Meth addiction on rise in Oregon

By The Associated Press

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PORTLAND — Methamphetamine addiction has overtaken alcohol as the most treated drug problem among Oregon teens, trailing only marijuana.

According to state Department of Human Services statistics, the number of treatment admissions for girls ages 17 and under has jumped 57 percent since 1999. And it's grown steadily among boys in the same age group.

Last year, more than 1,700 children were treated for methamphetamine abuse in Oregon, according to the state Office of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

More than 1,000 were girls — up from around 630 in 1999. Meth treatment for boys rose from about 600 to 742.

While Oregon treats more people for meth addiction per capita than any other state, experts didn't foresee heavy use emerging among young teens. The synthetic drug, they said, seemed too extreme for a group typically reluctant to experiment beyond cigarettes, marijuana and alcohol.

Now, methamphetamine has surpassed alcohol and trails only marijuana as the most-treated drug addiction in the state's residential-care programs for children younger than 17.

"It came on so quickly," Devarshi Bajpai, a specialist who develops state treatment programs and policies, told The Oregonian. "We're still working on treatment strategies for adults and don't know if they'll even work with adolescents."

For many of Oregon's juvenile meth users, the habit begins in middle school, authorities say. The illicit drug seems to be losing its stigma among teens, mainly because they have discovered it can be taken without a needle.

"It's almost cool to do it now," said Thuy Vanderlinde, a Multnomah County drug-treatment manager.

But methamphetamine addiction can be especially devastating on minds and bodies that are still growing, treatment providers say. Over time, as addiction causes molecular changes in the brain, meth amplifies pre-existing problems, such as low self-esteem, stress or depression.
 
By the time teens need treatment, they are often anxious and sweating, battling body aches, looking confused and sometimes suffering from open sores after hours of scratching imaginary "meth bugs."

In Multnomah County, 11 of 15 residential-care beds available for heavily addicted juvenile offenders are occupied by young meth users.

Ryan Currier, a 17-year-old Aloha boy who just entered Multnomah County's residential-care unit, started using meth at 13.

One hit — about $10 on the street — and he could stay up all night. Once, he pedaled his bike across the Columbia River into Washington state and north of Vancouver.

When he was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center in October, Currier weighed 100 pounds, down from 150.

"My teeth were going," he said. "I broke one on a piece of candy."

"No one, not my friends, not that guy who sold it to me, no one told me about this," Currier said.