- In 2001, Radio Television students at the University of Montana produced an award winning documentary on methamphetamine.

At the time, many people had never heard of the drug and the program turned out to be a real eye opener.

Today, most people know about methamphetamine and the dangers associated with the drug thanks to the efforts of a small group of people spreading the word.

In this program we'll explore what's changed in the last five years from meth education to law enforcement to treatment.

(dramatic music) - [Narrator] The Greater Montana Foundation.

Encouraging communications on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.

And by the University of Montana.

Where the discovery continues.

- I'm Kathy Weber.

I'm one of the students who produced the hour-long meth documentary in 2001.

Little did we know, we were on the cutting edge of what would become a huge problem for the state of Montana and the rest of the country.

But, what we did know, is young people were dying for a high that lasted just moments.

- Hey to y'all, hope you're having a great, great Friday.

53 degrees in Miles City, sunny skies.

- [Kathy] When Cassie Haydal began her senior year at Custer County High School, she dreamed of college, travel, and a life beyond Miles City.

But meth took those dreams away.

- Everybody knew her and she always said hi, going down the halls "Hi, hi, hi."

- Cassie was just your everyday, run-of-the-mill, great kid to have around, very enthusiastic.

- [Woman] We'd always be like oh, Cassie the model and, or this is my friend Cassie the model and she'd get really embarrassed.

She hated when, that, but yeah, everybody knew that she shoulda been a model.

- [Woman] She was always smiling and laughing and singing.

- [Kathy] Cassie got good grades, she was a part-time sports reporter for the Miles City Star.

She worked at a golf course.

She volunteered with children and attended church regularly with her family.

By the end of her sophomore year, Cassie had added one more activity to her schedule.

She started using meth.

- It would probably be an individual that I, if somebody would ask me to pick out somebody that might be using drugs, she would not even have entered the picture.

- We'd get in fights, I'd ask her to quit.

And then she'd say yeah.

She'd say okay, okay, you know.

Or she'd get mad, you know, like I said last night.

But then you could tell the next day that she didn't quit, I mean.

- [Woman] I wanted to do something so bad but I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know what my options were to help.

- [Kathy] One November afternoon, Cassie collapsed in her home.

- The very furthest thing from what I was thinking was that she was involved in a drug overdose kind of a thing or health problems because of drugs.

- It made me really sick, kind of, it's-- How, just the weekend before, we begged her to like stop doing it.

We were like begging her to quit, but I don't think then anybody realized how addicted she really was.

- [Kathy] While Cassie lay in the hospital friends and family prayed and hoped for her recovery.

- Hi Cassie, we love you.

- [Unison] We miss you Cassie.

- She'll get better, that ain't no problem.

(laughing) - [Kathy] But she didn't.

Cassie Haydal died on November 14, 2000.

Just three months after her 18th birthday.

- What we went through and what all our families went through, she was like a daughter to my family.

My parents were balling and the whole town, anywhere I went, if anybody saw me they "Are you okay?"

Because I was balling all the time.

I mean, it only took somebody to give me a hug before I'd start crying again.

I kinda had to be by myself to kinda keep from crying because I don't want anybody to go through what we had to go through.

It's hard.

- It was very difficult for me to, this is my first student that I've lost due to a drug overdose and it was a hard adjustment for me and I know it was harder for the class, but it was pretty difficult to talk about.

- I wish that I woulda told somebody.

I wish I woulda told her mom.

I mean, what if she hated me for the rest of her life, she'd still be here.

- I just wanna say that I love you and that you'll always be in my heart.

We all miss you very much.

- Hey Cassie, we're gonna miss you and I'll still tell you all of my problems, because I know you love hearing about it.

And I'm so glad you're happy up there and love you.

- I love you, I always will.

Bye.

(dramatic music) - [Kathy] Cassie Haydal's death in 2000 shook Miles City to its core and threatened to devastate her family.

But Cassie's mother, Mary, now takes her story of pain and loss to others.

- I had no reason not to trust Cassie.

She was a great kid.

But when she walked through that kitchen door, she looked so horrible.

She had dark circles under her eyes.

She was coughing.

She had a greasy ponytail that was kinda hanging over to the side.

- [Kathy] Cassie had been out all night, but managed to pull herself together because on this morning, she was coaching her little sister's, Nicki's, basketball team.

- And the girls just literally came tumbling through the door.

They had their arms around each other and they were laughing and joking.

And Nicki spoke first and she said, "Mom, the girls just loved Cassie."

Cassie approached me and she said, "Mom, those girls are gonna kill me, "I'm so out of shape."

And then she walked up to me, and she kissed and hugged me.

She said, "I'm really sorry about what happened last night.

"And I promise you that that will never happen again."

Thank goodness I kissed and hugged her back, and told her how much I loved her.

- [Kathy] Cassie went into the bathroom.

Mary heard a loud crash and called to her daughter but no response.

She called again, still no response.

Mary rushed to her daughter.

