Some Wyoming teens and young adults believe that methamphetamine is low-risk and easily accessible, according to a new statewide survey by the Wyoming Meth Project.
The study of meth use and attitudes toward the drug in Wyoming indicates that 23 percent of people between the ages of 12 and 24 see little or no risk in trying meth, and more than half of teens said the drug is easily obtainable from within the community.
"My guess would be that this is what they hear from other people and what they've known other people to experience," said Jean Davies, executive director of the Wyoming Meth Project.
Thirty percent of teens and nearly 50 percent of young adults in the survey indicated that they believe there are significant benefits to meth use, including weight loss and increased happiness.
"Of course, people who use meth definitely lose weight," Davies said. "It's just that they go for days without sleeping. And it gives you energy because it's speed. They make it with such horrible, horrible things that it's tearing up your body. And the addiction is so bad."
Of parents surveyed, 65 percent said it would be at least somewhat easy for their children to acquire meth, but 48 percent of teens and young adults said their parents have never spoken with them about the drug.
Overwhelmingly, parents said there was very little or no chance their children had ever tried meth.
"I don't think it applies just to meth. People want to believe their kids would never do something so dangerous," Davies said. "You don't want to think your kid would do something that would harm them."
Davies said she doesn't think parents are being irresponsible about the drug, rather that communication between kids and adults is essential to fighting future addictions.
"It's so crucial that we keep getting this out there. One of our big pushes is to get kids and parents talking, and our education model is why we want them talking about it," she said. "If they're talking to their kids, chances are the kids are going to talk back."
The Wyoming Meth Project, launched in June, is modeled after a national version of the project and was created to educate the state's young people of the risks of methamphetamine through public service messaging, public policy and community outreach.
Casper Star-Tribune publisher Nathan Bekke is a member of the Wyoming Meth Project board.
Contact reporter Megan Lee at (307) 266-0589 or megan.lee@trib.com
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Comments to this story.
METH_IS_DEATH wrote on Jul 22, 2008 8:55 AM:
There are only a few companies in the world that make the main ingredient used in the manufacture of METH. These companies should be put out of business. Period. Suffer through your cold secure in the knowledge that your doing your part in reducing the demand for the legally manufactured inGREEDient. Do not buy any product that contains this inGREEDient anymore.
Dealers and manufacturers in these homemade cooking labs should either be executed or imprisoned for life with no chance of parole.
Users should be placed in special rehabilitation facilities designed only for users of METH for a period of 1 to 3 years. Multiple offenses 5 to 10 years. Not a prison, mind-you, but removing these users from our streets will also reduce the demand, and the crime rate, and other METH-induced tragedies.
This opinion comes from a bleeding heart liberal.
If this drug isn't stopped and stopped soon, ya'll might as well change the signs leading into the state to read "Welcome to Wonderful METHoyming!...But at least were not below Wisconsin anymore!"
Ok..that was a little insulting, but not as insulting to the human indignities I've seen this WMD do to the beloved people of the state I grew up in... But Wyoming has the worst record of METH abuse in the entire country. "
David wrote on Jul 22, 2008 7:06 PM:
I am heartbroken to find that my goal... some of the most pristine lands in the Lower 48 might be polluted with the lowest scourge that has affected all of the big cities on both the East and West coasts.
I sampled Meth on a dare. It is powdered EVIL. NEVER AGAIN "
babs wrote on Jul 22, 2008 7:14 PM:
David wrote on Jul 22, 2008 7:23 PM:
METH_IS_DEATH wrote on Jul 23, 2008 5:03 AM:
Years ago when China was overtaken with Mao and his thugs, their solution was to shoot all the addicts of opium. Maybe you'd prefer that...
Stop the companies that make it, Stop buying the legal products made from it. Demand that your pharmacies, and other stores that offer it stop selling it period.
Stick them all together in one place? Nah...spread them out. Have the facilities be like giant gyms with all the machines hooked into the power grid. The METHheads have plenty of energy from all that speed and they can stay up for days at a time. We'll have them run 24/7 contributing electricity back into the power grid.
Of course, as ludicrous as that paragraph above sounds, its better than Mao's solution.
These places can do something beneficial - whatever that may be - and humane to them to keep them clean and the community free. Yes, babs it will be a whole new industry.
But first things first...educate your children about this menace. Reclassify it as a WMD. Stop the companies that are making it. Make your local pharmacies stop carrying it. Forever remove the home-based-lab makers and the dealers. Relocate the addicts to reduce the demand detoxify them, reeducate them, give them repurpose and hope for a better life.
How many more innocent lives will be lost before we really do something about this WMD? As I've said before, there are only a few (less than five) companies - worldwide - that make the product you buy when you have the sniffles.
1. Stop these companies. If our government will not shut them down on an international level. Do not buy their products. Cut the head of the snake off first.
2. Remove the heart of the snake, the cooking labs and the dealers.
3. Heal the victims. "
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