'METH IS A MONSTER,' SAYS RECOVERING ADDICT

Methamphetamine has invaded Ventura County.

In the past five years, addiction to this devastating stimulant has
surpassed heroin, cocaine and other drugs, spreading a trail of
victims from the county's gated communities through quiet suburbia to
seedy motels.

Children as young as 11 are getting hooked on methamphetamine,
permanently altering their developing brains.

Teenagers in every school are increasingly using this corrosive drug,
which is cooked up in kitchen sinks using cold medicine and poisons
like battery acid, drain cleaner and gasoline additives.

Families are being destroyed. More than half -- 57 percent -- of
child abuse and neglect cases in Ventura County involve methamphetamines.

Schools are seeing a rising number of children who were exposed to
meth in the womb and now are slow to learn and difficult to control.

Hospital emergency rooms are treating rapidly growing numbers of
people under 30 with heart failure, soaring blood pressure and brain
damage from meth.

And crimes that threaten everyone, such as identity theft and
burglary, are on the rise. About 80 percent of felonies in the county
courts are meth-related and 95 percent of teenagers in juvenile court
have used the drug.

"Meth is a monster," says 18-year-old recovering addict Alejandra
Herrera, a mother of two children. "It steals your will, your
motivation, so you only care about getting more of the drug."

In the coming year, The Star will examine the tentacles of meth in
the county. Today's story looks at the rise of identity theft crimes
by meth users.