ADDICTS, COMMUNITY BATTLE METH

Methamphetamines have become the drug of choice across the nation and
the "one hit and you're hooked" drug is one of the hardest for health
officials to treat and users to kick.

Jim Helgert, program supervisor for Intensive Family Support with
Border Area, said meth is more addictive than any other substance
because of the way it affects the brain and its lasting side effects on users.

"What makes it so addictive is it causes the brain to overproduce
dopamine and dopamine is responsible for feelings of pleasure," Helgert said.

"When a person stops using meth they can't experience pleasure
because their body stops producing dopamine for a time."

A person abusing meth can often stay awake for more than 24 hours on
one hit and bingers can often go from three to 15 days without sleep,
Helgert said.

Days without sleep, however, result in the user suffering from
psychosis, hallucinations and paranoia.

"Everything is on high. The fight-or-flight response is overcharged
and everything can be perceived as a threat by someone on meth," Helgert said.

Helgert said meth has become a drug of choice because it is cheaper
than other drugs and gives a longer high than cocaine. Cocaine often
gives the user a high for five to 30 minutes while methamphetamines
will give a high for four to 24 hours. Meth can also be taken in more
ways; either orally, by shooting it up, smoking or even snorting it.

Helgert said the drug is spreading to users as young as middle school
age and early intervention is a key to combating the growing trend of
teen and preteen meth abuse.

Silver City Police Chief Ed Reynolds said the department already has
a "no tolerance" policy on meth, but said it will take a "no
tolerance" approach on behalf of the whole community to help fight the drug.

Silver City Municipal Judge Edith Gutierrez said in nearly all the
cases she sees in her court, there is a drug component, and the same
holds for both magistrate and district courts, according to other judges.

The Sun-News was recently granted interviews with three former meth
users who talked about the drug and why it is so hard to overcome.

Zena

Zena, 22, began using marijuana at 13 because it was the "thing" to
do. At 18, she was already an alcoholic and then methamphetamines
entered her life.

"You weren't cool unless you were doing some kind of drug," Zena
said. "A friend offered me meth and I tried it."

Zena said her first hit of meth had an almost instantaneous effect,
numbing her to the psychological pains that came with being a single
mother trying to support a family. Zena, however, fell into that
group of nine out of 10 users who are addicted the first time they try meth.

"The next day, I started coming down, and it causes so much pain
coming down you have to do it again," she said.

Zena kept using, eventually becoming a dealer, selling the drug to
support her family.

"It covered my feelings and paid the bills," she said. "It put food
on the table. I just couldn't make enough otherwise as a single mother."

Zena said she contemplated working, but the lure of the drug was too
strong until the day she hit rock-bottom.

"I was pregnant and went into labor. The doctors tested my child for
drugs and she was positive for methamphetamines," she said.

It wasn't long until the police showed up, wearing rubber gloves, and
took Zena's children from her.

"That was my rock-bottom," she said. "The police were yelling at me
to let my children go, scaring them."

After that Zena turned herself into a local inpatient rehab facility.
The problem was she hadn't used in three days and she says the
facility wouldn't take her in.

"I had to get dirty to get in," she said. "That is wrong. I had to
get dirty again before they would take me in and help me."

Eventually Zena found her way to Border Area Mental Health Services
Kokopelli Program and has been clean nearly seven months. She said
Kokopelli has given her the tools to get clean and now she is working
on staying drug-free, getting a job, an education and her children back.

"I hate meth. I can't stand to see what I did to myself, my children
and my family," she said. "I turned my back on my family. I thought
they had turned their backs on me, but it was me."

Rocky

Rocky, 50, isn't most people's typical picture of a drug user. He is
a man pushing retirement age, with a face weathered and worn, bearing
all the markings of a someone who has spent years of hard labor in the mines.

It was when the mines cut jobs several years ago that Rocky found
himself jobless with a family to support. It was this time in his
life when meth found him and he began dealing it to provide for his
wife and children.

Like so many who deal the drug, however, Rocky soon found himself an
addict as well.

"I began dealing, but then I tried it," he said. "I really didn't
feel anything. I just felt like I had the energy I needed to get
stuff done and keep going."

Like Zena, Rocky found rock-bottom when his family was taken away
from him and he finally realized he needed help. He started going to
Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. The programs helped,
but they weren't enough until a social worker led Rocky to Kokopelli.

Rocky has since graduated from Kokopelli and been clean for nearly
six months. He is now working on getting his family back together and
said he too is confident he can resist the lure of meth and lead a
straight life.

"You think meth is your friend, but in reality it is your enemy and
when you see what you've done to those you love, you feel terrible," he said.

Sassy

Sassy, 28, never actually went through the Kokopelli program, but was
one of the first addicts to assist in developing the program and now
works as a co-leader, helping others overcome addiction.

In 2002, Sassy found her boyfriend dealing meth out of her home. She
kicked him out, but in the desire to understand him, she tried meth
and was instantly hooked.

Within a month she had lost nearly 40 pounds, dropping from 135
pounds to just 97.

"You don't see it. You just keep going and think your clothes are
getting loose," she said.

It wasn't long until Sassy was selling meth to support herself and her son.

"I justified it all. I said 'my son needs a stay-at-home mom,' so I
quit work and school," she said.

Sassy said that eventually meth became her life, and like many others
she's known, she began to find it unthinkable that life could exist
outside the drug. Then, the Children, Youth and Families Department
took Sassy's son away and she quit using, hoping to get him back, but
she continued selling.

"I had morals. I wouldn't sell to anyone under 18 or to pregnant
women," she said. "I tried to control it, to stop people coming to my
house all hours of the night, but I couldn't control it."

Perhaps most startling were the things Sassy saw as a dealer, such as
parents using meth with their children, women doing it to lose weight
and the things people will do for the high.

"I got to a point I couldn't afford any so I was crushing up
ephedrine sleeping pills and smoking them," she said.

Finally the law caught up to Sassy and it was perhaps that alone that
saved her. She was taken out of the drug scene, put where she didn't
have access to meth and enrolled in both in-patient and out-patient
programs for addicts.

Now two years clean, she is hoping she can be an inspiration to
former meth customers who come into the Kokopelli program.

"I see so many familiar faces of people who I used to deal to," she
said. "When they come in, they are surprised to see me and I hope I
can help them out by telling them my story."