DRUG ADDICTION HAS A PHYSICAL TOLL

Long Beach: Town Hall Meeting Discusses Success and Failure of Intervention.

LONG BEACH - Addiction is a disease and the relapse of addicts and
alcoholics is expected. That was the central theme of the first
Intervention Town Hall meeting Thursday night.

"Addiction is a disease ... it's a chronic relapsing condition ...
with physiological change in the brain," said Dr. Dennis Fisher, one
of several panel experts who spoke at the meeting, created by by A&E's
"Intervention" TV series, Charter Communications, the National Council
for Alcohol and Drug Dependence, Inc., and The Salvation Army.

The issue of changes in the brain is crucial to understanding why
"free will" isn't enough to help a drug addict or alcoholic, he and
other experts said. That's important to remember when addicts and
alcoholics relapse, expert panelists stressed.

The reason it's so important to maintain recovery even if an addict
feels better is because actual addiction - or its symptoms - will calm
down but the issues driving it do not go away.

"A lot of conditioning has happened," said Michael Ballue, executive
director of the National Council for Alcohol and Drug Dependence's
South Bay Chapter.

The meeting, taped for broadcast in December, brought a packed house
to Cal State Long Beach's Studio Theater.

Addicts in treatment, those looking for help, relatives and community
members came to hear a panel of experts talk about intervention
practices and treatment options.

The expert panelists - "Intervention's" Candy Finnigan; Long Beach
Police Chief Jim McDonnell; Ballue; and Fisher, who is director of
CSULB's Center for Behavioral Research and Services - talked about the
challenges for addicts and their families, some resources available
and drug and alcohol trends in the local community.

McDonnell was asked to discuss the role of law enforcement in
addiction and added that while law enforcement is crucial to
addressing the issue of drug distribution, it's not going to solve the
problem of drug and alcohol addiction.

Locally, the chief said, the most prevalent drugs are marijuana,
crystal meth, powder and rock cocaine, PCP, heroin and illegally
obtained or abused prescription drugs.

Methamphetamine is the leading drug in the Western U.S. and is
spreading east, he said, showing a map that depicted what drugs were
found in various states.

Another map showing gang infestation showed the gang problems
occurring in areas where drugs are sold.

"The map shows gang infestation; the gang's become the distribution
center of the narcotics," the chief said.

"The enforcement piece in this part is crucial. But in dealing with
the individual I think the treatment process is critical," McDonnell
said.

However recent local, state and federal budget cuts to programs that
help addicts, and programs that help people - particularly children -
to avoid drugs and alcohol, have created a serious problem for Long
Beach and communities like it around the country, the chief said.

"Cutbacks and eliminations ... there is a fall-out," McDonnell said.
"We like to say 'A busy kid is a safe kid,"' making programs that
provide youths with healthy activities, particularly from 3 to 8 p.m.,
extremely important.

The meeting also included local success stories from two recovering
addicts, one of whom is due to graduate from Cal State Long Beach next
year with a bachelor's degree in business administration after
overcoming a severe meth addiction.

The woman, who identified herself only by her first name of Carina,
lost custody of her two eldest daughters and ended up in jail pregnant
with a third daughter when she found the Flossie Lewis Center in Long
Beach.

"It was there that I learned to live again," she said. "I'm actually
an active participant in the lives of my children."