Fight against methamphetamine has evolved

John Summers, Yuba County's director of family court services, has been observing the local methamphetamine scene long enough to know how the drug got one of its early nicknames — crank.

Tall and whip-thin with a gray beard, Summers is a familiar figure around the Yuba County Courthouse, where he deals daily with the problems created by the county's illegal drug of choice.

When he arrived in 1979, motorcycle gangs were the principal manufacturers of meth — and they often smuggled it in the crankcases of their bikes, he said.

A lot has changed since the days when police entered meth labs wearing rubber gloves, not the hazmat suits of today. Meth has scores of new nicknames, and Hispanic gangs have largely taken over distribution of the drug.

The methods law enforcement and social service agencies use to fight the meth epidemic have also evolved, said Summers.

"We've learned a whole lot in treatment and law enforcement. But so have the sellers and manufacturers," he said.

While regional cooperation between police agencies has led to more arrests, authorities have learned that fighting meth has one thing in common with fighting gangs, said Summers.

"We can't shoot or arrest our way out of it," he said.

Summers doesn't claim the war is being won but points to progress.

The Sutter-Yuba Mental Health Department now assigns workers to all the agencies that deal with the consequences of meth addiction, including the welfare, child protective and probation departments.

"That wasn't there in 1979, trust me," he said.

A better understanding of the causes and effects of meth addiction has led to improved detoxification methods and treatment programs that emphasize diet and exercise, said Summers.

Methamphetamine use destroys the ability to produce endorphins, the body's natural pain relievers; exercise helps restore that ability, he said.

Still, it can take five or 10 years for a recovering addict to get over the craving for meth, making participation in a support group necessary, he said.

Improved treatment means, in some cases, that children who've been taken away from their meth-abusing parents can return home instead of being raised by grandparents or foster parents, Summers said.