Women in Colorado have turned to meth in alarming numbers, often successfully hiding their addictions for years, a senior health official says.
Statewide, women have accounted for roughly half of all patients in meth treatment programs over the past several years, according to statistics discussed at the first meeting of the Colorado Methamphetamine Task Force on Tuesday.
Women are turning to the drug because of the “go-go society they find themselves in,” said Janet Wood, director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the State Department of Health. Women are using meth to lose weight, give themselves more pep to endure the workday and deal with issues such as aging parents and stressful children, Wood said.
“They use this drug in the short term just to stay up,” she said. “And then what hits is the uncontrollable addiction.”
Admissions for methamphetamine-addiction treatment in Colorado have more than doubled in five years, from 14 percent of all drug-addiction treatment in 2000 to 31 percent in 2005.
And the portion of women admitted to treatment programs has been high. Although the percentages have fluctuated, women made up between 45 and 50 percent of meth admissions from 2000 to 2003, and were 49 percent of them last year.
Other indicators also suggest significant meth use among women.
A 2004 study of pretrial inmates at the Larimer County Detention Center found 25 percent were female meth users. The same report also found that of area hospital emergency room visits related to meth, more were made by women. During the year studied, 24 women were admitted with meth abuse problems, compared with 21 men.
Many women using meth are able to function normally, Wood said. Some don’t seek treatment for as many as seven years.
Those participating in the first meeting of the statewide task force Tuesday heard one woman’s firsthand account. “Tina” told the panel how she was addicted to meth for years – during which time she had four children, became a supervisor at a large supermarket, sold meth to sustain her habit and finally crashed. She said meth addicts are con artists.
“The majority of people who do meth are master manipulators. I was a drama queen,” Tina said. “I fooled the system. I thought I was always right.”
Lori Moriarty, a Thornton police commander and a vice chair of the task force, said a major goal of the task force is to protect children.
In the past, she said, children found during meth raids were not made priorities. But police are now trained to contact social services immediately if children are present. Even when none is found, the meth maker’s addresses are checked to find out if children live at those locations, Moriarty said.
“We were going into homes where substance abuse was occurring and we were focused on the drug arrests and not the hazards the children were being exposed to,” Moriarty said.
During the meeting, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said that although the number of meth labs in the state has decreased, the supply of meth has increased because of production in Mexico. The panel was told that although Mexican meth had the reputation of being of much lower quality than that produced here, police believe that’s no longer the case.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
