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November 28, 2009

Help available for addicts

By Rachel Brown

There is hope for people who want to get off meth.

“The vast majority of people addicted to methamphetamine have a great potential for recovery,” said Thomas Wyatt, a psychiatrist who has worked at substance abuse treatment facility Highland Rivers Center since 1996.

According to a substance abuse treatment locator at www.findtreatment.samhsa.gov/facilitylocatordoc.htm, there are 26 substance abuse treatment facilities within a 50-mile radius of Dalton, including hospitals, though not all specialize in treating meth.

Officials say meth can be a highly pleasurable drug that chemically interrupts neurotransmitters and draws on the body’s supply of dopamine until it is depleted. Dopamine creates the feeling of pleasure, and meth releases several times the amount of dopamine the body would normally release on its own. When people are high from met, they have little appetite and high levels of energy, often neither eating nor sleeping for days at a time.

Wyatt said some patients crave other drugs even when they come off meth and will simply switch one addiction for another. Detoxification takes about a week, and Wyatt said the facility has 28 beds and most of them stay full all the time.

People who continue using meth can die from a heart attack, stroke, renal failure or other complications. They also face malnutrition, extreme dental problems and sores caused by picking at the skin.

At the Dalton-based Family Resource Council, Tom Bartley, a program director, said he has delivered presentations on the effects of meth to thousands of area residents in hopes of educating people about the drug and steering them away from using it. He said the average number of times someone tries to quit meth before becoming successful is seven, and most people become addicted to meth the first time they use it.

Ann Davies, director of treatment services at Highland Rivers, said about 20 percent of the 1,325 consumers the facility served in detoxification programs from July 2008 to June 2009 were meth users. About 20 percent of the 3,100 people served in the 12-week outpatient counseling and therapy program were meth users. Since July, the percentage of meth users has risen to about 25 percent of all patients served, she said.

“We just see the rate of completion much higher when there’s a legal involvement,” she said, adding that 75 percent of people who enter the 12-week program complete it. The program involves nurses, doctors and mental health care professionals who work to address the person’s condition. It’s important to have family support, and legal intervention is often a strong motivator, she added.

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Resources

Highland Rivers Center

1710 Whitehouse Drive, Suite 204, Dalton

(706) 270-5000 or 800-923-2305



National Institute on Drug Addiction

www.nida.nih.gov



Three Rivers Behavioral Health Services

Rome

(706) 295-6084

800-493-1932



Narcotics Anonymous for Dalton area

www.naena.org

888-479-9696

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