METH PROBLEMS MOVING ACROSS NATION

Methamphetamine use is creeping across the country in an eastward
movement without discrimination of who it chooses to addict, an expert
told attendees at the first West Slope Methamphetamine Symposium on
Friday.

The drug, also known as crystal meth or speed, has become a burden for
law enforcement and the judicial system in Mesa County. The cheap,
versatile drug is easy to buy and easy to make, and the health, legal
and societal problems that come hand-in-hand with its use are on the
move.

"It has literally marched across the country," said Bruce Mendelson,
Colorado Department of Human Services senior researcher. "It is
definitely making inroads in the South, and it's starting to show up
in some of the bigger Eastern cities."

Meth used to be an almost exclusively Anglo drug, almost considered a
"hillbilly" substance in some places, said Mendelson. More people are
smoking it now instead of injecting it, he said.

The drug is appealing in rural areas, because it is easily
manufactured with household chemicals and over-the-counter medication.
Addicts get a bigger bang for their buck, because the high lasts from
eight to 16 hours, Mendelson said.

"It's not like you have to grow coca leaves in your backyard," he
said. "You can get this down the street."

The drug destroys seratonin-delivering receptors in the brain,
creating a paranoid addict without a conscience, he said.

Meth production and trafficking isn't likely to slow anytime soon in
Colorado, Mendelson said. A major international airport, Interstate 70
and a ready market for the drug keep the business going.

In Colorado, the problem is migrating from its largest concentrations,
in the northwestern and west central part of the state, measured by
the rate of treatment reported by methodone and publicly funded programs.

The drug is gaining popularity and migrating to other areas of
Colorado.

In the southern part of the state, the La Plata County Department of
Human Services started noticing meth-related reports this year, said
Assistant Director Lezlie Mayer.

"It showed up suddenly," Mayer said. "We hadn't really tracked it
before."

This spring, they started getting as many as 15 calls a month related
to the drug, Mayer said.

Although the department hasn't dealt with meth labs in homes yet, it
placed seven children and three families in other homes last month
because of situations with methamphetamine.

Mayer said she hoped the Durango area can prepare for dealing with the
drug and avoid the epidemic ravaging the Grand Valley and northwestern
Colorado.

Mendelson's informal poll of clinicians and prevention workers in
Colorado shows females, especially Hispanic females, are starting to
use meth more than other groups of addicts.

"It's a trifecta," he said. "It's a weight loss for the psychotropic
effects, and they can work longer hours."

Meth has gradually worked its way east from the Pacific, Mendelson
said.

"Ten years ago, this would have been a crowd in Hawaii or California,"
he said, looking at the crowd of 300 people.

Officials don't know if the firewall of the Mississippi River will
hold up to the eastward-moving meth trend. So far, it seems to be holding
up.

Mendelson did have nuggets of good news sandwiched in his dismal
projections on meth use.

"We're seeing about the same rate of rehabilitation from
methamphetamine clients as we have with other drugs," he said, citing
information from the Drug-Alcohol Coordinated Data System.

A University of Michigan study that polled eighth-graders, high-school
sophomores and seniors showed use of meth actually declined from 1999
to 2002.

Mendelson said education and collaboration between agencies is vital
to get a handle on the insidious drug.

"We need to give people straight information. Scare tactics don't
work," said Mendelson. "With methamphetamine, the truth is scary enough."