News Release

HHS Awards $16.2 Million for Methamphetamine Abuse Treatment

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced 11 new, three-year grants to provide treatment for methamphetamine abuse and other emerging drugs for adults residing in rural communities. The grants, awarded by HHS� Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), total $5.4 million for the first year and approximately $16.2 million for all three years.

These new grants, and the six grants awarded in 2004 through this program, support treatment in rural areas that have been particularly hard hit by methamphetamine abuse. While the prevalence of methamphetamine use is about the same, the number of persons seeking treatment for methamphetamine abuse has increased dramatically, 10 percent between 2002 and 2003 alone, continuing a trend seen since 1993. Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and Utah had more than 20 percent of their admissions to treatment due to methamphetamine abuse, and Iowa�s rate is just over 19 percent.

In comparison, methamphetamines/amphetamines account for 7.4 percent of substance abuse treatment admissions nationally. Heroin accounts for 14.8 percent of treatment admissions, cocaine accounts for 13.6 percent, and marijuana accounts for 15.5 percent.

"Methamphetamine abuse causes great harm to children, families and communities, but it is a preventable and treatable problem that we are taking steps to address," Secretary Leavitt said. "The President's comprehensive approach, combining prevention, treatment, law enforcement and education is the most effective approach to reducing the public health threat of methamphetamine. These new grants are one part of our overall efforts to help state and local officials identify and address new and emerging trends in substance abuse."

"The ravages of methamphetamine abuse are being seen in communities across the country," SAMHSA Administrator Charles Cure said. "Fortunately, we know more today than ever before about what works in prevention, education, and treatment. We know now that methamphetamine abuse can be successfully treated. Results of SAMHSA-funded studies show 59-69 percent of those who have been treated are free of methamphetamine after six months."

The treatment programs obtaining the grants include:

California

The Kern County Rural Targeted Capacity Expansion Project -- $493,165 for the first year, $494,658 for the second year and $495,977 for the third year to expand and enhance adult outpatient methamphetamine treatment services by implementing Matrix Model treatment plan versions appropriate to younger adult (18-25 years of age) and Spanish-speaking adult clients in two treatment sites: Taft and Wasco. The Matrix Model uses intensive outpatient therapy that integrates treatment elements from a number of strategies, including relapse prevention, motivational interviewing, education, family therapy, and 12-step program involvement. It is anticipated that the majority of clients will be referred by the criminal justice system.

Taft is expected to have 51 percent women, 9 percent Hispanic, 84 percent white, and 2 percent African-American patients, and Wasco will serve 33 percent women, 67 percent Hispanic, 26 percent white, and 2 percent African-American populations. The program aims to increase client retention and successful treatment completion, improve client outcomes, including attitudes towards and rates of substance abuse. The program plans to serve a total of 450 clients over three years, consisting of 110 clients in their first year and 170 in each of the following two years.

The Mendocino County Department of Public Health -- $500,000 per year for each of three years to increase capacity to provide comprehensive, integrated, community-based methamphetamine treatment services to 360 methamphetamine users (120 per year) and 180 (60 per year) family members over the three-year grant period. The program will increase retention and improve treatment outcomes by expanding capacity to provide same-day service for clients in need of treatment, family support and education, residential treatment, and recovery support. The program�s clients are estimated at 80 percent white/non- Hispanic, 10 percent American Indian and 10 percent Hispanic, with a gender ratio of 40 percent female and 60 percent male and an age range that has historically been 50 percent young adults between 18 and 30.

The San Mateo County Human Services Agency -- $398,685 per year for three years to expand treatment services on the rural coast side of San Mateo County. The target population will be low or moderate-income, English and Spanish-speaking adults, 70 percent white and 24 percent Latino. Services will include enhancement therapy groups; primary treatment; co-occurring groups; continuing care, including relapse prevention; family education classes; and an aggressive program of community outreach. The program aims to provide interventions specific to methamphetamine and other stimulant use to an additional 29 individuals receiving motivational enhancement counseling, 39 individuals completing primary treatment, 10 individuals participating in co-occurring disorders treatment, and 32 families participating in co-occurring disorders treatment each year of the three year grant period. A total of 234 clients will receive services.

Georgia

North Georgia's Union County Commission, New Hope Counseling -- $500,000 per year for each of three years to expand treatment services for 302 adults (25-60 years of age) with methamphetamine abuse and associated problems. The project intends to use the Matrix Model, which uses intensive outpatient therapy that integrates treatment elements from a number of strategies, including relapse prevention, motivational interviewing, education, family therapy, and 12-step program involvement. The target population for this project will consist of primarily white (80 percent), male (80 percent) clients. In the first year, the grantee plans to serve 82 clients, while increasing to 110 per year for years two and three, totaling 302 clients over the course of the grant.

