The use of methamphetamines, or meth, has been on a steady increase in the last four years in Santa Clarita, said Sgt. Bob Wachsmuth, who works with the Juvenile Intervention Team, or J-Team, at Santa Clarita’s Station.

Meth is a man made drug that is a central nervous system stimulant, and it’s the most dangerous drug that has ever been made, said Cary Quashen from Action Family Counseling.

“The rise in use here is really on par with with other areas in the United States,” Wachsmuth said. “Some places may have a higher rate of use, while others could be lower.”

The increase in use has a lot to do with more of the drug coming from mexico, Wachsmuth said. It’s cheaper than other drugs and the effects last longer. 

Meth can injected or inhaled, Wachsmuth said, these days, users are mixing meth and heroin, or other drugs to create a different type of high.

“It is a shortcut to the pleasure center of the brain,” Quashen said. “People go on runs where all they do is the drug, they don’t sleep or eat and the brain starts playing tricks on the user, people get really paranoid.”

The average user begins using at age 17, and personality traits in a methamphetamine user include the inability to work or care for a family, they are agitated, aggressive, confused, and they don’t maintain a normal sleep cycle, Wachsmuth said.

“Coming down from methamphetamines can cause extreme depression,” Quashen said, “it is the most emotionally addictive drug out there.”

Meth is not really a step up from another drug, Wachsmuth said, meth is a stimulant, which makes it very different than other drugs.

“The use of meth is more of an alternate step that has to do with the users personality,” Wachsmuth said. “Heroin, painkillers many other drugs are depressants, so the high is different.”

It’s an incredibly tough habit to kick, Wachsmuth said, it is a life long process to get and stay sober.

“Most people become addicted after trying the drug only once, it is incredibly hard to kick,” Quashen said, “but people do it every single day.”

About Action Family Counseling

Action Family Counseling has drug and alcohol residential treatment locations in Santa Clarita, Piru, and Bakersfield; Intensive Drug and Alcohol Outpatient in Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Ventura, Pasadena, and Bakersfield, Action Family Counseling is here to help you.

Action Family Counseling’s primary goals are to maintain abstinence, stabilize co-occurring illnesses, and increase quality of life. We support and reinforce change in behavior patterns so that adolescents and adults, or clients and their families can fully indoctrinate the philosophies and principles needed to remain abstinent and stabilized for life.

Action Family Counseling accomplishes this by providing an effective treatment approach developed by the Department of Health and Human Services that includes a multi-disciplinarian personalized approach by a treatment team. Once a patient is identified, we provide an initial screening and assessment, which allows us to properly diagnose and place patients in the appropriate treatment setting.

Once a patient completes our intake process to our residential program he or she receives 24-hour crisis management, individual counseling, group therapy, family education and counseling, treatment planning, routine and random toxicology screening, pharmacotherapy and medication management, education about Alcohol and Other Drugs and mental health issues, self-help and support group orientation, case management services, and discharge service planning with a transitional service plan to our Intensive Outpatient treatment program to ensure a continuum of care.

Photo courtesy of CNN.