GOVERNOR RATCHETS UP WAR ON METH

Four-Part Initiative Seeks To Combat Importation Of Meth While
Boosting Prevention And Treatment

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Gov. Brad Henry on Monday announced a new drug
initiative that lowers the boom on major methamphetamine trafficking
while raising levels of prevention and treatment.

With legislative approval, Mission MethNet will employ more
undercover detectives and lengthen sentences for those convicted of
importing a pound or more of meth. The plan also would create a
Web-based education program about the dangers of the drug, along with
a treatment program specifically for people addicted to meth.

The governor will ask the Legislature for $1 million to fund the
undercover agents and to develop an education program, and another $1
million to implement the treatment program.

"Unless we address every front in the war on meth, addiction will
continue to grow in Oklahoma," Henry said. "... With this initiative,
we will catch and imprison the meth kingpins, educate our people
about this insidious drug and try to save those Oklahomans who are
hooked on meth."

The governor said the number of Oklahoma meth labs has dropped
substantially since 2004, when an anti-meth law took effect that
drastically restricted pseudoephedrine sales. Rising in the place of
homemade meth, though, is an imported higher grade of the drug called
"Mexican Ice."

The initiative announced Monday is meant to crack down on people
"importing drugs from super labs in Mexico." To do so, the state
would create a Meth Interdiction Team of 12 undercover agents within
the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Suspects
convicted of importing one or more pounds of meth would face a prison
term of 10 years to life.

Ada police Chief Mike Miller was reluctant to give a detailed opinion
on the crimefighting measures without learning the details, though he
generally welcomes any help the state can provide in catching drug dealers.

Meth, he said, is "big everywhere in part of the United States." What
caught the chief's attention, though, was that Henry's initiative
included an education aspect to try to prevent meth abuse in the first place.

"To fight any drug, I think education is something you've got to put
in there with it," Miller said. "For years, they tried strictly
enforcement on the war on drugs, but you can't win with just
enforcement. There's also got to be education."

The governor apparently agrees. The initiative calls for an Internet
anti-meth education program to be made available through schools,
libraries and other public avenues.

For people already in the drug's grip, the state would administer a
meth addiction treatment program through the Oklahoma Department of
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Henry said the treatment
model is endorsed by the National Institute of Drug Abuse and has
proven effective in other states.

Overcoming addiction to meth is far more difficult than many realize
because of the extensive damage the drug does to the brain. Marlys
Gallagher, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor at the Norman
Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center, said two years of meth abuse can
deplete 40 years of dopamine, the chemical messenger that makes
people feel pleasure and consider life worthwhile.

She shudders to think of the damage the drug can do to people who
have used meth for 10 to 15 years or more.

"The neurotransmitters aren't there anymore because the brain isn't
producing it," Gallagher said of dopamine. "They feel unmotivated to
do anything and they're totally bored. It's hard because they are
bored with (recovery) meetings and programs and with life. They don't
hang on to jobs very long. Nothing is exciting for them, and you can
only live that way for so long."

Gallagher said meth addicts hit "the wall" of profound apathy as soon
as they stop using the drug, and it takes a very long time to get
over it. Thus, it's very easy for addicts to relapse, and the
likelihood is high.

Experts say it takes at least 18 months of treatment and counseling
to overcome meth; Gallagher believes care should last two years, even
if it's the outpatient variety.

Like the Ada police chief, the Norman counselor didn't know all the
details of Henry's plan, but she was happy to hear it includes a
treatment program tailored especially for meth.

"Stimulants tend to be the most prevalent," Gallagher said. "Meth,
cocaine, crack -- they all do the same thing to the
neurotransmitters. It's good they're going to have some treatment for
these people."

James S. Tyree is CNHI News Service Oklahoma reporter.