Those hooked on 'ice' have emaciated look
Willis Webb

T HIS COUNTRY has long had a problem with drugs, the latest absolutely destructive one

being a new form of methamphetamine

called "ice." Nothing brings home the devastation on individuals and families like seeing a user up close or talking to a family member and seeing and hearing the utter hopelessness that both the drug and our system bring about.

On this week's front page is a story by Managing Editor Jimmy Galvan of the justice system's efforts to combat this drug, called the most addictive of all, even more than crack cocaine. You can read the frustration in the statements by law enforcement officers in trying to stem the tide of this terrible American affliction, but that can't compare to the absolute devastation this brings on a family.

Recently, I had a phone call from the mother of a meth addict. We'll call her Mary and the addicted daughter Martha for purposes of protecting their privacy.

Martha, the user, has a criminal record as do many meth addicts. She is on probation and is required to take regular drug tests as a condition of her probation. Martha is also unmarried and seven months pregnant. She is still a meth user. Children's Protective Services has already removed one child from her home and given custody to Mary, the child's grandmother. There are multiple arrest warrants out for Martha because of failed drug tests.

According to Mary, Martha was arrested several months back and was kept in jail for some time. Upon release, Mary says, Martha immediately gravitated to the drug crowd again, became pregnant with a child that, if it survives the birthing, will have a multitude of problems due to the mother's meth use.

Mary told me, when she first called trying to find a way to help her daughter, that she talked with the Jasper County Sheriff's Department. Mary told them she knew of the warrants for Martha and gave them her daughter's whereabouts because "she's just laying there in that house, doing drugs and she looks like some of those abused horses y'all ran pictures of in the paper several months ago."

The anguish and pain in Mary's voice pushed her to tears and the desperation and fear she felt for her daughter's survival was quite apparent.

The Sheriff's Office representatives told her that because of her daughter's emaciated condition and the almost certain condition of the unborn baby, they couldn't put her in jail and risk some catastrophic occurrence for which the county would be held financially liable.

Mary pleaded with me to help her find assistance for Martha.

I called the S.O. and none of the ranking officers were in, so the dispatcher said a patrol deputy was on his way in and she would see what they could do. Later in the day, Mary called to say she'd had a call from the S.O. and thanked me. I was relieved to hear it.

However, a frustrated, tearful Mary called a few days later to tell me the officer had been ordered not to do anything because of the liability to the county. Mary said she had found a rehab facility in Louisiana that would take her daughter if law enforcement consented.

So, I made another call to Adult Probation to alert them as to Martha's plight. They acknowledged the problems inherent in a drug addict's pregnancy and the likely results with a birthed child. They also said it was not usual for a rehab to accept someone with outstanding warrants. There is no news yet if Martha is in rehab.

I understand the position people in the justice system face, particularly in small, poor counties such as Jasper. But, I also know that the nearest facility for rehab is in Beaumont. Most meth addicts don't have transportation and, most of the time lack the will to seek help.

We keep arresting them and putting them in jail where, sometimes, they can get help but we seem to make little progress in getting at those who manufacture and sell the destructive drugs.

Some day, hopefully soon, we will realize that until we treat addiction and until we attack with full force the purveyors of this devastation, there will be no let up in stories about mothers like Mary with daughters like Martha.

Willis Webb is editor and publisher of The Jasper Newsboy. He can be reached by calling 409/384-3441, by writing him at P.O. Box 1419, Jasper, Texas 75951-1419 or by email at wwebb@jaspernewsboy.com.