- When I pushed my way in, when I got inside Cassie's head was caught against the bathtub.

She was having a seizure.

Her skin was turning blue.

Her eyes were rolling back in her head and she making a funny sound.

- [Kathy] Mary called 9-1-1 and tried to resuscitate Cassie.

- I started begging God not to take Cassie, and I started begging Cassie not to leave.

I started shaking her and slapping her, trying to rouse her back.

- [Kathy] The paramedics arrived.

Cassie was rushed to the hospital where her family was told something they never expected to hear.

- He said Greg and Mary, Cassie is full of methamphetamine.

He said, "She's in a coma.

"And we might still lose her."

I turned to my husband and I said, "What is he talking about?

"Cassie would never take drugs.

"She wouldn't touch meth."

- [Kathy] Cassie's coma caused irreversible brain damage.

Her parents made the agonizing decision to withdraw life support.

- I ran my fingers through Cassie's hair.

That soft, brown, pretty hair.

And I realized that this would be the last time that I would ever touch it.

And I started having memories of just her hair.

When she and Nicki would jump on the trampoline out in the backyard their hair would go straight up in the air.

And when Cassie would play basketball, it'd be secured in a tight ponytail.

And that ponytail would swing from side-to-side when she'd run down the court, every time.

- [Kathy] Mary told Cassie to let go.

- We promised her that we would stay a close family.

We told her how much we loved her.

And how the drugs didn't matter, we loved just her.

And I remember telling her what an honor it was to be her mom.

- [Kathy] Cassie's vital signs dropped and both parents waited for the end.

- That we lay on Cassie and we wept.

We wept for all the times we looked methamphetamine right in the face and didn't recognize it.

We wept because Cassie was more worried about pleasing us than in coming to us for help.

We wept because, as parents, we knew we had failed her miserably.

But mainly we wept because we didn't get a second chance.

When you make your choices about drug and alcohol, those are your choices to make.

But just know that as you're making your choices, you take the rest of us with you.

The rest of us, who love you more than anything else in this world.

And a world without you is impossible to imagine.

(dramatic music) - Mary Haydal is not the only one spreading the word about the tragedies meth can bring.

The Montana Meth Project created a series of shocking advertisements to stop meth use before it starts.

The print, radio, and television ads use actors, but also real Montana kids telling their stories.

(tweezers plucking) In the fall of 2005, a series of shocking anti-meth ads hit Montana sparking positive and negative reactions.

- [Voiceover] It's amazing what you can accomplish when you're on meth.

- [Kathy] The ad agency wanted to create a series of drug-prevention commercials based on real people and real experiences.

- I'm gonna smoke this just once.

- [Kathy] The campaign used television and radio to spread the anti-meth message.

- [Tim] Hi, my name is Tim.

I'm from St.

Regis, Montana.

I started doing meth when I was 19.

Stole this person's motorcycle and I ran it up as fast as it would go and I ran it into a tree.

- [Kathy] Tim played football and wrestled as a student at St.

Regis High School in 1999.

But it wasn't until arriving to college life in Missoula when life drastically changed.

- My first year at college, I was drinking like five nights a week, man.

It was, I was very rarely going to class.

- I'm, I'm not gonna be like that guy.

Hey look, I'm only gonna-- - [Kathy] One night, Tim noticed his roommates acting differently, like they were on some drug, and decided he wanted to be different too.

- I am not gonna be like that guy!

- My roommate was, he was, uh, he was tweaking, you know?

And I was like, you know, what's going on?

Why are you guys acting all weird over there, you know?

He told it was crystal, you know, well, you know.

Well, he showed it to me first, "You ever tried this?"

And I was like, you know, no I haven't.

He crushed up a little line of it for me.

So I did, I was like (inhales).

Immediately, like, probably like 30 seconds later, you know, I was like that, that's, that is great.

And I want some more of it, you know?

- [Kathy] Time says after snorting meth once he knew the drug was for him.

His mind became clear and suddenly he had more energy.

But as the cravings increased, Tim found himself changing.

- The center of my life within, just within a couple weeks of like first trying meth, like it became the total center of my life, you know.

Like everything else became secondary, you know.

My relationship with my family, my relationship with my friends, you know.

Like, one by one, I used them until they wouldn't have any, you know, they wouldn't have anything to do with me anymore.

- [Kathy] Tim's meth addiction consumed his life.

He was becoming short-tempered and became involved with fights.

His parents, Chuck and Connie Myers, didn't know what to do.

- [Tim] I took, yeah I took my mom's credit card and ran up about, you know, 10-15 thousand dollars of debt on it.

Definitely told some lies.

- [Kathy] Tim hit rock bottom one evening.

He was using meth for three days straight and on the third he took a ride that nearly ended his life.

- He didn't make it for breakfast.

His brother called and it was sorta-- - Yeah, they were supposed to come out here.

- He went to the hospital instead and when we, when I looked at him, that, he was my son but he had a very, very wild look.

He wasn't there, it was, his heart rate was up.

