METH EXPERT REVEALS THE DANGERS DRUG POSES TO CHILDREN

Wells Lauds Local Police, Children's Advocates

POCATELLO -- A 4-year-old Colorado boy named Romeo couldn't count to 10.
When asked by police, he drew accurate pictures of a complete
methamphetamine laboratory.

When a California baby named Shaquile wouldn't stop crying, his mother
admitted to putting methamphetamine in his bottle to calm him down.

In the home of another California infant named Sarah, police found a
half-pound of methamphetamine on the floor by where she slept. Her home had
no running water or gas and was cluttered with drug paraphernalia and dirty
diapers. Most all of the food in the refrigerator was rotten.

Dr. Kathryn Wells, cofounder of the Colorado Alliance for Endangered
Children, was there when authorities uncovered the children's appalling
living conditions. The Denver pediatrician showed slides of the homes
Friday during a lecture to local child protection and development
professionals.

Wells said between 35 and 50 percent of children living in methamphetamine
laboratories test positive foJournal photos by Bill Schaefer - Jody Irwin,
Tricia Codding and Carrie Archibald, from left, of the Southeast District
Health Department watch the slide-show presentation. r the drug because of
environmental exposure, and states should toughen child abuse laws for
their parents.

"I think we think of these parents as being like our parents were, and we
say, 'Oh my God. We're taking these kids away from these caring, loving
parents,'" Wells said. "These kids are vulnerable and voiceless, and we
need to be their voices, and we need to speak out for them."

During her three-hour presentation at Portneuf Medical Center, Wells lauded
local police and children's advocates for sharing information and
coordinating efforts to protect drug-exposed children.

Wells, who adKathryn Wells, M.D., of Denver, CO., points to a drawing by a
four-year old boy named Romeo of a meth lab in his home. vises police
during raids as part of her organization, suggested social workers should
measure the heights of tables and other surfaces where drugs, ingredients
or paraphernalia are found to prove accessibility to children.

She said methamphetamine users often have several children because the drug
heightens sexuality, and sexual child abuse is more common in homes of
methamphetamine users.

If mothers continue using methamphetamine while pregnant, their children
are at risk for premature birth and developmental problems, she said.

"Studies are showing the levels in the baby are even higher than the levels
in the mom," Wells said.

Children get exposed to methamphetamine in a variety of ways, she said.
Users often hide drugs and manufacturing equipment in children's
belongings, where they think police are less apt to look. Drug vapors and
spilled ingredients contaminate children's clothing.

The food children eat often tests positive for drugs, she said, because
many methamphetamine manufacturers cool their drugs in freezers or
refrigerators.

Users have a love affair with methamphetamine and often fail to feed their
children, especially since methamphetamine suppresses parents' appetites,
she said. "All they want is the drug," Wells said.

When users take methamphetamine, they get a rush of a pleasurable brain
chemical called dopamine. After they use the drug for a while, they develop
a tolerance for it and use methamphetamine again while drugs are still in
their system and their heart rates are still accelerated, Wells said. She
said methamphetamine also depletes the body's supply of dopamine, and users
become sleepy and lethargic until the supply is replenished.

According to Wells, children who live in homes of substance abusers are
eight times as likely to abuse substances.

"There comes a point where the body can't develop any more dopamine. It may
relate to why these kids use substances later on," Wells said. "What are
(drug users) doing to kids' brains who don't mean to be using it and are
getting it through their environment?"

Methamphetamine users can also develop suicidal, homicidal and delusional
thoughts. She said the drug also causes extreme paranoia.

"One guy thought his daughter's guinea pig was spying on him for the
government and dissected it," Wells said. Wells said mental problems
sometimes persist for years after a user stops taking methamphetamine.

"It's not just one group of people who are using it," Wells said. "It
crosses all socioeconomic backgrounds."