METH USERS PUT STRAIN ON HOSPITALS

FOREST CITY -- Emergency room visitors with methamphetamine-related
illness are causing major burdens on local hospitals across the country.

Patients suffering from heart, lung, kidney and brain problems
associated with meth are straining hospital budgets and treatment
facilities, according to two surveys to be released in Washington,
D.C., this month.

Studies conducted by the National Association of Counties indicate
the severity of the toll of the drug on local communities, especially
in rural areas where social service networks are ill-prepared to deal
with the problems associated with meth.

The survey revealed that 73 percent of the 200 county and regional
hospitals polled reported an increase in the number of people
visiting emergency rooms for meth-related problems over the last five
years. Of the hospitals polled, 68 percent reported a continued
increase in the last three years.

Dr. John Tolhurst, Emergency Room Physician and Medical Examiner at
Rutherford Hospital, began working in Rutherford County in 1989.

"When I first came there was virtually no meth use here," said
Tolhurst. "In the last four or five years we have seen a big increase."

Tolhurst said that he has treated people with chest pain associated
with smoking meth. He said the drug can cause major lung and heart
problems, including heart attacks.

Tolhurst said that he has treated patients with shin problems
associated with what addicts call "skin popping."

Skin popping is when meth, or another drug, is injected into the shin
with a needle. The addicts purposefully miss the veins so that the
drug is slowly released into their system.

Tolhurst said that shared use of needles creates a concern for
spreading diseases like Hepatitis and AIDS.

Tolhurst said that patients with meth-related problems are not
tracked because a problem associated with meth is not a diagnosis.
But he said that he has seen a significant increase in the past five years.

He said a lot of the trauma cases treated in the ER, where people are
severely beaten, often involve drugs. Meth makes users agitated
because it is a central nervous system stimulant that increases heart
rate and irritability.

Other problems associated with meth patients are financial.

"The majority of the people we see here with meth problems have no
insurance," said Tolhurst. "We end up treating them for free."

Sheriff C. Philip Byers said that the majority of meth users in
Rutherford County are unemployed and have no assets.

"Treatment at the hospital is not something that most of these people
can afford,' said Byers.

Meth addicts in the county have been profiled as mostly white males
between the ages of 20 and 35. The life expectancy of a meth addict
is about ten years if they stay on the drug, according to the State
Bureau of Investigation.

Rutherford Hospital Vice President of Marketing and Planning Karen
Moore said that meth patients also create safety concerns.

Moore said that if a patient brings a hazardous material into the
hospital the staff will go into a code orange and set up for the
detoxification of the area, staff and other patients.

When children are removed from homes with a presence of meth they
have to be detoxed at the scene by firefighters before they can ride
in an ambulance. The chemicals from meth labs can be very hazardous
and flammable.

"Our whole system comes to a stop," said Moore. "If a hazardous
chemical is present in the hospital it presents a major burden for us."

In the nationwide survey, 14 percent of the hospitals reported that
meth-related cases make up 20 percent of their emergency room visits
and 56 percent of hospitals said their costs had risen because of the
growing abuse of the drug.

In the second survey, 69 percent of the hospitals reported an
increased demand for treatment for methamphetamine abuse and 63
percent of the hospitals reportedly do not have enough capacity to
meet the demand.

Treatment for meth addiction is generally long and intensive and
often fails when the proper models are not use. Meth addicts do not
respond as well to typical drug treatment programs and only programs
specifically intended for meth users report high recovery rates.

The primary ingredient used to make meth is cold medication that
contains ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.

Meth is made in makeshift and often mobile labs in homes, sheds and
cars. Addicts us common household items like lye, coffee filters,

Law enforcement officials ranked meth as their worse drug problem in
a survey of 500 agencies in 45 states also conducted by the National
Association of Counties.

In the survey, 70 percent of local law enforcement agencies said that
robberies, burglaries, domestic violence, assaults and identity
thefts have increased due to the meth problem.