His eyes were wide and, I don't know, he was like a trapped animal, hurting and we both agreed that he shouldn't leave that hospital.

- I almost broke down and cried.

He was so blatantly honest.

- Yeah.

- And it, it was such a good feeling that he was able to speak this freely about something that he had kind of overcome.

- Well, I guess it fills you with a lot of emotion because I think, well, what, what were all the things that he must have gone through without us there and I'm so glad he's alive and well.

And I know it has to be, you know, he went down some roads that I'll never have any clue about.

But I know that the whole time all I could say was I'm glad we never backed off in our support.

- I have definitely a debt to pay to society, you know.

And I feel that, like I gotta give something back every day.

And the best place that I'm able to do that is by using, like, my life experience, using that as a positive to help others, you know.

To like show other people that you can get out of that and that things can change, can change for you.

(door slamming) - [Kathy] Tim says he wants to show meth users there is hope in beating the addiction.

The anti-meth campaign is taking awareness to a new level and Tim's proud to be on board.

(screaming) - To get somebody's attention, you have to do something dramatic.

(screaming) - This wasn't supposed to be your life!

- Tim is now counseling people with drug and alcohol problems.

Those graphic ads are aimed at 12-17 year olds, urging them not to try meth even once.

And that message is getting across.

- Well, the first time I saw it, I just though, you know, it's unbelievable that a human being could make a choice to do that to themselves.

And it, it was shocking.

I didn't quite know what to think of it actually, but.

- You want meth kid?

Here's your meth.

And here's you meth dealer.

And your meth boyfriends.

- I think they're good for, like, older, like, teenagers and middle-schoolers and everything like that.

But as for, like being a parent of a three-year old, it's kind of, kind of bad because my kid's standing there looking at it and is kinda mortified almost because of, they're so gruesome.

And I drive a bus for Head Start and when the meth ads come on the radio we have to turn it way down because otherwise we have kids either asking "What's meth?"

Or "Oh, I've seen my parents do that."

And it's kind of, it's kind of hard to explain to them and everything when their parents should be doin it.

- We see so much like violence and stuff in movies and we're sort of, kind of immune to it now.

So if, if you have stuff like that, that's like really shocking, then I think it works better.

When I first saw the meth ads it really creeped me out.

It had a lot of meaning in it.

And I just kind of was wondering why people ever even started meth in the first place if they know that was going to happen to them.

(water running) (gasping) (screaming) - Don't do it.

- The first time I saw it, I was shocked, I was like, are you serious, they're really putting it on TV?

And then like, you realize that they're working and that people are actually paying attention.

No one wants to do meth now.

Like if you talk to, like, my friends in high school and stuff they're like, no, I don't wanna do that.

- There are kids in my grade already that are doing drugs, you know, and most of us look down upon that, you know.

So, it's just, I guess it made it so we didn't want to even get anywhere near any drugs.

- I think they need to be graphic so that it gets across to the kids because most of the time they just kind of ignore everything because they're thinking it won't happen to them.

But, when they actually see that it basically happens to everyone, that's why I think it needs to be graphic so that they don't do it.

- [Voiceover] I wish my tire had blown out that night.

(tire popping) I wish my car had skidded off the road.

(metal smashing) I wish I had broken my neck.

I wish I had been crippled.

But I didn't crash.

(engine revving) I drove that party and I did meth for the first time.

(lighter striking) I did meth and now this is my life.

- Well, kids who use drugs on a regular basis, when they're doing it they think, oh it's not gonna happen to me, you know.

I, they just keep doing it and then they keep going higher and higher in drugs and soon they reach meth and their lives' already ruined.

- It's disturbing, I mean it's graphically disturbing.

But I think it's what needs to be done.

I think it really illustrates the point.

- [Voiceover] All I do is meth.

All I do is meth.

- [Kathy] Law enforcement really sees the impact of meth abuse.

From 2004 to 2005, the prison population in Montana jumped more than any other state with an increase of nearly 8%.

The number of women in prison has skyrocketed and corrections officers attribute both increases to meth-related crime.

- [Joshua] It is here, in Missoula and in Montana.

This it's, people a lot of times think of it as a paradise or small town Montana, but it's here.

And we need first of all, to realize it's here, and then to deal with it.

- [Kathy] Methamphetamine can have disastrous effects on the user individually, but the law enforcement community also has new challenges to face.

From toxic labs to violent crime, meth is nothing short of a nightmare.

Missoula County Sheriff's Deputy, Joshua Clark, says law enforcement faces different challenges when facing someone on meth.

- [Joshua] It affects their mindset.

They're more agitated, they can be more violent towards everybody, including the police.

They seem to be more prone to fight with the police.

Not just in an effort to get away, but actually to physically attack the police or fight with them.

- [Kathy] Law officers must also deal with meth labs.

Trainer for the Montana State University Fire Services School, Jason Caughey, says the byproducts left over from the manufacturing of meth are more than just toxic.

