Rep. Lee Terry recently visited UNMC to discuss with Bruce Buehler, M.D., a pilot program that may help change the epidemic of methamphetamine addiction not only in Nebraska, but in the United States. Terry was instrumental in getting $150,000 in funding for the Integrating Systems against Methamphetamine Abuse (ISMA).
Dr. Buehler, director of UNMC’s Munroe-Meyer Institute, and his health care team, has seen the devastating effects of drug use on families. During his 25 years of seeing children in developmental clinics across Nebraska and South Dakota, he has seen a lot of foster children suffering from devastating health problems as the result of prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol, as well as physical and mental abuse by parents using drugs and alcohol.
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Meth use costs Nebraskans millions of dollars in child neglect and abuse cases, which also puts added strain on emergency and health care systems, harm to the environment and additional time and budget constraints on law enforcement, said Paula Turpen, Ph.D., UNMC director of research resources, who coordinated the ISMA proposal with collaborators. She said in 2004, jailed meth addicts cost Nebraska taxpayers more than $3 million dollars. Dr. Turpen said the proposed program also would work with established initiatives, including the Governor’s Children’s Task Force, the Governor’s Summit on Methamphetamine, the State Incentive Cooperative Agreement (SICA), Nebraskans Expanding Behavioral Health Access through Networking Delivery Systems (NEBHANDS) and Early Childhood Mental Health Systems of Care Projects. |
“There is no coordinated plan in any state on how to deal with meth addicts, so we have to figure out all the way from police to the courts to physicians, how are we going to deal with this epidemic,” Terry said. “We’ve got to develop programs and frankly nationally, we don’t see any comprehensive programs.”
Renee Fry, director of government relations for UNMC, said Terry’s been instrumental in getting the funding for the project.
The program also would work to reduce the availability of substances used for “meth” manufacturing, increase surveillance of meth labs and develop prevention approaches for children impacted by drug abuse.
The impact and increasing use of meth in Nebraska has major financial and social costs. Meth abuse not only ruins the addict’s life, it also ruins their family life. In Nebraska, there’s an epidemic of children of meth addicts who are in foster homes, Dr. Buehler said.
Dr. Buehler said fetuses of meth users most likely are exposed to alcohol as well. “Meth is excreted into breast milk. We’ve seen children born with heart, kidney and digestive problems, bleeding in the brain, which sometimes results in brain damage, cerebral palsy and fetal alcohol syndrome,” he said. “They have sleep problems, they’re poor eaters and they have abnormal behavior.
“Not only are there huge health costs, the children end up in multiple schools, multiple placements and many have life-long health problems,” Dr. Buehler said. “It’s probably the only drug that is addictive on a single dose. In fact, the odds of the addict stopping use are only 20 percent.”
Paula Turpen, Ph.D., UNMC director of research resources, who assisted with the development of the program, said $150,000 in Congressional earmark funds was awarded in fiscal year 2006, and will be used to collect data and other preliminary information. The ISMA team has requested additional funding for fiscal year 2007 to fully implement the program.
Program funding would rest on Nebraska senators and representatives who may choose to go to other members of the Congress to appeal for the funding of the $2.1 million “That’s why it’s so important that the project be relevant to a large constituency,” Dr. Turpen said.
With a focus on the mother, but also concentrating on the family, the program is modeled after the successful family drug court program, which offers addicts rehab rather than jail-time. In terms of rehabilitation, officials say family drug courts reduce repeat meth use, are more cost-effective, and provide greater benefit to the individual and the community.
Dr. Buehler said the proposal is a new concept.
“It puts the addict in therapy with their children,” he said. “The No. 1 reason meth addicts fail in rehab is they go back in and try to raise a family, but many fail because they don’t have the coping skills or good parenting skills they need. It’s essentially looking at becoming parents, as well as non-addicts. It’s better than putting the kids in a foster home.”
Dr. Buehler said putting people in jail for 30, 60 or 90 days doesn’t work for stopping meth use. “What we want is to train people how to be good parents,” he said. “Parenting is learned. Most have no concept how to raise a child. If we can teach people to parent, the program would be successful. It may also keep them off the drugs,” he said.
Data shows if an expectant recovering cocaine addict can be taught to be a good parent, 50 percent will not go back to cocaine, Dr. Buehler said.
Another problem with meth abuse is child abuse. One of the program concepts is to teach good parenting skills so parents can cope with crying children and babies who are jittery from meth exposure in the womb.
“The parent coming out of rehab can’t handle the jittery baby,” Dr. Buehler said. “It’s common to have child protective services take the children within the first week after the recovering meth addict has been home. If you’re on the drug, you don’t do very well as a parent. I’ve seen some kids that have not been out of the crib in a month — maybe their diaper was changed once.”
Experts believe if the addict parent completes the ISMA program, they have a much better chance of quitting meth and leading a productive life. If no criminal activity was involved, the addict could forego jail time and be placed in recovery with their families, and at the same time learn good parenting and life skills.
Prenatal education and nutrition also is planned in the program.
If the program is successful, Dr. Buehler said it could become a model for the country. “We have a lot of data on recovered cocaine addicts and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be effective in meth addicts,” he said. “Clearly it would be more effective than putting kids in foster care.”
The only other program in Nebraska that supports the family during treatment and rehabilitation has a one-year waiting list, he said. “If successful, this model could be used by other states to decrease the financial and emotional impact of meth abuse.”