Meth use rockets sky high

By Jules Lindgren
Daily Universe Staff Reporter
3 Nov 2005

The statistics of methamphetamine are grim: Nationally, the percentage of addicts has skyrocketed from 27.5 percent of users in 2002 to 59.3 percent last year.

And here in Utah County, more than half of users are women, primarily single mothers between the ages of 18 and 30.

While once an unknown drug hidden in the shadows behind more notorious, headline-grabbing drugs like cocaine and heroin, methamphetamine or meth, has gained its own notoriety with its quick addiction and body-ravaging qualities.

The National Surveys on Drug Use and Health October report showed the actual number of methamphetamine users has remained fairly stable over the last three years. However, the percentage of users considered dependant or abusers increased from 27.5 percent of users in 2002 to 59.3 percent last year.

"Meth is probably the number one drug in Utah. I have little doubt of that," said Kirk Torgensen, chief deputy for the Attorney General's Office.

The Utah County Division of Substance Abuse shows an estimated 8,000 people in Utah abuse drugs – and one in four of them abuse meth.

One of the most attractive, and also most dangerous characteristics of the drug is that is that it is relatively easy and inexpensive to make and obtain, said Tim Adams, program director of The Gathering Place, a drugs, alcohol and pornography treatment center.

"It doesn't take having these connections with some Colombian drug boss to get it," Adams said.

Methamphetamines are stimulants and are often used the same way a person would use heroin or cocaine. They are also equally or more addictive, Adams said. One of the addictive factors is how quickly the drug gets into the bloodstream. Smoked, snorted or shot intravenously, meth takes less than 10 seconds to hit the bloodstream, studies show.

Meth use tends to heighten experiences, whether they be social, physical or sexual, but also leads to almost psychotic symptoms, Adams said.

"Someone who is using meth has a lot of the symptoms of schizophrenia: paranoia, racing thoughts, talking fast, and sometimes incoherently," Adams said.

Signs that a person is a meth user also include staying up for days and then sleeping for days, poor hygiene, rotten teeth and, for those who shoot up, red puss-filled bumps on the arms.

Over the last five years, meth use has seen its most dramatic increase among women. Director of Utah County Substance Abuse Richard Vance described a typical meth user as a young woman between 18 and 30 who is a single mom with a couple of kids.

In fact, 54 percent of people treated for meth abuse are women. Vance said this is unusual because, in general, men make up the highest portion of drug abusers for other substances.

Vance said one of the reasons women are more at risk for meth use is the desire to be "Wonder Woman." Meth gives users a big energy boost which women can use to do housework, yard work and other activities. Another factor is the pressure to be skinny and attractive: many women begin using meth as a form of weight control.

Once trapped in a meth addiction, it is difficult to break free. Not only must an addict struggle against the addiction, but most often there aren't funds for treatment.

Of the 2,000 meth users in Utah County, only 313 received treatment through the county last year, Vance said.

"It's not very hard to treat them," Vance said. "It's hard to fund their treatment."

Meth use has traditionally been associated with western states, and only recently has become a problem on the east coast, Vance said.

"It's become an east-coast problem, so now it's a national problem," he said. "When it was just big square states out in the west, nobody cared."

However, Vance said, he was recently in Washington, D.C. working with Utah representative Chris Cannon, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control Methamphetamine, to educate House members about the issue. Now that the federal government is more aware of the dangers of meth, several bills are coming up in the House of Representatives that deal with preventing and solving the problems related to meth use. Torgensen said the Attorney Generals Office, in the meantime is working to educate people about the dangers of methamphetamine and trying to make it more difficult to obtain the drug.