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Wednesday, December 21, 2005 | |||
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Meth treatment takes months
not weeks, experts say Salvation Army one of few with long-term care Second of three parts The first time Christina George was arrested in 1995, she looked as if she could have been a model in a fashion magazine. At 23, her bright green eyes, thick brown hair and flawless complexion made her booking photo a picture of beauty. But nearly a decade of methamphetamine use turned George's subsequent 20 arrest pictures over seven years into horrific images. By 2002, her mug shot shows her eyes dulled and sunken, the luxuriant brown hair thinned and her face covered with welts. In many ways, George is a typical meth addict, who could not overcome the highly addictive drug's lure. Experts say meth addiction does not respond to the traditional 14- to 30-day detoxification program with follow-up counseling. Now 33, George is in prison until at least 2025 on numerous charges related to her involvement in a meth ring allegedly run by her father, Christopher Snow, 52, including shooting and wounding another meth addict, Jasmine Holland. "I can't say that there would have been anything that could have stopped me (from using meth)," she said in a recent telephone interview from the state prison in Perryville. "My family tried to intervene, and at the time, it really made sense, and I really wanted to stop, but I was a full-blown addict." George said the 10 to 15 weeks of outpatient treatment she once received as part of court-ordered intensive probation was "useless" and "lacked focus." "With meth, it's so easy and accessible, and it's so affordable," she said. "It's more of a mental addiction than a physical addiction. For a program to be helpful, it would have to be long term." Tucson has few long-term residential treatment facilities for meth addicts, even though federal statistics show that nearly 21 percent of those known to enter treatment for a drug problem are there because of their use of meth or other amphetamines. And most private insurers will cover no more than 30 days of in-patient treatment. "Meth has challenged the set ideas of detox and treatment," said Dr. Len Ditmanson of Tucson, medical director of COPE Behavioral Health Services, which offers outpatient treatment for addiction and mental illness. "Meth addicts need a good two to six months of residential treatment, followed by very effective post-discharge treatment." Javier Herrera, also of COPE and coordinator of the grass-roots Meth Free Alliance, said of Tucson's 18 substance abuse treatment facilities, The Salvation Army is one of the few to offer long-term inpatient treatment. The nonprofit, Christian Salvation Army uses religion and "work therapy" to help male drug addicts in its program. The facility's director, Capt. David Leonard, said 40 percent of those in its program at any one time are addicted to meth. Its 80-bed facility at 2716 S. Sixth Ave. serves men who agree to commit themselves to six months of rehabilitation that uses the traditional 12-step program, group sessions and daily Bible study and worship. "We never tell someone after six months, 'You have to go,' " Assistant Director John Edgemond said. The Salvation Army also requires those in treatment to devote eight hours a day to work in its warehouse, where, under the close supervision of employees and volunteers, they process donations for the charity's thrift stores. Besides teaching them work skills, it is designed to teach ethics and boost their self-esteem. Many of the employees themselves are recovering addicts, including Leonard, who has been off meth for 15 years. "We've got no problem with second, third or fourth chances," Edgemond said. Jena Russell, 33, knows the importance of long-term treatment. Four years ago, a judge sentenced the mother of three to nine months of in-patient treatment to get off meth through a special program with the primarily outpatient CODAC Las Amigas. That program, which included a stay in transitional housing, allowed her to regain custody of her youngest daughter, now 5. Her other two children live with her ex-husband in Colorado. Drug-free ever since, she said that while she was in treatment she would dream about meth, as many recovering addicts do. In one dream, she recalls "chasing the bag, getting the paraphernalia, and it breaks." "I was sitting in treatment, fantasizing about where to go (to get meth)," she said. Experts say meth use, especially long term, permanently affects the brain and causes heart and liver damage. "It's a powerful drug and has sustained changes in the brain," said Dr. Westley Clark, director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment in the federal Department of Health and Human Services. "The time for renormalization is longer. Drug-free living environments are important because it takes longer for your body to adapt." For many other meth addicts, such as Christina George, the future is bleaker. Two men in the same meth ring as George are in prison for their roles in the killing of Holland, the woman George confessed to shooting. Holland at some point became an informant for local and federal agents. George said she repeatedly tried to get off meth. In the recent interview, she recalled the courts ordering her to get treatment and some family members pleading with her to stop using. Still, she said it wasn't until this prison sentence and mandated treatment that she took her first step to recovery. "The temptation is always going to be there," she said. "I have a stretch ahead of me." | |||
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