DRUG USE, TRENDS DISCUSSED

Seminar Looked At Human Side Of Addiction

To help a room full of service professionals understand the nature of
opiate addiction, Dr. Joe Cassady compared it to one of mankind's most
basic needs: sex.

"Sex helps you understand the addict more than any other (need)," he said.

"As soon as we started puberty, it changed the way we looked, thought and
acted," he said.

The chemicals in the drugs stimulate the reward pathway in the brain, much
like sex, and make people feel good about what they're doing, he said.

The Yuba County health officer teamed up with a criminal investigator
Friday for a seminar and candid discussion about drug use and trends in
Yuba-Sutter.

Cassady and Paul DeWoody from the Yuba County District Attorney's Office
spoke to about 70 service professionals and community members at the
Marysville Youth and Civic Center. The event was hosted by the
Multijurisdictional Counter-Drug Task Force, a group made up of local civil
and law enforcement agencies.

It is easy for people who work with drug addicts to view them as cases
instead of people, Cassady said.

"If I can do anything, I do want to put a face to addiction," he said.
"(Addicts) are people that are related to you and it affects everyone in
every socio-economic class."

The number one prescription drug in California is painkillers, such as the
opiate Vicadin, Cassady said. Doctors can also play a role in the number of
those addicted to such drugs, he said.

Deaths from opiate use are increasing, he said. Without treatment, users
are often incarcerated, impoverished and eventually will die from the disease.

Opiates are effective in dealing with stress, endurance and pain, he said.
While it is known that the brain is the center for disease of addiction,
there is still much that needs to be understood.

DeWoody spoke about the history of drug use in the state, and gave tips to
help people look for signs of drug use and activity.

"Methamphetamine is Yuba-Sutter's biggest scourge," DeWoody said. "The
methamphetamine addict's subculture is very prevalent in our area."

Just like with the illegal manufacture of alcohol, or "moonshine," fathers
often pass on the trade of cooking meth to their children, he said.

"They were born into this," he said. "A lot are fifth generation
manufacturers, and now they've gone to the microbrewing."

It wasn't until the late 1980s, DeWoody said, that the state of California
realized it had a drug problem.

While cocaine and heroin are produced outside the United States, law
enforcement officials realized they can affect the manufacture of meth by
trying to control the chemicals that make the drug.

There are limits now to the amount of certain cold remedies that can be
bought. Ephedrine, a precursor chemical in making meth can be extracted
from Actifed and Sudafed, he said.

To circumvent the limit, people will often pile up in large vehicles and
travel to pharmacies to purchase the drug.

Other products like Drano and brake cleaners have chemicals that also help
in making meth, he said.

DeWoody urged people to watch for signs of drug activity, like neighbors
keeping odd hours and frequent foot and vehicle traffic.

During DeWoody's presentation, Steven Jones stood up to tell his own story.
He started smoking marijuana when he was 10 years old, he said, a year
after his father died.

He manufactured methamphetamine, he said, and did seven years in jail
before he put his life back together.

"A lot of people snicker and laugh," Jones, now a youth pastor for Christ
Has Risen Ministries, told the audience. "It's no laughing matter for
someone who's stuck in that," he said.

"You want to change your life, but you are scared. We need to extend our
hand to someone. We can't help those who don't want it, but when people are
ready to get help, we need to help them."