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LF crowd hears meth stories of hope
Senior Reporter LITTLE FALLS -- An estimated crowd of 170 people gathered in Little Falls Wednesday night to hear there is hope of recovery for methamphetamine addicts.
Jim Atkins, manager of admissions and case management at Hazelden Treatment Center in the Twin Cities, knows the drug and treatment firsthand.
"I'm a genuine meth addict," the San Antonio, Texas, native said.
He said people are seduced by meth because it feels so good to them in the beginning. "This is a horrible drug. It runs through people's lives in short order and tears them into pieces. When I was 13 and discovered marijuana I had no intention of becoming a drug addict. Addiction is the closest thing to slavery and imprisonment I've ever known."
When he started using meth at 18, Atkins said he was already an addict, using marijuana and alcohol. He found successful treatment in an Alcoholics Anonymous group.
Atkins also worked with about 300 men addicted to meth through treatment. Hazelden follows people who have been through treatment. In 2003, Atkins said a study of nearly 500 people found 56 percent of meth addicts abstained from the drug for a year. He said the statistic was similar for people who had abused other substances. A University of Iowa study found 60 percent of about 1,000 people treated remained free of meth one year after treatment.
Meth is serious business, Atkins said, but he added it doesn't have to be. Help is available. Atkins said addicts are not beyond redemption.
"I'm here to offer hope," said Trudy Larson, a Little Falls area mother of a recovering 23-year-old meth addict. Larson detailed her family's fight to free her son from the drug. She stressed not giving up, of being prepared to put her son out of the family home and of asking the courts for help in getting him treatment. Now after 17 months, she said her son has a positive outlook on life and feels good about himself again.
Tim Houle, Morrison County administrator, said meth is a problem that affects everyone. He said there is a concern fish houses may be used to make meth during the winter months with chemicals going down the hole in the ice.
So when people say this is a community problem that requires community effort, that is the truth, Houle said.
"We will all have to pay for it one way or another," he said. "We can't do this alone."
Morrison County Sheriff Michel Wetzel agreed, saying that's why the attendance for Wednesday's forum was so gratifying. Wetzel provided an overview of signs of meth addiction. He said he has noticed when going into meth houses there was another common thread that appeared so often it was worth mentioning.
"There are pails of agates," he said. "I don't know why that is."
The community forum at the Morrison County Government Center came about a year after an earlier session where residents talked about what needed to be done to combat meth. Citizen task forces were formed in areas of enforcement, education, prevention and treatment.
The Morrison County Board made reducing meth use in the county a priority for 2004 and 2005. The county now has two full-time drug enforcement officers. Other activities included developing informational brochures, training more than 1,500 people to make community presentations, approving new ordinances aimed at child protection in dealing with meth parents and meth lab cleanups, setting up a sheriff's office drug tip line, setting up a parent support group and putting up billboards around the county.
And the county is exploring a jail treatment program.
The goals for Wednesday's gathering were to provide information on treatment options, help parents with information on early intervention and ask residents for feedback on what needed to be done next.
Feedback from small groups at Wednesday's forum is expected to be put together in the next few days.
Mary Dickmann, Pierz, joined the enforcement task force. She said people feel they can accomplish something as a group. Dickmann had firsthand knowledge of the destructive and far-reaching aspects of meth when her son became involved with the drug.
"We've just been trying to make a difference," she said of the task force. "I think we are. You've got to keep trying. If you don't try the meth wins. We can't let the meth win. We can make a difference. We have to make a difference."
RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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