Less than four months ago, 22-year-old Sarah Joliff was still on a drug addict's merry-go-round. For more than three years, she'd been in and out of jails, courts and treatment centers. She'd long ago lost her college scholarship and her home.

"I was struggling," said Joliff, who was addicted to methamphetamine. "I wanted to quit every day, and every day I woke up wanting to use."

Today Joliff has more than 90 days clean and sober. She credits an experimental treatment program, called Prometa, that offers addicts a glimmer of hope through a combination of an antihistamine, a sedative and an antidepressant that stops the drug cravings.

Joliff was among 40 people — all of whom were stuck in the Pierce County drug-court system because they couldn't stay away from drugs — who were given a chance to try a new treatment for addiction through a pilot program.

Pierce County Alliance, the county's treatment center, found that 92.5 percent of the participants remained drug-free in the first three months of the trial — while 98 percent of the weekly random urine analyses tested negative for substance abuse. The relapse rate in drug court is about 50 percent.

"The results are nothing less than stunning," said John H. Hill, the director of Pierce County's public-defender department. "It's the first major treatment change seen in 30 years."

Hill was among the Pierce County experts who presented the early results of the pilot program at a Drug Court Training Conference recently at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.

Prometa is based on three medicines that were originally approved by the FDA for other maladies — the antihistamine hydroxyzine; flumezanil, which counteracts the effects of sedatives; and the anticonvulsant Neurontin — but which together have shown great promise for addicts.

The treatment does not seek to replace conventional psychosocial treatment, such as 12-step programs, but seeks to redress the brain-chemical damage and imbalances caused by addictions, said Dr. Matthew Torrington at the Prometa Center, the flagship operation in Los Angeles.

According to Hill, Pierce County has a meth problem seven times worse than King County's, based on the number of addicts seen in drug courts.

More than 40 percent of all cases that end up in felony and family-law courtrooms are the result of meth addictions, he said.

Combating those addictions has been nearly impossible for some people, said Terree Schmidt-Whelan, director of Pierce County Alliance treatment center.

The people who were given the option to take Prometa previously had no success breaking the habit, she said.

"I've never seen anything that has as much promise ... as Prometa," said Schmidt-Whelan, who has worked in drug treatment for 30 years. "One hundred percent of the people reported feeling better."

Of the three pharmaceutical drugs that are administered during the treatment, one is given orally and two are administered intravenously once a day for three days. A second cycle of infusions is administered about three weeks later.

The treatment is finite, not habit-forming and shows few side effects, Torrington said.

Prometa, which costs private clients about $15,000, is being tested as a treatment for alcohol, methamphetamine and cocaine addiction in a number of clinical studies that are expected to be completed sometime next year, Torrington said.

Some addiction experts warn that Prometa is not a panacea. Addictions are the result of a complicated blend of physical, emotional and mental problems that cannot be cured with a pill.

But the success of the pilot program, which began in February, is compelling, say addiction counselors.

"I've worked in this field 23 years and I've never seen anything as successful," Lisa Daheim said. "I watch people come in and it's literally as if someone took a washcloth and washed the wrinkles and anxieties and dirt and fears off of their faces. They look like different people."

For Joliff, the change has been dramatic. Her family now welcomes her home; she has a job; and she's thinking about college again.

In addition to forsaking the meth, Joliff also gave up cigarettes.

"It's hard to explain but all the urges and cravings were gone," she said. "I felt the changes immediately. I felt like I had my life again."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com

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