- What we're coming into is, in contact with, is a bunch of chemicals that when they're mixed together cause a catastrophic event, an explosion, fire, toxic gases, and so the departments are having to be able to be prepared to handle those mixtures and be able to respond to them accordingly.

- [Kathy] Hazardous materials crews are called in to clean up these labs, but in many areas of Montana, local law, fire, and health departments are the first people on the scene.

Training is held around the state to help all agencies know what to do if they find a lab and a HAZMAT team is not immediately available.

- Well, the neat thing about Flathead County and Missoula County, those two agencies have taken it upon themselves to go out into the private sector and pull in specialists.

Today, we have people that are from the health department participating with us.

We have tow-truck drivers participating with us.

We have volunteer firefighters and we have paid firefighters.

So, by having a broader base of people, other than just firefighters, it makes your team more diverse and you have people that have specialties then.

- [Kathy] When law enforcement discovers a lab, they are only able to isolate the chemicals and must wait for a specialized team to arrive.

There are HAZMAT teams located in Helena, Great Falls, Missoula, Kalispell, Billings, and Bozeman.

Caughey says once a HAZMAT team reaches the lab, many steps are taken to protect themselves and others.

- The first thing we do is we isolate the product.

And usually that is formed through determining a hot zone, which is an entry point that no one can go into unless they're in a Level-A suit, which we've been wearing tonight.

And once we've done that, then it's a matter of just making sure that we can close the chemicals that are open.

And containing them.

And separating them, so that they have no chance of mixing.

Once we get em separated and sealed, we leave em.

- It tears up families.

That's, I guess, what I would focus on the most.

Whether it's, you know, it's a parent that's using and because of the addiction doesn't care, or isn't as focused as much, on taking care of the kids and so you know, it affects the whole family or tears em up.

Or, if it's one of the children that's using, you know, it just goes the other way.

It tears up the family from the underside.

And that I guess is what sticks in my mind the most.

Is just how it affects the family.

- Patrol cops, probation officers, public defenders and judges all feel the impact meth is having, not only on their jobs, but on society in general.

We've invited some of those people here to tell us what they're seeing and to share some ideas on what can be done.

Joining us today, Sam Lemaich with the Montana Department of Corrections.

Karen Orzech, Justice of the Peace in Missoula.

And Tom Lewis, Narcotics Detective with the Missoula County Sheriff's Department.

Thank you all for being here today.

Let's begin with Tom, I know that you have quite a lot of experience in the drug trafficking area.

What have you seen in the last five years?

- Well, we started to see, around three to four years ago, we started to see a decrease in meth labs in general.

They kind of peaked about that time and then they stared to slide off, just a little bit.

As for the amount of drugs that we actually see on the street, it hasn't quit.

In fact, it's gone up on a regular basis.

Where years back, it would be common to where we'd seize gram amounts of methamphetamine on the street, during traffic stops or search warrants.

Today, it's very common to see ounce quantities, all the way up into pound quantities, on a regular basis.

So the amount of drugs we're seeing has not stopped at all.

- And what are some of the efforts being done to attack meth trafficking in Montana?

- Well, I believe that the height of drug task forces that are set up across the state of Montana have been a big help, focusing on meth and the abuse of it.

The publicity that is currently out there right now, basically educating the community, has been a great help.

Cause a lot of people, if they're not affected by it, don't really know what's out there.

And they don't know what we're dealing with on a day-to-day basis.

- Okay, thank you.

Let's turn to Judge Orzech, tell us what you've been seeing in the last five years in terms of methamphetamine.

- Well, in the last five years there are more people being charged with methamphetamine production or possession or distribution or accountability for distribution.

And so I see many people, in my capacity as a Justice Court judge, to set bail on those type of what I call the Big Bad Uglies.

But what I'm seeing more of are younger defendants.

People who come in on warrants with multiple traffic offenses.

And, it's obvious to me, because I know the signs of a meth addict with their punding, with their picking at their skin and their color, their sweat, the tic-ing that they have.

I can identify them and they're in front of me, on a driving while suspended multiple times, or careless driving or a DUI and the real core of the problem is the meth addiction.

And then beyond that is, you know, why are they choosing meth?

And I find these kids that are young.

Parents come in and talk to me personally and they find out their kid is on meth.

What can I do?

What should I do about it?

Get em in treatment.

Get em in treatment as soon as you can, immediately, long-term, lock-down treatment.

That's what works, and get em while they're young.

Because I see them slowly spiral into an addiction.

I see them over the course of months.

And pretty soon I don't see them anymore, after about 5-10 years and that's usually because they've moved on or they're dead.

That's the end result of a meth addiction.

So, it's more crime, more theft, more felony bad checks, more forgeries.

I see a lot of embezzlement.

You know, get a job at a particular place where you handle a lot of money and do deposits and then siphon that money away from that business to pay for the drug.

That's what I'm seeing.

I'm seeing young children, children.

