict
doesn't always look like what we think a meth addict might look
like," said Cindy Adams, executive director of the Hawai'i Meth Project.

There are images that can be seen at drugfree.org (search for "faces
of meth"), showing gruesome transformations from normal to hideous as
a result of meth addiction, and then there are the people next door,
the ones Adams calls "functional users."

Functional users are those with a consistent level of meth use that
is necessary for them to continue to function in society. "I do
believe that it's happening, and Diagnostic Laboratories data shows
that," she said.

"Then there are those who become so addicted that they look like a
user or addict, the person whose life becomes totally consumed by
use," she said, to the point that they quit eating and bathing and
become physically and mentally ill because of their addiction.

Those wishing to intervene first must have an ability to encourage
friends, family members and loved ones to seek treatment, but not
when the addict is coming down off a high, called "tweaking," when
they are "unstable, volatile," she said.

"You have to look after your own safety," Adams said, and consider
police intervention or other professional help for some addicts.

A recent case of a machete-wielding man in Honolulu who police
officers ended up killing revealed that the man was tweaking at the
time of his death, said Adams.