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| 31 October 2000 Female Meth Use Raging Countywide SAN DIEGO, CA – Four out of every ten women arrested for crimes in San Diego County test positive for meth at the time of arrest. And that's actually the good news. The San Diego County Methamphetamine Strike Force, using data from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program (ADAM) of the National Institute of Justice, reports the number is down only slightly from just two years ago. As thousands of San Diegans continue to check into county treatment centers seeking help for drug addiction, San Diego County health figures reveal that nearly half of all patients are women and young girls struggling to kick meth-specific addictions. "The Strike Force is convinced there's a younger, feminine face behind San Diego County's long-standing problem with this highly addictive stimulant," said Dianne Jacob, Chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors. "We're determined to empower the community with this information so we can steer users into treatment and protect women and girls who are at-risk," Jacob said. "Most disturbing is meth use by young females taken to juvenile hall," said Susan Pennell, Director of Criminal Justice Research for the San Diego Association of Governments. "During the first six months of this year, over a third of San Diego girls showed recent meth use compared to less than 10 percent of boys," she said. "Meth is so sinister that, at first, it appears 'custom-made' to women users," explains Rich Bradway, who directs a highly specialized meth recovery program at the EYE/ Family Recovery Center in Oceanside. "Meth gives women more energy and it suppresses the appetite so women loose weight," he said. "At the same time, the drug is destroying the production of natural 'feel good' chemicals in the brain," Bradway warned. "Women mistakenly believe that meth is enhancing their lives and they seldom see the need to seek treatment," Bradway said. "It often takes an arrest or an equally tragic situation to make the meth user believe her life is out of control," he said. |
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