Access #: 517302
Headline: Effects of meth use can be devestating: Scientists say the drug may irreversibly damage the brain, leading to depression, suicidal impulses and schizophrenia.
Date: 01/25/00
Day: Tuesday
Credit: The Press -Enterprise
Section: A Section
Zone: ALL ZONES
Page: A01
Byline: Dion Nissenbaum and David Kelly
Caption: Mark Zaleski; The Press -Enterprise ; 1. LITTLE VICTIM: A 5-year-old boy sits in an undercover police car in Palm Springs. The boy had to be decontaminated because of possible exposure to dangerous chemicals after investigators found a clandestine drug lab in the home where he lived. 2. FAMILY AFFAIR: Palm Springs police Officer Nelson Figueroa bundles two brothers against the cold outside a home in Palm Springs in November. The boys, 5 and 8 years old, lived in the home with their mother and her boyfriend, seated on either side of the children. Police found a clandestine drug lab at the home. 3. HELPING OTHERS: Clarence "Clancy" Miller, a former methamphetamine user who counsels other addicts, speaks during a rehab session at the Inland Behavioral Health and Services center in San Bernardino in December.
Art: PHOTOS ; CHART ; ILLUSTRATION
Notes: See sidebars: "Officers concerned about labs' effects" & "Lives scarred, stalled by addiction"
Subject: CRIME; NARCOTICS
Keys: SOURCE NATION; METHAMPHETAMINE ; METH LABS; HEALTH EFFECTS; SOCIAL IMPACT
Type: SERIES
Southern California's remote and rural terrain has long served as
a fertile breeding ground for the methamphetamine epidemic
spreading across the nation.
The region is now acting as a laboratory for teams of scientists
trying to figure out what the drug does to the body and how to help
people kick what can be a crippling addiction.
Although use of methamphetamine became common in the 1960s, not
much had been done to study the drug until recently.
Word is starting to get out about the research, and people don't
like what they're hearing.
Scientists say methamphetamine users often suffer schizophrenia,
manic depression and suicidal impulses. Worst of all, studies have
shown that the drug may permanently alter the brain.
"You have literally changed the landscape of the brain," said
Paul Brethen, director of the Matrix Institute in Rancho
Cucamonga, a drug research and treatment office. "Cocaine
doesn't do that."
Studies also have shown that monkeys given just 10 doses of
methamphetamine suffer a severe reduction of dopamine, a body
chemical that allows one to feel pleasure, aids memory and boosts
concentration, among other things. Effects in monkeys have lasted
two years and longer.
That has alarmed scientists trying to find a way to help people
battle the addiction. Unless something is done, "you will see a
generation of brain-damaged people," Brethen said. "We are
losing sanity and destroying potential."
* * *
Inland area a test tube
Because methamphetamine has such a hold on drug users in
Southern California, the region has become one big test tube for
researchers.
Among the projects:
* Brethen and the Matrix Institute are spearheading a nationwide
study using the anti-depressant sertraline to see if it helps
people kick their addiction.
* Dr. Carrie Fisher, chief of West Coast operations for the
Friends Research Institute in Hollywood, is working with the Matrix
team in the Inland area to determine what effect methamphetamine
has on children whose mothers used the drug during pregnancy.
* In Los Angeles, a team led by renowned Edythe London of the
National Institute on Drug Abuse is examining the physical
landscape of the human brain to try to map the changes taking
place.
All three projects should be completed in the next few years.
Methamphetamine appears to cause long-term damage to the brain's
neurons, said Richard Rawson, executive director of research at
the Los Angeles Addiction Research Consortium, which oversees
Matrix, Friends Research and other programs.
Brain scans of longtime meth users show major damage to axons,
which are long, single fibers that transmit messages from cells
to neurons. They appear on the scans as though they were chopped
off. The axons may regenerate as much as two years after drug
use has stopped, but they grow back in mangled clumps, their
shape and configuration greatly changed.
The result is a change in brain wiring that may be permanent and
can cause delusions, schizophrenia and depression, say
researchers.
Rawson said a one-year follow-up on former methamphetamine
addicts showed many suffering from headaches, depression and
anxiety.
"Even after a year, they are not fully back to normal," he said.
"It is real apparent to us (that) their ability to think was
clearly compromised much differently than those using opiates
and alcohol."
The reason is that methamphetamine actually penetrates the brain
synapses while cocaine, heroin and low quantities of alcohol
don't, researchers say.
* * *
Meth users know dangers
Those who work with methamphetamine addicts don't need studies
to understand the problems.
Clarence "Clancy" Miller sees the results of drug use every day
as the president of the board of directors of Dual Diagnoses
Anonymous in San Bernardino County. Miller helped launch the
counseling program four years ago to help addicts - mostly
methamphetamine users - combat their addiction and mental
illness. The program, modeled after the Alcoholics Anonymous
program but geared toward drug addicts, started in San
Bernardino and has spread nationwide.
Miller, 56, works at Inland Behavioral and Health Services in
San Bernardino. He knows about the problem firsthand.
He was so hooked on the synthetic drug that he would grind his
teeth obsessively. The intense grinding over 21 years led him to
chew through most of his jawbone. The jaw was eventually replaced
with a piece of his hipbone.
Miller, who has been clean for 11 years, said his drug abuse led
to manic behavior and clinically diagnosed depression.
"Those who use methamphetamine are worse off than others - they
are more paranoid; they are fearful and have a sense of impending
doom," Miller said.
