LAW, DRUG CENTERS GRAPPLE WITH METH

Methamphetamine addictions are becoming more common in Hardin County, local
narcotics law enforcement officers say. Local treatment facilities are
learning to adapt to meet the increasing problem.

Kentucky State Police narcotics detectives Terry Moore and Curtis Mouser
say they see methamphetamine users returning to jail for the same offenses
over and over again.

"They go right back to it the minute they get out," Moore said. The
detectives have seen all kinds of drug addicts during their careers, but no
other drug, they said, is harder to quit.

"You've got to address both ends of it," Moore said. "We need good
treatment programs."

The Kentucky Legislature also is attempting to address the problem by
making some of the ingredients used to produce meth more difficult to
obtain and stiffening manufacturing and possession laws. But those are just
part of the solution to combating the festering problem.

Not only has the drug been accessible and easy to make, but also "it has
the most bang for the buck," Moore said. The drug gives a longer high for
the money than other better-known drugs, he said.

As the problem grows, treatment facilities across the area are seeing an
increase in the number of meth addicts seeking treatment, officials say.

The relapse rate is higher for methamphetamines than for any other drug,
said Sherry Coomer, administrator for Stepworks, an addiction treatment
facility in Elizabethtown. Coomer said she is seeing more and more meth
users going through treatment as the problem has grown.

"We are seeing a huge influx of meth users in all treatment programs
including out patient and residential programs," she said. Stepworks uses a
12-step program that incorporates Narcotics Anonymous into its treatment.

Terry Reams, alcohol and drug clinical director for Communicare, said while
his treatment facility does not have a program geared specifically toward
meth addicts, Communicare is seeing an increase in patients whose
addictions include either meth alone or a combination of drugs with meth
being the primary addiction.

Recovering addict James Stallins said the drug gets a hold of users and
takes over their lives.

"I started using (methamphetamines) several years ago. It was the new drug
in town," he said. Stallins, who admits to trying "every drug out there,"
said he started using because someone offered it to him at a party.

"Cocaine hasn't got anything on meth," he said. "It's a moving plague. You
have to really want to be off it to quit."

Stallins said he used from about 1994 to 1999. After he began to inject the
drug into his veins to get high, he decided to leave the area to put his
addiction behind him.

"I was off it for three years," he said. Stallins found himself using again
when he moved into another area where the drug was prevalent.

"I gave up on my job. I was evicted from my home," said Stallins, who moved
back to Hardin County where his extended family lives. Back in familiar
territory, Stallins continued his drug use and moved to manufacturing and
selling the drug.

"I've made thousands and thousands of dollars from this drug," Stallins
said, "but I ain't got a dime to show for it." In fact most of the money,
he said, went right back into the drug. Stallins used until recently, when
he was arrested and charged with possession.

"I'm glad I got caught. I've got a beautiful wife and four beautiful kids.
On the meth, I didn't have a life with my family," he said.

Stallins, 41, said he is lucky, because his wife hasn't given up on him
during his battle.

Now that Stallins has served his time and is out of the Hardin County
Detention Center, he has entered a local treatment program.

"You can't quit methamphetamines on your own," Stallins said. "You need
help. It causes chaos - anarchy. Meth is a one-way street to a head-on
collision with a brick wall."

"We teach specific tools to prevent relapses. Concrete things they can do
when they feel the urge to use," Coomer said of the Stepworks treatment
program.

Literature from Communicare explains that meth's poisonous properties can
destroy the user's body. Some users become walking skeletons. Users' hair
can become tangled and stringy, faces can become drawn and old looking and
teeth can fall out.

"This is a drug that kills and we freely put it into our live bodies," said
Stallins. "It ain't done nothing but cause us heartache and grief. But, I
know this time I'm going to make it, because this time, I want to be drug
free more than my family wants me to be."

Stallins says he doesn't know what long-term affects the drug has had on
him yet, but he is sure that he could suffer from health problems someday
that are a result of his long-term use.

Aside from legislators, law enforcement and treatment facilities are all
working to combat the meth problem. Gov. Ernie Fletcher is seeking to help
communities educate citizens about the drug and its related health
problems. Through a coalition that consists of various community members,
including members of Communicare, an information and educational program is
being presented across the state to help community members identify
evidence of meth manufacturing and to help stem the flow of the product
into the community.

"This drug touches more aspects of our society than any other drug," said
Deborah Shortt, Communicare prevention specialist. Shortt said she and
Kelly Harl of Communicare's regional prevention center are working to
change how the community views the drug. As more people accept drugs like
marijuana as "not so bad," the door is opened for harder drugs to be
accepted more easily, Shortt said.

"It's a community problem and education is key," she said.

Shortt and Harl are scheduled to participate in Combating Kentucky's
Methamphetamine Problem, an education program being presented by the
Kentucky National Guard and Communicare Regional Prevention Center.

Shortt said they hope to use the classes to educate community members -
particularly sanitation workers who might come across the by-products or
evidence of a meth lab in their jobs - and other community residents who
could end up evacuated from their homes if a lab were discovered in close
proximity.

The product is a dangerous and lethal combination of three key ingredients:
pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, anhydrous ammonia or red phosphorous and
lithium from lithium batteries. For every pound

of meth that is produced, seven pounds of hazardous waste created, local
experts said.