Youth Institute luncheon addresses meth among youths

Friday, November 21, 2014

With the use of methamphetamine rising among Indiana's youth, many community leaders recently attended a Youth Worker Cafe luncheon at the Putnam County Hospital in hopes of gaining a better understanding on what the effects are of such a drug.

The presentation, which was hosted by The Indiana Youth Institute in corporation with the Children's Bureau, United Way of Putnam County, Putnam County Youth Development Commission, Mental Health American of Putnam County and Putnam County Family Support Services gave community members an overview of the life-long effects of meth use as well as the growing problem among Indiana's youth.

Troopers Adam Edwards and Shilo Raulston of the Indiana State Police Methamphetamine Suppression Section conducted the 90-minute luncheon, which began with some shocking statistics as Raulston brought to light just how bad the issue is in Indiana.

"A lot of times whenever you go to a meth lab it's just inherently filthy, nasty and dangerous environment," Raulston explained. "It may be as simple as seeing a bottle of Mountain Dew with some sludge in the bottom and you not knowing what it is and it might kill you."

Raulston advised that as of August 2014, there have been 1,027 meth labs across the entire state or an average of five per day and although that number is down from the 1,551 found in 2013, there is still a lot more work to be done as this year alone. A total of 458 children were removed from lab environments in 2013.

"Here's why you're seeing more children, because in other drugs such as cocaine or heroin, the women use probably about 30 percent," Raulston explained. "With methamphetamine it's about 50 percent men and 50 percent women who use and the reason for that is because a lot of women will get addicted to it because they think they could lose weight and get off of it or it's introduced as a sexual stimulant by their partners."

Raulston noted that this year alone, 253 children have been removed from lab environments, many of them testing positive for the drug.

"A third to a quarter of all labs have children in them," Raulston added. "Whenever that's the case, 35 percent of all children that were raised where labs are test positive for methamphetamines when they are removed. The vast majority of that is because most people who use methamphetamines smoke it, so it stays in the air."

Not only is smoking the drug an issue, but most users also are known to not be the cleanliest people in the world, thus it can be very easy for a child to be exposed by such things as being stuck by a needle or picking up a cotton swab that's been soaked in a meth solution and putting it in their mouth.

"They're always exposed and it's always available," Raulston added. "All of these children also suffer some sort of abuse or neglect. The neglect usually comes during the crash phase."

Those who are addicts go through three phases, binge, tweaking and crash. When they are in any of these three phases, the addict is likely to ignore their children, which results in neglect and emotional abuse.

"With their first hit, they become addicted right away, especially if it's smoked," Raulston said. "Once they're on methamphetamine, they start to relate to the drug. They don't relate to you, they don't relate to their children, they don't relate to anybody but the drug."

During the first 1-14 days of the binge phase, children are said to face a lot of neglect, sexual abuse and sometimes strangers in and out of the home.

"They all know each other," Raulston said. "It's like a huge (dysfunctional) family. They all protect each other and they all throw each other under the bus as well."

During the tweak phase, which lasts 1-5 days, users start to hallucinate and become paranoid thus physical and sexual abuse are common as well as domestic violence. Following the tweak, users are known to crash for a period of one to four days.

"We've hit labs and houses where we couldn't even get them to wake up," Trooper Edwards noted. "They are out. There is no waking them up."

It is during the crash phase that parents are too busy relating to the drug to pay attention to their children. Thus, children are likely to develop such traits as shyness, inability to relate to adults and aggressiveness.

The internal effects of methamphetamine include increased heart rate, high blood pressure, insomnia and dehydration, while the physical effects include such things as nasal damage and bleeding, dry itchy skin, acne or sores, rapid breathing, increased body temperature, hot flashes, nausea, exhaustion once the drug wears off, numbness of hands and feet as well as organ damage, especially to the liver, lungs and kidneys. Those who use often develop a disturbed personality or methamphetamine psychosis as well as a deficient immune system.

"They become paranoid," Edwards explained. "A lot of times we'll go into houses and a VCR or a TV will be taken apart because they believe that the government is watching them or somebody's listening in. This is because they can't sleep, they need something to do."

Both Raulston and Edwards noted that although there has been a drop in meth labs this year in Indiana -- due to the drug coming in from Mexico -- Indiana still leads the nation in meth-related incidents.

"We have had a 25 percent drop of meth labs this year in Indiana at this point," Raulston said. "That's because the meth from Mexico is coming in. It's just as potent and it's purer than what we have. The cost on the street isn't any more expensive, it's about $100-$120 per gram."

For more information about the Indiana State Police Methamphetamine Suppression Section or to report suspected meth use contact the ISP Putnamville Post at 653-4114. Persons may also visit isp.in.gov/meth for more information.

"We know they're human beings, we know it's a sickness," Edwards said. "Let's face it, they made a choice -- to ingest something, smoke, use or become a meth cook. At this point in time, the rise in methamphetamine and how it's affecting our youth is at a rate now that we have to turn it on and off like a switch. I'm not going to have a whole lot of sympathy for you when you're producing the drug or doing something like that, that's going to affect the younger children who don't have a choice. "

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