DEATH LEADS HOMER TO FACE METH ISSUE

The death of a young Homer woman from an apparent drug overdose last week
has raised the question of how big a problem methamphetamines has become in
Homer.

Bethany Woodworth, 19, died March 16 in Anchorage after being found
unconscious and not breathing at a Lighthouse Village cabin on the Homer
Spit. (See related story, page 10.)

Her parents, Julie and Shane Woodworth, said they hope their daughter
didn't die in vain and somebody can learn from their tragedy.

"I sure hope this helps some families out there," Shane Woodworth said. "If
there are any families out there going through rough things, or suspicious
.. we're not experts, but we've lived through it."

Police, social workers, school officials and families of meth users all
said meth is prevalent on the lower Kenai Peninsula, and close to becoming
a major problem.

"It's rampant in town," said Shane Woodworth. "That stuff isn't a party
thing. It's an addictive killer."

Homer Police Chief Mark Robl warned that Homer is at a turning point.

"If meth comes to Homer in significant amounts, it will tear up the
community," he said.

For baby boomers who might have used methamphetamines in the 1960s and
1970s, the drug has changed. Changes in one of the main ingredients used to
make meth, pseudo ephedrine -- an over-the-counter cold medicine sold under
the brand name of Sudafed -- has led to the use of harsher chemicals like
acetone in processing, or "cooking," meth.

"The meth people took 20 years ago -- you never saw meth mouth," said Henry
Novak, director of Cook Inlet Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, a Kenai
Peninsula treatment center. "You're getting a much more toxic form of the
drug."

"Meth mouth" is a dental condition common in long-term users that results
in rotten, decayed teeth.

Parents of meth users said their children tell them meth is being used by
an increasing number of teenagers in Homer and Anchor Point. A woman who
asked not to be named because she fears retribution from drug dealers said
her son had been on meth, but quit in December. He told her meth use and
dealing is a huge problem on the southern peninsula, with most meth coming
out of Anchor Point. A lot of meth is brought down from Anchorage and then
sold by small-time dealers, many of them teenagers, the boy said.

"We think we're immune from real life in this cosmic town, but we're not,"
the woman said. "Trust me."

Tess Dally, a mental health clinician at CICADA in Homer, said the meth
users she's seen are mostly women and teens. She knows of meth users as
young as 17 and suspects some users are as young as 15.

"It's coming to the community rather quickly," Dally said. "It's hit a
really young population, a lot of youth."

Some people question where kids get the money to buy meth, but Dally said
they don't need money. A lot of them act as "go betweens" between dealers
and other users. The kids will cut the meth with some sort of powder,
pinching a stash for themselves, before delivering a diluted product.

According to the Alaska Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Enforcement's 2005
annual report, Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, the Kenai Peninsula
and Fairbanks have problems with meth labs. Southeast Alaska tends to have
meth smuggled in.

"The same tends to be true for coastal commercial fishery related
communities," the report said.

Alaska law regulates how Sudafed can be sold to customers. At stores like
Safeway, people wanting to buy cold medicine for legitimate uses have to
ask for it. If they buy above a certain amount, stores are supposed to
notify police. That has cut into the numbers of people cooking meth in
small operations, said Robl.

Meth can be made at home using supplies like Sudafed, lithium batteries,
starter fluid, rock salt, matchbooks, coffee filters, acetone and aluminum
foil.

"That you can make it in your own kitchen, your own home tends to minimize
it," Dally said. "People think if you can buy everything you need to make
it at Fred Meyer, it can't be all that bad."

Another reason younger people use meth is because of their parents'
attitudes toward drugs and alcohol, Dally said.

"There's an attitude toward drugs that it's OK, it's not bad to smoke pot
or drink a little bit," Dally said.

Kids see that in their parents, and they think that their parents are
alcoholics or potheads, she said. Kids think marijuana or alcohol makes
their parents slow and stupid, and they then use meth because they think
meth makes them sharper or more alert, she said.

"'This makes me do better,'" Dally said kids tell her. "'I wouldn't want to
be like them. I wouldn't like to be an alcoholic or pothead."

Three years ago, Robl told the Homer News meth use and manufacturing was on
the rise. Recent reports show that trend continues, he said. Police are
beginning to see meth show up in searches when they make arrests for other
crimes, such as drunk driving. They might find a suspect has trace amounts
of meth in a pipe, for example. Robl said he doesn't know of any meth labs
inside Homer city limits.

"I think most of the higher quality stuff is getting shipped down here from
Anchorage," he said. "The big cooks (meth labs) aren't going around because
it's harder to get ingredients."

Charges of possessing meth are hard to make, Robl said.

"For various reasons, we're not making as many cases as we know exist," he
said.

Meth-related crimes like driving under the influence and theft have been on
the rise, said Kenai District Attorney June Stein.

"It's certainly been a problem and getting to be worse of a problem," she said.

Police and troopers also are starting to notice people driving under the
influence who haven't been drinking alcohol but appear impaired. A program
called Drug Recognition Expert trains officers how to recognize non-alcohol
impairment, Stein said.

That's one problem with meth, Dally said: It's not as obvious as pot or
alcohol. Drug testing also is limited. While marijuana can stay in the
system for a month or longer, meth leaves the body in two or three days.

When their daughter first started using meth, they couldn't tell, the
Woodworths said.

"If you drink, people smell it. If you smoke pot, people smell it," Julie
Woodworth said. "If you do meth, you can't tell. If you're a kid trying to
get away with something, that's a selling point with the drug pushers."

That might be one reason why students at the schools don't get caught for
meth possession. Homer High School Principal Ron Keffer said he has seen an
increase in the number of students caught using or possessing marijuana and
alcohol on school grounds -- but not meth. When students are caught, police
are called. Students who get busted sometimes get referred to CICADA and
are tested for drug use.

"They're coming back hot (positive) for methamphetamine," Novak said
including students from Homer.

Keffer suspects meth use among students. Last Thursday for its monthly
meeting, the Homer Parent-Teacher Association had scheduled a talk by Homer
Police Sgt. Lary Kuhns to talk about drug and alcohol abuse, but the
meeting had to be canceled because Kuhns hurt his back, said PTA President
Rachael Roe.

"We've been very concerned about (meth) and our parents have been concerned
about it," Keffer said. "It's something that's been on our minds big time
this year."

Stein said a peninsula-wide task force made up of district attorneys,
police, troopers, the Office of Children's Services, the Division of
Juvenile Justice and other agencies is being formed to address the issue of
meth.

"That tells you that everyone recognizes this as a growing and significant
problem," she said.

"We've got to start taking these dealers down," Shane Woodworth said.
"People have to start realizing it's in the community, and it's in a bad
way. They have to know what their children are doing."

"We don't want kids to think it's a recreational drug," Julie Woodworth
said. "This stuff kills."