METH ADDICTION NOT NEW

Crystal meth is the party drug of the moment, but it's not new, as I
learned at Science and Response: The First National Conference on
Methamphetamine, HIV and Hepatitis in August in Salt Lake City. The
conference, organized by the Harm Reduction Project and the Harm
Reduction Coalition, was intended to provide an opportunity for diverse
experts in various fields to gather for two days of information sharing.
Numerous studies have shown that HIV transmission rates are higher among
those who use crystal methamphetamine than among those who don't use the
drug.

The conference was surrounded with controversy from the beginning --
mostly generated from the office of Rep. Mark E. Souder (R-IN). A week
before the conference he fired off a letter to conference sponsor
Secretary Michael O. Leavitt from the Department of Health and Human
Services stating: "...the so called 'harm reduction" ideology promoted
at the HHS-sponsored conference is that we should not be fighting a 'war
on drugs' but rather limiting drugs' harmful effects."

In his letter, Souder demanded an official explanation of the HHS
decision to sponsor the conference, a list of all HHS employees
attending along with their contact information in order to "conduct
interviews," and "all documents relating to" HHS "involvement with the
conference." He further accused Secretary Leavitt of being primarily
responsible for the lack of a federal strategy for dealing with the meth
epidemic and of "supporting the very people who advocate relaxed drug laws."
America has an odd obsession with wars: The War on Drugs, The War on
Terrorism, etc. These so-called declared "wars" are proving to be highly
ineffective. So now, we have to re-think this "War on Drugs." Healthcare
professionals, prevention specialists and activists are looking for
other, more effective ways to minimize the harm to ourselves and our peers.
When you hear the word methamphetamine you may think of "Tina,"
"Crystal," or "Speed." but even legal drugs have nicknames.

Cigarettes are called smokes and alcohol has the nickname of booze and
my personal favorite - hooch.

Just like alcoholism and tobacco addiction, the methamphetamine crisis
is not something new. Americans have been obsessed with stimulants
since the coffee trend of the 1790's. To prove our obsession, we now
have coffee bars on every other block in our cities and towns.

Whenever we examine current drug problems in our country we have to
look back and ask, "how did this happen?" Looking back on America's
long history we can't point the finger at "tweakers" in urban cities
and rural youth.

We need to look at these long patterns of addiction and examine
methamphetamine use during the last century.

Methamphetamine has been available in the United States since 1932,
and over 200 million methamphetamine tablets were distributed to
American soldiers during World War II: five meth tablets were included
in each soldier's field kit. As early as 1950, the University of
Maryland acknowledged a large percentage of the students on its campus
had a meth addiction. In 1958, 3.5 billion tablets of legal
methamphetamine were produced in the United States. While soldiers
were becoming addicted to methamphetamines overseas, women at home
were using these prescribed tablets as anti-depressants and miracle
weight loss remedies.

The use of methamphetamines continued throughout the 60s and 70s.
Today, we hear news reports of the "methamphetamine epidemic" in
cities across the nation.

Maybe we shouldn't be labeling them as outbreaks but as a continuation
of patterns from our history.

Statistically, known methamphetamine use in Vermont is very low
compared to other states in the nation.

Unfortunately, other rural states like West Virginia are seeing a
significant rise in methamphetamine use -- and (no surprise) a higher
rate of newly reported HIV infections. I am hoping Vermont will never
see the harms of crystal meth but the fact is, use of the drug is
spreading across the United States quicker that anyone can control
it.