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Methamphetamine (MA) is a highly addictive stimulant that produces an intense high, with a “crash” that causes depression, irritability, insomnia, and paranoid behaviors — all of these behaviors create a serious risk of neglect and abuse to the children present in these homes. Children living in MA labs are at risk of a wide range of serious negative consequences including: poisoning, homicides, burns, and accidental deaths due to home-based MA lab fires and explosions.
Clearly, the combination of exposure to the toxic effects of the drug itself and to the chaotic behavior of the adult MA users puts their children in a uniquely dangerous and damaging environment.
Risks to children
Increased use of MA across the United States has resulted in a huge escalation in the severity of child abuse crimes and an increase in child abuse homicides. The reported number of children present at “MA labs busts” across the nation has increased dramatically, from 950 in 1999 to over 3,300 in 2002 (EPIC, 2003).
These children are the victims of their parents’ drug-focused lifestyles, which are often characterized by: neglect, physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, and other criminal activities.
Neglected and abused children are at risk of social, emotional, developmental, and behavioral problems during childhood and adolescence, as well as cognitive, psychological, and permanent brain damage or physical impairments. The most severe consequence of neglect and abuse is death.
Existing literature reviews further cite the short- and long-term affects of children witnessing domestic violence, including social withdrawal and lack of bonding with parents in early childhood, and chronic anxiety, eating disorders, sleeping disorders, depression, aggression, self-destructive behavior, PTSD, and school problems in later years.
The preoccupation of users with “cooking” MA and staying “high” brings specific dangers to children in these environments. In addition to the possible neglect, abuse and exposure to violence reported above, these young children are further exposed to the toxic chemicals used in the “cooking” process. Consequences of exposure to the chemicals during the “cook” can include: lung irritation, damage to liver, kidney, heart, brain, and immune system, cancer, bone marrow suppression, and developmental and growth problems (DEA, 2000).
The conditions of the typical MA home environment can further increase a child’s risk of infection and illness. Lack of cleanliness is customary, providing an atmosphere for bacteria to thrive. Domestic animals contribute to the filth. Commonly, animal feces, ticks, fleas, garbage, rotten food, cockroaches, and discarded drug paraphernalia are present in the child’s
living areas. Lack of parental supervision contributes to a high percentage of children ingesting spoiled, rotten, or chemically contaminated food, as MA solutions are often stored in real food containers.
Both adults and children who are exposed to methamphetamine are at risk of severe health consequences. However, children are particularly vulnerable to a number of health risks.
Growing and developing organisms
Children’s body size, higher rate of growth and development, and faster metabolism and breathing rate mean that children are more likely to absorb more of the chemicals and drugs into their bodies than adults. The developing brain and other organ systems are more susceptible to damage at specific maturational levels. Children may not be able to process and eliminate the chemicals as well as adults and are, therefore, also at risk of neurological and developmental problems.
Specific behaviors
MA and many of the chemicals involved in its manufacture are absorbed directly through the skin. Because children, particularly young children, have more contact than adults with their physical environment — such as the floor, soil and other surfaces (beds, countertops and low tables) — children are likely to be exposed to more of the drug and contaminants in their homes. Young children also are much more likely to put their hands or chemically-contaminated objects in their mouths, making them more vulnerable to accidental poisoning by ingesting the drug. An intermediate solution of MA or its chemical components cab be fatal or life-threatening.
Differential life span
Children have a much longer life span than adults in which to develop acute or chronic effects of chemical exposure, including cancers.
Vulnerability to violence
Children are more likely to be neglected, abused or molested in the chaotic and drug-focused environment that often characterizes the homes of MA “cookers” since the lifestyle associated with severe MA dependency tends to be one of disorganization, irritability, instability, and violence.
Inexperience
Young children are less likely to be able to escape from or survive a lab-related fire or explosion, due to their inexperience in emergencies. Also, they are less likely to be rescued because of their parentsí inability to think clearly when they are under the influence of MA.
Drug endangered children (DEC) project
In 1997, the California Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning funded a three-year pilot of the DEC project. Seven county-based multidisciplinary DEC Response Teams were created and trained to protect the children found living in drug-manufacturing, selling, and abusing homes. The pilot DEC Teams were composed of narcotic officers, child protective services (CPS) personnel, medical professionals, and prosecutors. The teams provided “24/7” on-scene response at “MA lab busts.” The California pilot counties have served nearly 4,000 children, many of whom have needed special counseling and developmental services. Preliminary data from some of the counties indicated that an average of 38 percent of the children removed from home-based MA labs tested positive for MA and had a higher than expected incidence of respiratory, dermatological, and dental problems (DEA, 2000).
Reports indicated that inhalation from second-hand smoke, accidental ingestion, skin absorption through direct contact, and food and beverage contamination are the primary routes of exposure among young children.
Need for future research
There is currently a lack of specific information about the needs of this special population of drug-endangered children. There is a need to create standardized data collection procedures and long term evaluation of drug-endangered children across California and nationwide. Thus, providing comprehensive information and a foundation to expand the expertise and knowledge is needed to protect drug-endangered children, and to break the cycle of child abuse, neglect, and endangerment caused by those who manufacture, sell, and use illicit drugs.
Acknowledgements
The implications and conclusions of this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the National DEC Alliance. The authors wish to thank Emilio Mendoza, the Los Angeles County DEC Training and Gang Task Force Coordinator, and Rod Mullins, the National DEC Alliance Coordinator, for sharing their expertise, stories, and photographs with us.
Nena P. Messina, PhD, is a criminologist at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, and is the principal investigator of the Children Exposed to Methamphetamine Use and Manufacture project, examining the medical and developmental outcomes and placement issues associated with children removed from home-based meth labs in Los Angeles County.
Patricia Marinelli-Casey, PhD is an assistant research psychologist at UCLA, and is the principal investigator for three CSAT-funded studies focusing on meth. Her areas of expertise include meth treatment research, the implementation of pharmacotherapies in addiction
treatment, workplace substance abuse, and substance abuse and mental health services under managed care.
Richard Rawson, PhD, is the Associate Director of the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs in the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Rawson currently oversees a portfolio of addiction research ranging from brain imaging studies to numerous clinical trials on pharmacological and psychosocial addiction treatments, to the study of how new treatments are applied in the treatment system.
References
Drug Enforcement Agency (2000). Statistics. Available at www.usdoj.gov/dea.
El Paso Intelligence Center National Clandestine Laboratory Seizure System. (2003). Statistics. Available at www.usdoj.gov/dea.
This article is published in Counselor,The Magazine for Addiction Professionals, December 2005, v.6, n.6, pp.44-46.
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