METH USE SHOWS SIGNS OF DECLINE

SOME AREAS ACROSS U.S. INDICATE EPIDEMIC IS RECEDING

At one Minneapolis-area high school, the methamphetamine problem got
so bad in recent years that staff members sometimes caught students
trying to attend class while high.

But this year has been notably different, says Deborah Mosby, a high
school drug counselor in Spring Lake Park, Minn.

It's a positive sign in a state that is one of many hard hit by the
meth epidemic -- and one of several early indications that a drug
that has long been a scourge is losing its grip, at least in some
communities. Last year, federal officials and many states reported
that the numbers of small "mom-and-pop" methamphetamine labs were
dropping, a result largely attributed to the crackdown on the sale of
pseudoephedrine and similar cold medicine ingredients used to make meth.

Officials feared that methamphetamine from Mexico would fill the
void. And while authorities in some places have noticed an uptick in
imported meth, others see signs that meth use is starting to wane,
including falling emergency room visits and fewer meth-related
crimes. In addition to causing paranoid, aggressive behavior, meth is
known for its harsh physical effects -- from sunken eyes and
bone-thin frames to teeth that turn gray and deteriorate.

John Newmeyer, who heads San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury Free Clinics
and tracks his region's drug numbers for the federal government,
thinks such effects have helped change attitudes about meth.

The news isn't good everywhere. South Florida, for instance, has
continued to see a steady increase in meth-related deaths, from 77 in
2003 to 115 last year. Others have noted surges in use in the
Hispanic community.

Still, for much of the country, researchers say it appears the meth
epidemic reached its peak in 2004 and 2005. Data from the federal
government show that the number of first-time meth users has steadily
declined in recent years. And Quest Diagnostics Inc. -- a New Jersey
company that maintains a national drug-testing index based on
millions of tests each year -- found that 16 out of every 10,000 drug
tests in the general work force came back positive for meth in 2006.
That compares with 26 in 2005 and 33 the year before that.

[Sidebar]

Areas That Improved

Some signs that the meth crisis may be easing:

In Minnesota's Twin Cities, meth-related emergency room visits
dropped from 1,402 in 2005 to 251 in 2006, according to a recent
report by the nonprofit Hazelden Foundation.

In Montana, a new report from that state's attorney general noted
that meth-related crime fell 53 percent in 2006, compared with the
previous year. The report also found that, while meth remains a big
problem there, the overall rate of employees in Montana who tested
positive for meth was down more than 70 percent from 2005 to last year.

In San Francisco, meth-related emergency room visits leveled off in
2006, after peaking the previous two years.