Teen Meth Addiction

While statistics show that meth use among teens and middle-school students has been level for the last few years, experts caution that the numbers can be deceiving, because meth seems to spread in pockets, leaving some regions or populations relatively untouched while others are devastated by teen meth addiction.

"Meth is an oddball in that way," says Caleb Banta-Green, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington's Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute. "You never know where it's going to hit." But when it does, it often hits hard -- with few states evading meth's reach.

In Nebraska, two 20-year-olds who were high on meth froze to death after getting lost in a snowstorm in January. In Oregon, officials recently reported that teen meth addiction is second only to marijuana -- surpassing alcohol -- as the drug that sends the most teens to treatment there. Nebraska and Oregon are among the nearly two dozen states that have entrenched teen meth addiction problems, most of them in the West and Midwest, according to state-by-state advisories that the Drug Enforcement Administration released this year.

Recently there have been many studies on teen meth addiction. One such study shows that 1 in 33 U.S. teens has tried meth, nearly a quarter say it would be easy to get meth, and some see benefits to meth use. The survey included about 2,600 students aged 12-17 at 43 public, private, and parochial junior and senior high schools nationwide. The margin of error is on average +/- 2 percentage points.

During class last spring, the students completed the confidential surveys about methamphetamine (meth) use. The results show that most teens haven't tried meth. But many say they could get meth pretty easily if they tried.

Another study on teen meth addiction found that nearly a quarter of teens say it would be "very easy" or "somewhat easy" to gain access to methamphetamine. One in three teens also believes there is only a "slight risk" or "no risk" in trying meth once or twice, according to the study by The Meth Project, a nonprofit anti-drug group that produces gritty ads to show the perils of meth abuse.

Additional info from this second study on teen meth addiction found that approximately one in four teens said there are benefits to using meth. Twenty-four percent of teens agreed with the statement that meth "makes you feel euphoric or very happy," while 22 percent said meth "helps you lose weight" and 22 percent said it "helps you deal with boredom."

Lawmakers and government officials said that this survey on teen meth addiction highlights the need for an aggressive public education campaign to inform kids about the dangers of this highly addictive stimulant. "For kids, meth is death," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "And if we really want to do something about improving the survival of our adolescents and help them become healthy adults, we've got to tackle this problem head on."

A third study on teen meth addiction shows 35 percent of teenagers think there's little or no risk in trying the drug, and that's a trend experts say needs to stop. Since January, the Effingham County Georgia sheriff's office has arrested 20 people on meth-related charges and shut down eight meth labs.

"This is a drug 4-5 times more powerful than crack cocaine. Georgia ranks third in the country for teen meth addiction, " said Jim Langford, executive director of the Georgia Meth Project. The Georgia Meth Project brought their message to Effingham County Tuesday. Experts talked about the dangers of teen meth addiction and the cost. The cost to Georgia is $1.3 billion a year in everything from lost productivity to healthcare costs, foster care costs, all kinds of things, said Langford.

Although it may be a bit difficult to recognize the warning signs that your child has a teen meth addiction, there are a few that you can look out for. These signs are usually tied to some sort of drug use or trouble that your teenager could be in:

• Your teen has aggressive behavior.
• Your teen has burn marks on their finger or mouth. When using meth, users will smoke it out of a pipe, which can get quite hot.
• Your teen has nervous behavior or tics. Scratching of the skin and/or twitching are also warning signs.
• Your teen is having unusual sleeping habits. Teens that are using meth are known to stay awake for days and then sleep for days straight. Also, if your teenager is very energetic and alert, after being awake for days could be a great sign of meth usage.
• Your teen is lying more often and showing withdrawal. Secretiveness is always a sign that something is up with a teenager. If your teen no longer wants to spend time with old friends or family members, it could be due to teen meth addiction.
• Your teen is stealing money or valuable items from your home.
• Your teen's appetite has decreased and he or she has lost weight. Many teens that use meth avoid eating, which results to being emaciated.
• Your teenager is showing an attitude of carelessness about their appearance and life overall.