BROTHER'S DEATH SPARKED DOCTOR'S CRUSADE AGAINST METH

CHATTANOOGA - Dr. Mary Holley knows firsthand the ravages of
methamphetamine.

As an obstetrician in Albertville, Ala., she estimates about 10 percent of
her pregnant patients are addicted.

But the methamphetamine epidemic in Appalachia has now become a personal
crusade for Holley. Four years ago, her brother Jim shot and killed himself
after a struggle with meth addiction.

A photo of her brother appears on the Web site for Mothers Against
Methamphetamine, or MAMa, a Christian ministry that Holley founded last year
to fight the popular drug.

The group already has chapters in Tennessee, Georgia, Oklahoma, Missouri and
Ohio, and Holley said the Web site, www.mamasite.net, gets about 6,000 hits
a month, including about 25 a day from "parents wanting to know what to do
with their kid."

Mothers Against Meth has worked with churches to start addiction support
groups, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. And the MAMa Web site offers
pamphlets that detail the dangers of meth.

Meth targets the central nervous system. People who use the stimulant tend
to hallucinate and become aggressive, in some cases violent. Their children
are often neglected or abused.

Meth can be cooked using cheap, over-the-counter ingredients such as
ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from cold tablets, red phosphorous from
matchbook strike plates and ether from engine starter.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimates Tennessee accounts for 75
percent of meth lab seizures in the Southeast.

Holley, who is a Christian, believes drug addiction is "primarily a
spiritual disease, not a social disease."

"They use this drug because it works. It makes them feel better. They have
been rejected and humiliated and miserable people all their lives. It just
makes everything better. This stuff works."

Tennessee is among 14 states picked by the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services to receive grants for expanded drug abuse treatment.