meth-free

December 3, 2006

BY DIMITRA LAVRAKAS

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Last Thursday, in recognition of The White House-proclaimed National Methamphetamine Awareness Day, the Boys and Girls club house in Wasilla was decked with handwritten, anti-drug signs reading: &#8220My anti-drug is hockey. I love being on the ice and the wind hitting my face,” and &#8220My anti-drug is my family and friends.”

It was also a day to celebrate the $15,000 in U.S. Department of Justice grants to offer MethSMART, an anti-meth program for ages six to adults, said Randi Binion-Olson, prevention coordinator. McLaughlin Youth Center has also received $15,000. Both locations join 20 other states that received funding.

Lacee Thorne, 16, Ryen Worrell, 11, and Daniel Beers, 15, were in charge of escorting visitors for a tour of the spacious facilities full of games, books and things to do. When asked if any of them knew first-hand of anyone who had been addicted to meth, Worrell said he had. He knew of one person, who gave birth to an addicted baby who died, and as far as he knew, she was doing better now that she had quit the drug.

The program balances age-targeted curriculum and parent and staff educational pieces to builds an effective set of tools to arm youth with the will to resist experimenting, even just once, with methamphetamine.

The trio joined Boys and Girls Club Chief Executive Officer John Oates and former Mat-Su Borough Mayor Tim Anderson, in presenting state Sen. Lyda Green with an anti-meth banner the kids made.

Green said she thought the bill the legislature passed last year seemed to be what was needed.

&#8220The one passed last year had pretty much everything everyone wanted,” said Green. &#8220The federal ban on sale of Sudafed in stores has helped, but it is so hard to put your hands on what to do to keep people form breaking the law. People who are into methamphetamine don't care about the law.”

Meanwhile, Anderson is also waging a battle against meth through the Alaska Meth Education Project. Its Web site is www.Alaska.MethEd.com and it's sobering to log onto the &#8220Faces of Meth” link. Here, before and after pictures of meth users dramatically show the ravages of the addiction.

Earlier this year, Anderson approached U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski about available federal funds to address the problem. Anchorage, Mat-Su, Kenai, Juneau, and Fairbanks jumped on board to develop a statewide meth education campaign. Each location has thrown in money, and in the last week of the 2006 legislative session, Rep. Jay Ramras (R-Fairbanks), added $100,000 to the state budget for the project.

Anderson said later that the board would probably be up and running after the New Year. The Web site just went up three weeks ago.

&#8220We're still waiting for mayors to nominate their representatives,” he said on Friday.

There's many sites on the Web in which to learn about meth, and several sites display telltale things to look for if someone is using.

Short-term effects include: loss of appetite, faster breathing, increased heart rate and blood pressure, increased body temperature, sweating, dilation of pupils, bizarre, erratic, sometimes violent behavior, with larger doses - hallucinations, talkativeness, sense of power and superiority, restlessness, hyperexcitability, irritability which can lead to panic and paranoid psychosis (disappears if discontinued) Excessive doses may lead to convulsions, seizures and death from respiratory failure, stroke, cerebral hemorrhage or heart failure.

Long-term effects include: destruction of tissues in nose if sniffed, respiratory problems if smoked, infectious diseases, abscesses, if injected, malnutrition, weight loss, disorientation, apathy, confused exhaustion due to lack of sleep, development of tolerance, strong psychological dependence, and with continued use, a state similar to paranoid psychosis may develop. After stopping, there usually follows a long period of sleep and then depression

According to the information form the Drug Enforcement Administration, more than 20 percent of meth labs seized last year had children and youth present. Small towns seems to be the place for meth addicts with 104 percent more users likely to live there.

The Boys and Girls Clubs hopes to change this with the new curriculum, and from the cheers of the kids at the celebration on Friday, they might just do it.

Contact Dimitra Lavrakas at 352-2269