In San Bernardino, Larry Sparger runs another Dual Diagnoses
meeting.
Sparger, 51, a ponytailed former rock musician, used
methamphetamine for 27 years and now suffers from manic depression
and is on medication. Like Miller, his illness did not exist before
using methamphetamine , he said.
"I have accepted the fact that I have brain damage," he said.
"If I hadn't quit, I would have ended up in a mental ward."
Prescription drugs stabilize his mood swings, but the Valley
College student says he still has little ability to concentrate and
must read a page four or five times to comprehend and remember it.
"I go through days with no concentration, some days not (being)
able to concentrate, so I just put down the book," he said. "When
you are high on heroin, you sleep, but with methamphetamine you
literally go crazy. You have 10 projects going, and nothing gets
done."
Steven, a bearded man with a fixed stare, called the meeting to
order.
The 36-year-old former methamphetamine addict and diagnosed
schizophrenic read a prayer.
Then he launched into a rambling monologue about his life and
addiction. He talked about stripping off his clothes in the
streets, of attacking people who said something "that (didn't)
seem right to me.
"I have tantrum attacks all the time," he said. "I explode
easily. Then I just sleep."
Sparger leans over.
"You should see him when he's not on his medication," he says
quietly. "What you see here is only the tip of the iceberg. It
scares the hell out of me."
Too often, the chaos shifts to the next generation when addicts
have children.
In November, Riverside County sheriff's deputies busted a Palm
Springs lab in which children were at risk of toxic exposure.
Police had to hose down two young boys and two adults who lived
in the house amid the dangerous chemicals. A red tarp provided
privacy in the chilly night as, one at a time, all four undressed
to be decontaminated.
The 5-year-old and 8-year-old emerged and walked across the
front yard in plastic suits fitted with boots and hoods. They
chatted with police and played and laughed inside a patrol car
while their mother and her boyfriend sat handcuffed on chairs
in the yard. Child-protection workers took the children from
the home.
* * *
Young and impaired
Sometimes a child can be injured by meth long before leaving the
womb.
Junior's mother smoked methamphetamine throughout her pregnancy,
and the boy arrived in this world a shrieking addict, capable of
crying for almost 24 hours a day.
"When he was born, he had the shakes real bad. He cried a lot,"
said his grandmother, who now cares for the 8-year-old.
His parents rented a small apartment, where they continued to
smoke the drug in the boy's presence.
"He was 2 when I got him," said his grandmother, who has custody
of the child in Riverside County and asked that neither be
identified. "He was traumatized. He just pointed at things and
screamed all the time."
Shortly after she got custody of Junior, psychiatrists examining
the boy did an electroencephalogram (EEG). They said it was too
soon to know whether he was brain-damaged. But he exhibits
symptoms similar to what former methamphetamine addicts
experience. He can't concentrate, suffers paranoia, has
difficulty remembering basic facts and suffers anxiety attacks.
He attends a special public school. An assessment form prepared
by the school psychologist says, "He displays severe difficulties
and greater need in nonverbal reasoning and perceptual and visual
motor organization."
The boy has the cognitive skills of a child just under 3 years
old, the report says. He can count only to 14 and cannot remember
the shapes of numerals, it says.
"All the doctors told me it was because of the drugs," his
grandmother said.
Junior's speech impediment, combined with his fast rate of
talking, makes him almost impossible to understand.
Dressed in a white shirt, brown pants and thick glasses, he
labors with a pencil going from right to left trying to write
his name.
Finally, a vague outline of "Junior" appears.
He writes numbers backward.
"I'm 7, and next year I'll be 6," he said proudly.
His grandmother gently tries to correct him.
Within the next two years, Junior will undergo another EEG to
determine if he is brain-damaged.
"I would like to make cars and houses," said Junior, adjusting
his slipping glasses. "I want to build things."
His grandmother smiles.
"The teachers say he can lead a normal life," said his
grandmother. "But he won't be a doctor or lawyer."
* * *
* * *
Meth believed toxic to brain
Methamphetamine is an addictive drug that stimulates areas of
the brain that regulate feelings of pleasure. However, unlike
cocaine and other stimulants, researchers believe high doses as
well as prolonged use of meth can severely damage brain cells.
Healthy brain cells
Brain cells, or neurons, communicate messages to each other
through their nerve endings, or axons. These messages coordinate
and control the body.
Damage from meth
Long-time meth users show permanent major damage to brain axons
almost as if they've been chopped off. They may regenerate, but
their shape is altered, causing a permanent change in the brain.
---
Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse research report
* * *
* * *
Meth labs: Exposure signs and symptoms
* Eyes
watery discharge, dilated pupils, blurred vision, loss of
vision, thickening of the cornea, moderate to severe burns.
* Skin
drying, irritation and redness, mild to severe burns, skin
blisters, hives.
* Lungs and respiratory
sneezing, coughing, difficult or labored breathing, ulceration
of the nose, bronchitis, congestion, throat spasms, asthma,
pneumonia, stiffness of the lungs, decreased oxygen in the
system, fluid in lungs, respiratory failure, death.
* Heart
abnormal heartbeat
* Other problems
liver damage, kidney damage, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain,
headache, dizziness, lack of coordination, fatigue, confusion,
unconsciousness, trouble with reproductive functions, sores,
irritation of mouth and gums, white blood cell imbalance,
shaking, seizures, body weakness.
---
Source: San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, Protocol for
Drug Endangered Children
Graphics by The Press -Enterprise
Eric Vilchis 02/18/00