Montana

The Montana Department of Justice, Helena -- $500,000 per year for each of three years, through the Montana Adult Methamphetamine Treatment Coalition, to serve a total of 180 adults, primarily white, with methamphetamine addiction, with the largest minority population being Native American. The program will serve 50 clients in year one, 60 clients during year two and 70 clients during year three. The target population will be equally split in regards to gender. The population is expected to be largely unemployed or under-employed and fall below the poverty range. The program will serve pregnant women, women and men with dependent children, families involved with the child welfare system, and persons with co-occurring mental health disorders. It is anticipated that 40 percent of the clients are intravenous methamphetamine users and may have HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C. This program aims to improve and employ services using several treatment protocols, including the Matrix Model, integrated dual disorder treatment, contingency management and comprehensive case management.

New Mexico

Gila Regional Medical Center, Silver City -- $500,000 per year for each of three years to use the Kokopelli Program to expand and strengthen outpatient treatment services to adult methamphetamine and other stimulant users in four rural counties in southwestern New Mexico. The project targets methamphetamine/stimulant users who are parents of minor children, have been involved with the criminal justice system or child protective service systems, have substance abuse and/or co-occurring mental disorders and have accessed any level of treatment. The program will build capacity through staff training in the Matrix Model for treating methamphetamine abuse, and will strengthen partnerships with service providers in the region. The project will provide gender-sensitive and culturally appropriate treatment services to an estimated 455 clients over the three-year grant period. The proposed project will serve 75 clients in the first year, 190 clients in the second year and 190 in the third year. The project anticipates that 55 percent to 60 percent of program participants will be Hispanic with 5 percent speaking only Spanish. Women will be 50 percent to 60 percent of the population and men 40 percent to 50 percent. The age range is estimated to be 20 to 45 years old.

Oregon

The Methamphetamine Expanded Treatment Program, Grants Pass -- $500,000 per year for each of three years to reduce methamphetamine abuse among adults in the county, helping them to establish a clean and sober lifestyle, improving their physical health and the quality of their lives, and reducing episodes of criminality, homelessness, and psychiatric crisis. The project will provide chemical dependency treatment and strengths-based case management. The program aims to serve 240 individuals over the course of the grant. The target population is composed of 44 percent females, 92.7 percent white, 3.4 percent Latino, and 88 percent of the clients over the age of 21 (ages 21-60). In the county, 60 percent of methamphetamine users are between the ages of 21 and 40.

Tennessee

Tennessee Department of Mental Health, Nashville -- $500,000 per year for each of three years to target adults ages 18 and over who are abusing methamphetamine and other emerging drugs in six rural counties. Utilizing the Matrix Model, support services (outreach, assessment, case management), and community education, the Rural METH Initiative will expand access to structured, culturally competent care for 180 persons over the three year grant program. Forty clients will be served in the first year, 60 clients will be served in the second year and 80 clients will be served in the third year. The target population is anticipated to reflect general county demographics and will be socio-economically diverse. Clients will include white males and females between 20 and 29 years of age, with a higher percentage being women using stimulants. Hispanics and African-Americans will also be served by this program.

Texas

The City of Robstown -- $500,000 per year for each of three years to address two critical issues that include the expansion of substance abuse treatment and services and the prevention of the epidemic usage/abuse of methamphetamine. The target population for this project is Latinos, primarily Mexicans and Mexican Americans, who are vulnerable to risk factors associated with methamphetamine abuse and reside in the Coastal Bend, a rural to semi-rural area in South Texas. The program aims to provide detoxification services to 40-45 clients per year (125 total), residential treatment to 20 clients per year (60 total), and outpatient treatment to 50 clients per year (150 total). The total number of clients to be served over the three-year grant program is 335.

The Webb County (Laredo) Expand Access to Substance Abuse Treatment in Rural Areas Project -- $500,000 per year for each of three years to provide South Texas with capacity expansion and long-term sustaining structure development to assist Webb County and surrounding counties in meeting the community's methamphetamine abuse needs. The project plans to expand current services or purchase contract rate detoxification, residential and outpatient treatment capacity. Their target population is composed primarily of Hispanic adults and their families. The project plan is to serve 28 clients/families for the first year, expanding to 36 per year for years two and three, while providing enhanced case management to 80 clients in the first year and then 120 per year over the course of years two and three. Overall, the program aims to serve 100 clients and provide enhanced case management to 320 clients.

Zapata County Serinidad Border Infrastructure Development Project -- $500,000 per year for each of three years to positively impact the targeted border area by restoring recently lost detoxification and residential services, as well as to strengthen continuing care by establishing rural services based on indigenous, culturally appropriate outreach efforts, case management, and outpatient services. The target population consists of substance-dependent/abusing adult women and men of Mexican descent who are medically indigent and thus cannot afford to pay for treatment services. The project will serve 300 participants, 200 of which will receive detoxification and residential services, and 100 will receive outpatient services over the three year grant period. The project will serve 50 individuals in year one and 125 individuals for each of the two remaining years to reach the total of 300 unduplicated clients. The project will provide services to include improving identification and treatment of individuals abusing emerging drugs such as opiate analgesics, methamphetamine and other prescription drugs.

SAMHSA is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation�s substance abuse prevention, addictions, treatment and mental health service delivery system.