METH'S RUSH IS ITS LURE

What is the attraction of a drug like methamphetamine that is highly
addictive and can have devastating physical and emotional effects?

Tom Halasz with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Montgomery
told a Eufaula audience last week that meth causes an adrenaline rush that
"makes you feel like Superman. You can beat the world. . .It makes you feel
so good, you want to just keep on using it."

But along with the euphoria and increased alertness comes the high
incidence of addiction, as well as serious physical effects: appetite loss,
elevated heart rate, increased respiration and elevated body temperature.
Prolonged use can cause blurred vision, dizziness, loss of coordination and
collapse. An overdose can result in high blood pressure, stroke and heart
failure. Withdrawal after a binge presents yet another challenge for the
abuser.

Halasz said one reason for the popularity of methampheta-mine is that it is
"much more cost effective" than a drug like cocaine. A high from a dose of
meth lasts 10 to 12 hours, while a cocaine high may last only one to two hours.

The cost is $100-$150 per gram-an amount about the size of a package of
Sweet-n-Low. A gram would be about eight to 10 doses, or about "two weeks
worth of high," Halasz says.

"There are four ways to get methamphetamine into your system: inject it,
snort it, smoke it, or ingest by mouth" Halasz says.

Like most other drug users, people who become addicted to methamphetamines
start out at "low intensity use." The low intensity users are primarily
adolescents, housewives and shift workers, according to hand-outs provided
for those attending the community awareness program at the Bevill Center.

Not all users at this level become addicted, but as more meth is consumed,
more is craved. Toxic effects include psychological disturbances, dangerous
weight loss and severe insomnia. Then, when the meth is not in the user's
system, there may be decreased energy, boredom, dissatisfaction and intense
cravings.

Meth binges

The use of meth becomes increasingly dangerous as users go on meth binges.
Halasz says people on a meth binge may stay awake for days at a time. "They
don't sleep. Three to five days without sleep is common [for someone] on a
binge. Some have stayed awake as long as 20 days." At this point the user
may show dangerous aggression, violence, paranoia and hallucination.

The binge cycles bring about "tweaking," followed by crashes, experiences
which are terrifying as well as physically devastating. Physical and
psychological results are extreme weight loss (50 to 100 pounds), severe
malnutrition, aggression, violence and belligerence, hysteria, stroke and
heart failure.

At this stage, Halasz says abusers may have body sores from scraping their
skin in an attempt to pick off imaginary bugs they see. Or their teeth may
begin to rot away because of a lack of calcium (due to malnutrition).

Halasz says he has never seen a meth addict who has been rehabilitated.

"The only ones who stop are those who go to prison where they are forced
into rehab. They just can't stop on their own." Det. Steve Hanners with the
Barbour County Drug Task Force said most of the drug rehab centers now
offer methamphetamine rehab "because addiction has become so common."

He adds if the addict comes out and gets back with the same group, there is
a high chance of renewed abuse.

Concerned parents, teachers and citizens attending last Thursday's
presentation asked how to recognize conversations that might clue them in
to youngsters flirting with meth use.

Crystal, glass, crank and speed are slang words for methamphetamine. The
meth can be "almost any color," (pink, brown, blue, burnt reddish), and it
has a texture coarse like salt crystals, as opposed to powdery like talcum.

As to where people, especially young people, get the drug, Halasz and
Hanners said they get it from friends. Hanners said one of the meth labs in
Eufaula was the result of a visitor coming to town from South Carolina and
bringing the "recipe." He said one group even threw a party to raise money
to get the meth "cook" out of jail.

Hanners said the youngest meth user he has encountered in Eufaula so far
was 16. Earlier, Hanners told The Tribune as many as 200 Eufaula teens have
used the drug or use it periodically at parties. He also said a 16-year-old
in Henry County is dying of a liver disease because of being in a house
where meth was being cooked and inhaling the fumes.

Hanners said the drug task force is very willing to go in to the schools
and present programs on the dangers of meth and other drugs that are being
used in the area.

The next edition of The Tribune will carry Part III on Halasz's information
on the use of drugs Ecstasy and GHB, the "date rape" drug.