TWIN FALLS HAS SERIOUS METH PROBLEM, BUT THERE IS HOPE, EXPERT SAYS

TWIN FALLS -- Unlike its other hard-core cousins -- heroin and cocaine --
methamphetamine is a homemade drug, and that has allowed it to infest rural
and small-town America, an expert on the drug said Monday.

And meth cooking is apparently one of the Magic Valley's strongest cottage
industries, said Dr. Alex Stalcup of San Francisco, who specializes in
addiction research and treatment.

"You have a terrible cooking problem here, one of the worst in the nation,"
Stalcup said during a talk late Monday to a crowd of at least 100 people at
the College of Southern Idaho.

Boredom is probably one of the factors fueling the demand for meth here, he
said.

"Boredom is your enemy. And if a bored kid uses, you're in trouble."

Along with heroin and cocaine, methampetamine is one of the few substances
that can send such a tremendous blast to the brain's pleasure centers, it
can change a user's entire perception of life in a matter of weeks, Stalcup
said. When they aren't high, meth addicts are usually absolutely miserable,
he said. And they can suffer intense cravings, he said.

"Cravings can last up to seven years. People can see the meth again, and it
will be like it was yesterday," he said. "If they are around the drug, they
can't get well."

Meth addiction can involve a whole range of treatments, he said. Those
might include traditional 12-step programs, exercise, prayer and medication
for the depression addicts are bound to suffer when they stop using,
Stalcup said. And because extended meth use can twist a person's ability to
experience pleasure without the drug, fun needs to be a factor in any
treatment, he said.

Counselor Chris Gibson, who works at the Walker Center for addiction
treatment in Gooding, said she gained important insight from Stalcup's talk.

"There's a waiting list to get into our program," she said.

Gibson said she found Stalcup's points on the role of genetics in addiction
interesting.

People who have a family history of attention deficient disorder or
depression can be especially vulnerable to the hooks of meth, Stalcup said.

"People who get depressed or bored easily really shouldn't use meth,
because it works on those problems. They feel better when they are high.
But then when it wears off, they feel worse than they ever did before," he
said.

Stalcup's points about the devastating effects meth can have on families
ring true in the Magic Valley, said John Haight, who serves on the local
board of Idaho's juvenile justice council. Haight said he's seen at least
one young working mother fall to the drug.

"She knew. She was told once at work that if she got caught again, she
would lose her two little girls. And sure enough, three weeks later, they
came and got her girls."

Finding things for young people to do will be an important part of solving
the problem, Haight said.

"Skate parks might be a lot cheaper than drug treatment programs," he said.

Adult involvement at all levels is critical, said Archie Walker, one of the
founders of the Walker Center.

"I think it's adult deprivation," he said. "Kids say they are bored here.
Adults aren't paying enough attention to their kids and showing them what's
fun to do around here."