PREVENTING ADDICTION

Solano Official Warns Kids About Meth

After watching thousands of his clients' lives ripped apart by
methamphetamine abuse, Solano County Public Defender Jeffrey E. Thoma
last year decided to take personal action to help cut down on his
future caseload of meth victims.

In November, Thoma launched an ambitious project whereby he would
visit classrooms in each of the county's 14 middle schools to talk to
teens about the dangers of methamphetamine use and share his own
insights into the damage the illicit stimulant has caused.

"Most of the people who have gotten hung up on methamphetamine have
destroyed their lives," said Thoma, who became the county's Public
Defender in 2004 after holding a similar post in Mendocino County for
more than seven years. "I've had a lot of clients that had a
methamphetamine problem. It's just evil."

Hoping to make a difference one classroom at a time, Thoma selected
middle schools (usually seventh-to ninth-grade) for his personal

intervention program. He hopes to have visited classrooms from Dixon
to Vallejo by the end of the school year.

Young people, Thoma said, are most likely to have their first
encounter with the drug in middle or high school and he wants to act
as an early warning system.

Thoma said he preferred to make his presentations to classroom groups
rather than large school assemblies because the smaller classroom
environment gave him a better opportunity to answer questions and
interact with individual students.

"That way I've been able to have pretty coherent question-and-answer
discussions," Thoma said.

For the most part, he added, students are thoughtful and engaged when
he comes to talk about meth.

"They've been great. You can tell by the questions they ask," Thoma
said. "There

hasn't been one smart (aleck) question yet, and that's something when
you're dealing with middle schoolers."

The veteran public defender prefers a straightforward approach to
classroom presentations, telling students who he is and why he's
concerned for their welfare.

"I tell them 'Hey, I'm the public defender. If you're ever in
trouble, we're here for you, but we'd prefer for you not to need our
help.' Then I try to show them just how destructive methamphetamine
can be," Thoma explained. "I don't give them simplistic solutions. I
try to talk to them the same way I would talk to a client."

Meth, he tells students, may give the user a great first
high.

"Then you spend all your time chasing that first high again. The
chase gets worse and worse and methamphetamine takes over your life,"
Thoma said.

He reinforces his presentations with the faces of meth - photographic
portraits of chronic meth users with their sunken faces, empty eyes
and rotten teeth.

Thoma recalls scores of bewildered clients who committed
uncharacteristically violent crimes while under the influence of
methamphetamine.

"A lot of the time they simply couldn't remember why they committed
the crime," Thoma said.

As a public defender, Thoma has seen individual lives destroyed,
families torn apart and careers ruined by the drug in a relatively
short time.

"I'm not objective about this anymore," he said. "I hate
it."

When meth's involved, Thoma said, "anything can happen." Unreasonable
paranoia coupled with unexpected violence can lead to tragic results.

"I think much of the randomness and violence we see today can be
directly attributed to the rise in the use and abuse of meth," he
added.

Taking the time to make the school presentations, Thoma said, is just
part of being a member of the community.

"It's worth my time. I'm a member of this community. I've got a young
son," Thoma said. "If I can make any headway on this scourge, it's
worth it."