We're talking 13, 14, 15, young teenagers, that are alcoholics, that are drinkers, that are at parties and that are exposed to meth.

And meth is used at a very young age.

When I send people to MCDC for the very first time they may be 30 years old and they may be going to MCDC because they've been revoked on a sentence for alcohol but really what they've been revoked for is they've broken probation because they're doing methamphetamine.

They go to treatment for the first time for a month.

Does it work?

Not really.

The experts say that you need to be in treatment for a long time.

And Sam can address more about our, where we're going in the future with treatment.

But it's not a deal where you nail em, rail em, jail em anymore.

It's a deal where you have to treat.

And getting people to the table to go to treatment is pretty tough, especially if they've been dealing with an addiction since they're eight, 10 years old.

Kids start drinking at eight, 10 years old.

They start making poor choices, and pretty soon you've got a 25 year-old or a 22-year old that's a full-blown alcoholic, drug-addict, methamphetamine user and it's a way of life.

It's something that they've grown up in.

It's part of their culture.

It's part of the family of that family.

And to break that up you need the Department of Family Services, you need good detectives that are out there, police that are out there, Sheriff's Deputies that are out there.

And you need a strong probation and parole to be able to reign these people in and help them to see the, basically, the waste of their lives, but, you know, they've gotta come to the table.

- Well, thank you Judge.

And, oftentimes, after they visit you, they may end up somewhere in the Department of Corrections, which turns our attention to Sam Lemaich who is the Regional Administrator with the Montana Department of Corrections.

What are some of the things that you've been seeing through your work and in probation and parole?

- Well, of course, our job starts when Tom's and Karen's ends.

And we're kinda the end of the line, so to speak, when we see these offenders.

Certainly over the past five years we've seen a dramatic increase in the use of methamphetamines among the offenders that we supervise.

Particularly among women.

Over 50% of the women in the Montana Women's Prison state that methamphetamine is their drug of choice.

And with men it's close to 40%, so.

And we supervise over 12 thousand people so you can do the math there and see that we're talking about a large number of people.

Our emphasis now, I think, that has changed over the past five years is kind of like Karen was saying.

It's no longer nail em and jail em.

We're not going to build more prisons.

We're not going to jail our way out of this problem.

We're looking at treatment as the hopeful solution for those folks that have come to us.

Actually, my opinion is the ideal solution is prevention.

You know, let's not get people started in the first place because once they become addicted to this drug, it's a pretty tough thing to get them off of it.

Our future plans right now are for a 80-bed men's facility, to be located in Lewistown, to open up sometime in the spring of next year.

And a 40-bed facility in Boulder for women.

It's long-term treatment.

Nine months in-patient treatment inside the facility to be followed by six months of treatment in a pre-release center.

So we're talking about 15 months and we feel, and I think the experts indicate that, it takes that length of time to truly break this addiction for those people that have the problem.

- And so where do you see the hope in the years to come?

- Again, I think the hope lies in prevention.

I think the Meth Project, as you see on TV, that shows some graphic use of the drug, I think that's a start, I think that helps.

I think we need to educate educators, teachers.

We need to educate parents.

If we make an impact at those levels at the earliest time, as Karen said, the earliest possible intervention is what's gonna make the difference.

If we don't, methamphetamine's gonna be around for a long time.

As Tom will tell ya, it's cheap to make, it's easy to get and the profit in the drug, for those people that are manufacturing it and selling it is tremendous.

The other thing is, is methamphetamine isn't the only problem.

I mean, even if we were to get rid of the meth problem there's another designer drug out there that's ready to take it's place, you know.

I've been doing this for 30 years and methamphetamine is a problem now, but there's always some drug out there to take it's place.

So, we need to address prevention as well as treatment.

- Let's go back down the line, what hope do you see in the coming years in battling methamphetamine Judge?

- I agree whole-heartedly with Sam.

I mean we need to have the prevention and we need to do it early.

We need to have teachers and parents be trained.

We need to be able to take young children out of these situations immediately.

We need to the help of the Department of Family Services for that.

It's interesting, I was talking with a coworker of my husband, works for the Forest Service.

And, was talking with him and he was telling me about his friend that's 22 years old that's in the Forest Service.

And she was at the university and she went to a party.

There was no alcohol at the party.

Okay, but you know what was at the party?

Methamphetamine.

She tried it, she got addicted.

Months later she was spiraling down, flunking all her classes, all she cared about was doing the drug.

She went to her parents and she said, "I got a problem.

"You know, I need some help."

And her parents put her in lockdown treatment for the next 8 months and she is off the meth now.

She is a productive member of society, but it's so available out there, and it's, what is the hope of getting rid of that availability?

I don't, I don't think we can.

I think that's a question for the detective.

80% of our meth is coming from Mexico, and it's been being more and more and we've got to tell people of the dangers of meth and the high addiction rate and how difficult it is to get off of meth.

I have parents call me, at least one call every couple of weeks from a parent that's saying "What am I gonna do about this?"

It's like, get your kid, get your kid out of that system.

