LONG-TERM COST OF METH INCLUDES BRAIN DAMAGE

The heart pumps faster. The need to sleep disappears and food is
forgotten. Anxiety and paranoia creep in, but get pushed aside by an
uncontrollable wave of energy and excitement.

When methamphetamine takes control of a user, everything evaporates
but the desire to remain high.

"It became my downfall and my best friend all at the same time," said
Melissa Tinsley, 40, from North Ogden, who is battling her 12-year
meth addiction.

Mike Johnson, 39, of Salt Lake City, also talks almost fondly of the
drug he started snorting 16 years ago.

"The instant up you could achieve from it, man, I was hooked after one
time," Johnson said. "Meth made you feel like you had 25 hours in the
day."

But researchers are finding that when long-term meth addicts like
Tinsley and Johnson decide to end the years of abuse, they must battle
not only the continuing lure of addiction but the obstacle of brain
damage.

Research increasingly indicates heavy meth use may lead to a complete
rewiring of the brain, leaving the addict depressed and forgetful,
with a tendency to make poor decisions and have a short temper.

Meth and related drugs are the only widely used illicit substances
that damage the brain for years, if not permanently.

"I'm more worried about meth than any other drug out there," said
Kelly Lundberg, a psychiatrist at the University of Utah who
specializes in addiction.

Meth is the drug of choice among Utahns in treatment programs,
according to 2002 statistics recently released by the state. A little
more than 18 percent say they used the drug, which far exceeds the
national rate of 4 percent.

Meth releases large amounts of neurotransmitters, mainly dopamine but
also serotonin. These natural chemicals are vital in brain functions
that control mood, memory, sleep, movement, decision making and appetite.

The drug leaves the user feeling euphoric and full of energy at first,
but if an addict takes meth multiple times a week for a period of
three to five years, the neurons that release these chemicals become
damaged, according to Glen Hanson, acting director of the National
Institute of Drug Abuse.

Hanson is also a professor at the U., who with the help of his
research partner, Jim Gibb, has investigated the physical effects of
meth abuse for years.

Their research has found that heavy meth users lose about 50 percent
of their ability to produce dopamine. "It doesn't seem to come back,"
he said.

Hanson and Gibb's results has been duplicated by researchers at UCLA,
among others, and these scientists have observed that the damage
remains at least four years in animals.

People with meth-induced brain damage are constantly irritable, lose
their appetite, have insomnia, forget complex memories, cannot stay
still and almost never feel joy. They also may experience shaking
hands similar to symptoms of Parkinson's disease, since extreme
dopamine depletion leads to that disabling disease.

Johnson complains about forgetting much of his childhood and Tinsley
says she feels a constant sense of anxiety, both problems that stem
from depleted dopamine.

Researchers want addicts like Johnson and Tinsley to know that if they
remain clean, they can regain control of their lives, but the symptoms
of brain damage may never dissipate. Treatment centers need to take
this into account, Hanson said.

"How do we get them around what they did to their brain? How do we
train them to go out and get a job after they damaged their executive
functions?" he asks.

Lundberg says the answer remains in a mixture of patience, persistence
and continuing research. Treatment cannot change an addict's permanent
disabilities, but it can explain it to the addicts and provide tips to
cope.

Counselors address physical symptoms -- the extreme fatigue,
depression, malnutrition and dental problems common to addicts -- and
the emotional reasons people abuse drugs.

Tinsley first tried meth when a co-worker at an elder-care facility
offered it to her. She was in her late 20s supporting four children
and working two jobs.

"The more energy the better. It sounds insane, but that was my thought
process," she said.

She had previously dabbled in marijuana and occasionally drank a beer.
She almost immediately became a daily meth user.

"I loved my children, but I continuously chose dope over them," she
said.

Tinsley lost her children, her job and her home. She became a dealer
to support her habit until she decided to get help in 2001, when she
enrolled herself in the Bridge Program, an outpatient treatment
facility in Ogden.

She relapsed after six months, and credits her 18-year-old son for
sending her back to the Bridge Program months later. "He brought me a
rose and he said, 'Mom, we forgive you,' " she said.

The average user in Utah is a woman in her late 20s or early 30s,
often with children. State statistics indicate that 30.5 percent of
women in treatment abused alcohol, followed closely by meth at 28.3
percent; 13.5 percent of men in treatment used meth.

Johnson did not make the choice to get counseling. He was ordered by
the court to enroll in the First Step House, an inpatient facility
that counsels about 60 drug abusers in Salt Lake City.

Johnson has abused drugs since he was 14 and once worked as the
collector for his dealer. He has a history of domestic violence and
served his most recent jail sentence for beating his live-in
girlfriend after she caught him smoking meth with their neighbors in
2001.

Johnson has spent the past three months in the First Step House and is
convinced he finally has beaten the habit that has consumed his life,
though he knows he is far from having a stable existence.

"I took a lot of years to mess my life up," he said. "It is not going
to get better overnight."

Early treatment involves identifying the personal issues that led to
drug abuse. Johnson spends two hours each day in a support group where
members discuss their past experiences.

Programs also help addicts learn the skills necessary to function in
society, through lessons on how to balance a checkbook, what makes a
successful relationship and how to find a job.

Tinsley says these classes are helping her more than any other part of
her out-patient treatment. She has learned how to make a resume and
plans to start a job soon. She wants to remain employed, become
self-sufficient and support her children.

Johnson plans to hone his social skills, be a decent father and manage
his own general contracting business. Both plan to return to college.

Tinsley and Johnson credit their respective treatment centers for
helping them remain clean for so long, but many in their position do
not get help. Only 25 percent of the nearly 90,000 drug abusers in
Utah receive treatment due to a lack of funding from state and private
resources.