GRANT WILL HELP EXPAND AREA'S SUBSTANCE-ABUSE PROGRAMS

When people discover methamphetamines, the price of the drug is
often their families.

It's no coincidence that the number of meth-related cases and child
welfare cases are both increasing in the 4th Judicial District, say
those who work in the criminal justice system.

"We've got to get people off of this stuff, because once they're
hooked on it, their family is no longer important to them," said
Sgt. Robert McDonald of the Colorado Springs Police Department's
Metro Vice, Narcotics and Intelligence Unit.

That's the goal of a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services announced last week. For the next five
years, Connect Care, a member of the Pikes Peak Behavioral Group
that manages social service contracts, will receive $500,000 to
expand programs and hire new people to address meth and
other substance abuse and their impact on families.

If successful, the beefed-up effort will slow the increase of
drug-related broken homes, said Michael Allen, director of clinical
operations for Connect Care.

In Teller County from 2001 to 2006, 84 percent of parents whose
child-custody rights were terminated had substance-abuse issues. El
Paso County saw 83 termination cases in 2005, of which 81 percent
resulted from drug abuse.

Some plans for the grant:

- - To offer nine additional spots a year in Family Treatment Drug
Court, where drug abusers must answer to a judge weekly and face
penalties for failing to comply, and they are rewarded for progress.

The program now serves about 45 people a year.

- - To provide more substance-abuse treatment in rural areas such as
Cripple Creek and

Victor.

- - To increase the opportunities for people to enroll in an
outpatient, research-based meth-treatment program called MATRIX.

- - To hire a social worker, a trainer and a manager for the
volunteer-staffed meth task force, and a trainer for volunteer
court-appointed special advocates. The positions will provide more
services for families that have entered the court system.

Together, the services and positions could keep children out of
foster care or reduce their time there, Allen said.

McDonald said the number of meth labs has decreased in recent years,
partly because of enforcement and new laws that limit the access to
coldmedicine ingredients used to make meth.

He said meth addiction comes faster and stronger than addiction to
other drugs. "You can use meth one time and be addicted to it," he
said. "Take whatever makes you feel happy . . . and increase that
feeling about 1,000 times, and that's what happens with methamphetamine."