You know, you think your child is going to spend the money going to college?

Nope.

That isn't what's going to happen.

They're gonna spend the money on meth, so you might as well take that college fund and put that young person in treatment.

So that you can save em.

- We're, just before we run out of time here I'd like to transition from some of the prevention messages, treatment.

And of course, from your perspective, probably a concentrated effort to continue to eliminate the availability of it, Tom.

What would be your hope for the future in attacking methamphetamine in Montana?

- Well, I think the education's going to be the main thing.

We have to educate everybody about the problem and that Montana Meth Project has been a great asset doing that.

There's a lot of people out there that had never heard of meth.

That had never been affected by it.

Until now, when they're seeing actually what's out there.

I think that's our main focus to start with.

And then educating, as Sam had mentioned before, everyone.

From the kids in school to the teachers, to the parents, all the way up, all the way up the line through the law enforcement community.

It's a concerted effort by everybody.

It's not, by any means, just one section's problem.

It's everyone's problem in the community.

And we've seen the outcome on people that are using meth.

How it affects everybody, not just that person on the drug.

But it literally effects the community.

- [Kathy] Okay, thank you.

- Well the violence, I mean the-- - Absolutely.

- When people that are on meth become, the assaults that we have are more violent, of a more violent nature.

And we've, kids are in danger and we need to remove children from that environment.

It needs to be done.

We need to protect our children, they're our future.

- Thanks once again to Sam Lemaich with the Montana Department of Corrections, Judge Karen Orzech, Justice of the Peace, and Tom Lewis with the Missoula County Sheriff's Department.

Thank you all for joining us today.

We appreciate your comments.

When Whitefish teenager Angie Gardner died from complications of meth abuse in 2000, her mother wanted to help other parents help their children.

Angie got mixed up with the drug before it was widely known just how dangerous it was.

Her parents saw some signs of trouble, but had no idea meth was responsible for their daughter's change in behavior, extreme weight loss and hallucinations.

- So afraid of disappointing us, you know, she didn't wanna, she was raised, she knew right from wrong.

And yet she did not have the willpower to say I don't wanna do this, I'm not gonna do this.

I just, it's so hard to believe that you give can give up life, you know, so easily because of what your other options are.

All she ever needed was somebody to help her get off the drug and show her that, you know, you're only 18, 19 years old.

You've got your whole life.

- Angie took her own life believing there was no way out of the dark place she found herself once she was hooked on meth.

Angie's mother Gerri and other's who face the horrible reality of meth started a support group in the Flathead Valley.

Now parents, teenagers, and anyone who needs help, are welcome at Teens in Crisis.

The group gives moral support, financial guidance, and a shoulder to lean on.

- [Woman] I put my head in the sand for a year.

And had I not done that, I could've saved him from where he went.

- [Woman] He told me that his brother was on meth, and that I was in denial.

- [Woman] I was in denial, you know, I knew all the signs, but you know, not your kid.

- [Kathy] All of these mothers wish they would've acted sooner but their children ended up in jail because of meth.

- There was meth in the chair, marijuana, a pipe, snort tubes, just sitting in the chair.

So I gathered it all up, put it in a bag, put it in a drawer, walked in and I hit him.

I mean, hard, and I never hit my kid.

- [Kathy] After warning her son about bringing drugs into the house, Wendy Davisson, a volunteer deputy, had her son arrested at work.

With the help of a group called Teens in Crisis, Wendy forced her underage son to go to a treatment center in Jamaica.

After half a year of minimal communication, Wendy received a pleasant surprise.

- I gotta talk to him on his six-month anniversary of being in there, which was December 8.

And he says, "Mom, thank you.

"You saved my life."

While things are looking brighter for Wendy many others are having to cope with difficult truths.

- I may lose my son to meth.

- [Kathy] Linda's son was arrested in her living room and has been in jail ever since.

Because her son is over 18-years old, Linda cannot force him to go to a treatment program.

It's a place I would like my son to go.

However, my son's 18, so it has to be his choice.

The court is now gonna work with us.

It's just gonna be a waiting game.

- [Kathy] It's been a long waiting game for Judy Hutchens, whose daughter has been in and out of trouble since she was nine years old.

Stealing cigarettes, a car, underage drinking, possession of pills, and finally meth has landed her daughter in jail, away from her two children.

Judy hopes this is finally the time her daughter hits rock bottom.

- All you can do is pray that they make the right choices.

And hope that they hit bottom.

- [Kathy] All of these women attend weekly meetings with the group Teens in Crisis.

The group is based out of Kalispell and helps parents deal with their children's situations.

Teens in Crisis was co-founded by Gerri Gardner who was featured on this program in 2001 after losing her daughter Angie.

Rhonda Ivers has been through hell and back and is truly thankful for the group's support.

- You know, it's kind of awful to say, oh good, somebody else is dealing with this too.

But it was so nice not to be alone.

I felt alone for a long time.

