COUNTY WINS $1.1 MILLION TO FIGHT METH USE

Federal Grant Will Aid Clinic In Half Moon Bay

San Mateo County won a major federal grant to fight methamphetamine use in
its rural coastside communities, the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services announced this week. It was one of 11 counties nationwide chosen
for the grants.

"Methamphetamine is a powerful and dangerous stimulant drug that physically
destroys addicts and tears apart families," said Kathryn Jett, director of
California's Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

The three-year, $1.1 million grant to the San Mateo County Human Services
Agency will fund the treatment of 57 more meth and stimulant addicts per
year and the expansion of outpatient services at El Centro de Libertad's
Half Moon Bay clinic. The county contracts with the nonprofit El Centro,
which served 223 meth-addict clients in 2003 and 155 in 2004, El Centro's
program coordinator Robin Tomlinson said.

The number of people in the county seeking treatment for meth use went up
64 percent between 1997 and 2002, county Human Services Agency Supervisor
Rex Andrea said.

"We're going to focus on motivational enhancement therapy - techniques used
to help reduce denial to connect the consequence with the substance use,"
Tomlinson said.

The grant will also help provide mental-health care to meth addicts. Some
addicts have pre-existing mental illnesses and self-medicated with the
drug, while others develop hallucinogenic or paranoid psychosis while on
the drug, Tomlinson said. Some develop debilitating depression while quitting.

The grant will further fund programs to help patients escape relapse and
teach families how to cope with their loved one's drug addiction and how to
help recovery. El Centro also hopes to set up an outpost near the Half Moon
Bay harbor, where significant meth use occurs, Tomlinson said.

"It [El Centro de Libertad's program] just helped me to recognize that it
was a problem. It helped me to understand there was something I could do
about it," said one former meth addict from El Granada, who asked that her
name not be used. "I was doing it from the time I woke up until the time I
went to bed. I even resorted to buying large quantities [and selling it] so
I could support my habit. Work didn't matter. Family didn't matter."

The county and El Centro will immediately start developing a sustainability
plan so that services can continue when the grant expires in three years,
Tomlinson said.