Meth Addicts Crowd Courts, Jails and Now Treatment Centers

Widespread meth use is a problem most Arkansas counties are all too familiar with. And it`s something everyone has problems getting over--whether it`s meth makers or the police who arrest them. Just last week in White County, sheriff`s deputies arrested Chuckie and Kathy Corter on meth-related charges. The two were out on bond for other charges. The Sheriff`s department says repeat offenses are common, some suspects go back to meth to make money to pay attorney`s fees. The courts, jails, and police end up spend a lot of time on them, but the treatment centers only get a matter of days. At the Wilbur D. Mills Treatment Center, Cindy Helms is the first face patients see when the come in the door. She`s seen some of them before. "I worked here a couple of years ago for a year and a half and some of the same ones coming through now, I saw come through then," Helms said, a secretary at the center. But Helms knows from personal experience why they keep coming back. "The first time I tried to get clean was in 1999 after my son was born. And I`ve been in and out of rehabs and in and out of narcotics anonymous since then," she said. "Where we had a 28-day calendar, one month, now we have 7 weeks. And with a 7 week calendar, mostly we`re addressing the meth addicts, the opiates," said the center`s assistant director, Jim Clark. But making the treatment longer and more effective, has also made the waiting list longer. The 84 people on it can wait up to eight weeks for a bed. "The need for more beds and more funding is...you know, there," Clark said. The 66 patients in Mills now take up all the space the center has. The center`s success rate has increased from 25% to 30%. But that still means many patients will be back. "When they walk up out of here, they`re going right back to what they know," Clark said. He says they`re constantly writing grants for more funding. Meanwhile, they are in construction on another facility to treat pregnant women and patients with children. Only three centers of its kind exist in the state, and Clark says they need more. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says of the 3-5 million Americans who abuse drugs or alcohol, only 1.8 million of them can be served. White County officials, business and religious leaders formed a group called WISE to help address problems there.