The Methamphetamine Crisis: Strategies to Save Addicts, Families, And Communities

This groundbreaking book detailing the newest drug scourge to hit the streets includes information on the effects of and addiction to methamphetamine on the users, their children and their communities. The comprehensive coverage here includes details of the environmental effects of meth labs, as well as photographs of the physical effects of this drug, including how this form of speed rapidly and grotesquely ages users. Contributors include medical and psychological practitioners, law enforcement officers, public health specialists, scientists, and child welfare caseworkers. Three chapters are written by meth users in recovery and the parent of an addict. The text also reviews psychological treatments showing some success, and creative steps being taken by communities and court officials to reduce the threat from this so-called poor man's cocaine which has killed adults and children from all economic groups and walks of life.

Currently, professionals and family members have little guidance on how to deal with methamphetamine addicts. This book fills that void by providing information on the meth subculture, what to expect, and how to handle a variety of situations. A solid introduction to the complex nature of this drug is presented, with an emphasis on how families and children are affected by meth use and manufacture. Contributors include Commander Lori Moriarty, named Drug Enforcement Officer of the Year by the Office of the President of the United States, and Dr. Kathryn Wells, a widely known pediatrician recognized for her work with the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children.

Herbert C. Covey is a Field Instructor for the Colorado Department of Human Services, and a part-time Instructor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has authored or co-authored seven earlier books, including Street Gangs Throughout the World (2003) and Images of Older People in Western Art and Society (Praeger, 1991). His current research focuses on methamphetamine addiction, production, treatment and the resulting threats to family and child welfare.