- [Kathy] Rhonda's son began smoking pot at age eight, was using Oxycontin and ectasy by 13 and was injecting heroin by age 17.

He found meth shortly thereafter.

- Eventually he called me for help one day.

And I went and got him and took him to jail.

It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.

I cried every night.

- [Kathy] What seemed like an impossible addiction turned into a success story.

- He actually spent five days in jail and he had horrible withdrawals, they wouldn't let me see him.

He spent a year at Teen Challenge, it's a faith-based treatment center.

And he's been home now for about five and a half months.

- [Kathy] All of these mothers hope no one has to go though what they've been through.

And they offer advice to other parents.

- Get over it and realize that, you know, do you wanna visit your child's grave or do you wanna go visit em in treatment.

- And don't say the money's the problem.

Cause I make $17,000 a year and my son's in a program.

- Just keep your eyes open, and it can happen to anybody.

- Eh, it's my son's life and it's worth it.

- Meth addicts and their families are looking for help and Montana is responding with new approaches and research.

Dr.

Brenda Roche, a neuropsychologist, is conducting ground-breaking research that is changing what we know about meth, especially about recovery.

Dr.

Roche, in 2001, when the original documentary was produced, it was thought an addict's brain never recovered from meth.

But you found otherwise.

- That's correct.

We now now that the brain does recover from methamphetamine addiction.

Both some national studies that have been done, looking at PET scans of the brain that have tracked people over time, as well as research that we're doing here in Montana, tracking neuropsychological functioning of people going through, you know, methamphetamine treatment, show now they do recover but it does take about 18 to 24 months for full recovery.

And that, in fact, they get worse before they get better.

They actually will have significant decline in cognitive abilities the first six months of recovery and then it starts improving after that and will continue to improve up to about 18 to 24 months, where then, they have pretty full recovery at that point in time.

- And so, what we were finding five years ago, people were saying you just might never feel the same happiness that you could before if you'd been using meth for some time.

And that's not necessarily the case.

- That's not necessarily the case.

Now it does impact the dopamine levels in own brain, which is a neurotransmitter, which impacts some of the cognitive abilities, as well as depression and anxiety.

And what we now know, is that some people may have to be on an antidepressant or an antianxiety medication the rest of their life after using methamphetamine.

Because their brain may never completely, fully re-heal itself from that.

However, we are finding now that about 70% of people will no longer need that and what we're hypothesizing and looking back on, is those individuals that need to continue that, would've needed that no matter if they were on methamphetamine or not.

That they just were predisposed to depression and anxiety anyway.

- And so given that new understanding, what are the implications for treatment?

- We need to do treatment longer.

We're talking at least 15 months of formalized treatment.

And what our current research is showing, that if people receive less than 15 months of formalized treatment, which I'm meaning usually, you know, usually an in-patient treatment, to an intensive outpatient, to long-term aftercare relapse prevention, so it's groups and individual work, that the success rate goes down by about 63%.

So we need to do treatment differently because if cognitively they're declining in those first six months that's not where we wanna give em tons and tons and tons of information.

In the early stages of recovery, we need to have them figure out what do they need to do today, between today and when they come back tomorrow, to try and stay clean.

We have to talk to em about relapse prevention skills early on.

We need to help them understand what their brain is doing so that they have a better understanding and they don't begin to just think that it's because they're weak or because they're crazy or because they don't have the willpower.

That it truly is something in their brain and they have, and they can learn, skills to better control that without having to go re-use again.

- And that reminds me of something we came across back in 2001.

A lot of treatment available in the state was not meth-specific.

How do things need to be different from, say alcohol treatment or treatment for other drug addictions?

- We need to look early on at several things.

Treatment in the early stages, again, needs to be more focused on cognitive behavioral type of treatment, where we really focus on what does that client need to do today and tomorrow, to stay clean.

We need to get the family really, really involved in that treatment and have them understand it.

We need to look at the environment very carefully.

We need to look at how can we help this person put all of these aspects back into their life and prioritize what we're gonna work on and not expect em to do everything in when they're declining emotionally.

Or declining cognitively, and also doing worse emotionally at that point in time.

And prolong treatment, making treatment much longer that's really what we need to do.

- One, another thing we noticed five years ago was that there were efforts being made in different areas of this state, but really no consolidated work being done, (coughs) excuse me, toward an overall treatment project.

How does that stand today?

- We are doing a little bit more in the state of Montana.

Starting in December, or January, we started, convened a group through Montana Addiction and Mental Disorders Division to start looking at, there's a group of us across the state, professionals in the field that have come together to look at, what are the best practices for methamphetamine-specific treatment.

And we're putting together a product that we should have out to at least all of the providers, to get their first opinion back, the middle to the end of June and then that'll be going out to public.

And then looking at, okay now these are the best practices, what do we need to do statewide?

Then to look at policy changes, funding strategies, all of the other things that that will impact as far as how do we then implement all of the best practices in the state of Montana.

