RESCUING KIDS OF DRUG ADDICTS

A trail winds through several feet of garbage. The stench of human waste
permeates the air. There's no running water. No working toilets. In homes
like this narcotics officers find the smallest victims of the drug trade:
the children of addicted parents.

Statistics kept by the Salt Lake Police Department show 52 percent of the
children taken from homes where methamphetamine is being produced test
positive for narcotics.

And those children are often traumatized when police officers, guns drawn,
come into their homes and arrest their parents.

"They're terrified, screaming, crying," says Salt Lake Police Sgt. Michael
Ross. "On the last home where I served a warrant, one little boy asked, 'Are
you going to take my father to jail again?' You're taking away the most
important person in their life."

Ross says 80 percent of the warrants he serves involve children. And many,
he says, are not only exposed to drugs but are facing neglect. "They're
obviously not fed very well," he said. "There's no food in the refrigerator.
Our first priority is to get these kids treated medically."

Dr. Karen Buchi sees children from homes like these every week at the South
Main clinic. "Often it's the first time these kids have ever seen a doctor,"
she said.

Buchi said in one home officers found an ingredient to make methamphetamine
in the refrigerator next to some chicken. "They actually tested the chicken,
and it tested positive for meth," she said.

Buchi said that drugs cause brain damage and are linked to prolonged
developmental and behavioral problems. But what doctors don't know is how
much of that is caused by neglect and exposure to this environment. "There
are loaded guns lying around the house because the parents are paranoid,"
she said. "Their mind-set is on their next fix. Not the nurturing of their
children or making sure they're eating well or being tended."

Salt Lake deputy district attorney Lana Taylor said officers test kitchen
tables, cribs and diaper bags. "The surface is testing positive for numerous
drugs," she said.

But the damage is beyond drug exposure.

"These children are also the victims of physical and sexual abuse," Taylor
said. "You'll find pornography hung up on the walls in children's bedrooms.
It's pervasive."

Taylor said older children and teens in these homes are not only becoming
addicts themselves. They're also learning how to cook meth and prepare other
drugs as well.

"Kids are bringing bongs to school for show and tell. They're learning the
criminal behavior," said officer Marjean Searcy, head of a newly formed task
force on drug-endangered children.

Searcy's team last year helped 170 children from these homes. And with
$300,000 in federal money this year and interest from other cities like West
Valley City, Searcy hopes that number will grow. "We're at last addressing
the real victims of drug abuse," she said. "Hopefully long term we'll see
fewer kids in these environments."

Ross says he'll continue to beat down front doors. "Even though dragging
away their parents is very difficult, we know the kids will be better in the
long run," he said. "It's their only chance at a better life."