We also have a federal grant in the state that looks at methamphetamine, Targeted Capacity Expansion grant, that we're working on 16 counties in the state.

Really kind of looking at how do we implement these strategies.

So, we have some pilot sites that we're really looking at as well.

- Some of your research has also involved children who have been exposed prenatally to methamphetamine.

Not a lot of studies have been done on that.

What have you learned?

- What I've learned is it is consistent with some of the national studies, they're very few out there that have looked at it, but what we're finding is that if the baby is actually born, because there are a lot of babies with miscare-- or babies that are ended in miscarriages due to methamphetamine prenatal exposure, but if they are carried to term or pre, uh, born prematurely that long-term developmental and neurodevelopmental impact we're not finding like we are with alcohol prenatal exposure.

So we're not finding that.

The longer they're left in an environment with a person using methamphetamines, So, if they go home with the mothers after they've been born and they remain in a home with a methamphetamine abuser because of the neglect factor, we are finding developmental delays but they're not permanent.

If they're removed from that home, early intervention is placed, put into place for that child, we are seeing them catch up within 12 to 18 months to full normal development.

- So that sounds like a bit of hope.

- It's a lot of hope.

For both the parents and the children.

- Tell us what the most fascinating part of the research you've been doing has, is.

- I think the greatest thing that we found is that the long-term decline, that six-month period I was talking about.

Before, you know, treatment might end at six months.

Or we return a child home to them at six months when that's when they're doing the worst.

And so, what we've found, I think the most helpful thing is just the long-term treatment and the developmental trajectory and the cognitive trajectory of the clients in that they can recover.

There is hope.

They can fully recover from this if we put the resources in place.

We have a lot of missing components here in the state of Montana.

For sober housing, residential treatment, women and child facilities, which cost money.

But my question is, do we wanna spend more money on the front end or do we wanna spend it on the end?

I mean, we're gonna spend money one way or the other.

We're gonna spend it on child welfare.

We're gonna spend it on jails.

Or we can spend it on treatment and recovery for families and the community up front.

- And so, it sounds like this, the big breakthrough is that it gets worse before it gets better but there is hope over time.

- Correct.

- Talk a little bit about some of the other aspects of your research that people out there might not realize is going on.

- I mean, some of the other things that I think are really important for us to remember, talking with, you know, I met with a lot of people with addiction to methamphetamine and not one of them yet has said methamphetamine was the first drug that they used.

We as the communities need to be very aware that alcohol and marijuana are still significant drugs in our community that have significant impacts on children and families and that we can't forget about those drugs and just focus on methamphetamine as well.

That we have to take a really broad perspective on this, and I think that's one critical thing we just all need to be aware of in our communities.

- Any final notes that you'd like to add?

- Just that I believe that there is hope.

And that we need to look at our communities.

And that we need to look at what can we all do.

And that methamphetamine is a drug that is an equal opportunity drug.

And that it impacts many people's lives.

Many families and communities lives.

That they may not always look like some of the commercials.

That we don't always know who's using because those of some of the later stages thing.

And we just need to be more open and educate our communities about the impact, but that there is hope.

I think that's the biggest thing.

That it's not permanent damage and that people can recover from methamphetamine.

- Okay, well we wanna thank you so much for your time.

Dr.

Brenda Roche, a neuropsychologist who's doing some very groundbreaking work.

And that's giving some hope for addicts and their families.

And there is hope.

Hope that education will stop the deadly cycle.

Hope for meaningful treatment.

Hope for real recovery among addicts.

- I can't wait to hold Nicki's grandchildren someday and I don't want meth to be in Montana when I hold my grandbabies.

- Parents need to realize that it can happen to their kids.

Cause I never thought it could happen to mine.

- I just want, especially if parents are watching, to know that I think three words killed me child.

Not my kid.

I didn't think it was possible.

When I saw all the warning signs that were right in front of me, I couldn't imagine that they were because of drugs.

- Talk to your kids.

Talk to your kids.

- I didn't know until Cassie died.

Good people have addictions.

And it can happen to anybody in any family.

- You know, parents need to stick up for their kids.

You have to do it, because your kid's not smart enough to do it on their own.

- There's been kids that have walked out of the audience and asked for help.

And we've had doctors come to the gym and, you know, examine them.

Somewhere private, of course, but.

And then, counselors have helped tell their parents.

We've had parents come forward and get help.

A lot of shocking things have happened.

And when things like that happen, you feel like you could go, I could anyway, another year.

It gives you energy for another year, it's amazing.

- I guess be there, involved enough to sense something's wrong.

- I think each of us has a powerful gift inside that can change the community where they exist and the family that you exist in.

I think that each of us is born to purpose and until we find the gift that we can really own and embrace, we won't find our meaning for our lives.

- You know, it's been a long road.

I'm seein' an end to the tunnel.

And I'm seein' the rainbow.

- It's been a journey, it's been a journey.

(dramatic music) The Greater Montana Foundation.

Encouraging communications on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.

And by the University of Montana, where the discovery continues.