WOMAN SEES WIDE IMPACT FROM DRUGS

Linda Henderson has a theory about how her daughter's son ended up in Ohio.

"I think she sold him," said the 53-year-old owner of the Sage and Sand Motel.

Henderson drove more than 20 hours each way to pick up the boy and
later fought to become his guardian. She seems happy that the
3-year-old n whose picture hangs in the motel's office n is now
safely living with a relative in Virginia.

Henderson, a Wyoming native, has experienced the negative effects of
drugs in both her personal life and her work. Users have destroyed
rooms in the motel despite her efforts to keep drugs away.

And two of her four children have fought drug and alcohol problems
with varying degrees of success. Henderson said her daughter's
involvement with drugs led her to lose track of her child, or possibly worse.

"Some people are addicts," Henderson said.

Stuart Harwood, Henderson's oldest child, spoke last week about his
history with drugs and alcohol. He said he was always into
"partying," a fondness that at first just meant alcohol.

"I didn't try any of the powder until my junior year," the 35-year-old said.

Harwood moved as a teenager to live with his grandparents in
Arizona. There, he said, he made friends with people who used
cocaine, LSD and a drug that was called "crystal meth."

Details of the years that followed are difficult to put together.
Harwood served time in a federal prison before returning to Wyoming.
He married and went to work in the oil fields.

Despite some tumult and further problems with the law back then,
Harwood said, he's clean now.

"I was an alcoholic," Harwood said. "Now, I pretty much don't drink."

Harwood's sister, who is 10 years younger, has not yet made the same
transition. He said she showed him several years ago the drug that
now passes for methamphetamine, which he described by its "glassy
looking" appearance. He said the drug seems different than the meth
he knew when he was a teenager.

"The high wasn't a paranoid-type high," Harwood said.

In addition to his sister, Harwood said, his second wife also
developed a need for the drug. At one point she became convinced
"glass was coming out of her face," he said. She scraped her face
with a knife as she tried to get rid of the sensation.

Harwood said meth seems disproportionately to affect women. He's
seen them become aggressive, violent and promiscuous. The generation
of users that includes his sister, he said, "is messed up."

Henderson said she will work with addicts when they are recovering.
But when they are still using, she said, they seem to be beyond help.

Despite her efforts to keep drugs out of the motel and her desire to
see family members recover, Henderson said, the struggles don't seem
to relent.

Friday night's wind blew down a power line at the Sage and Sand
Motel. Police who showed up afterward told Henderson that one of her
guests was known to be a drug dealer.

The man left. Later, Henderson said she wonders whether her son --
who has been staying at the motel -- will be able to keep away from
the chemicals he has relied upon.

"Once they get involved in drugs, it's very hard for them to get
off," Henderson said. "It's just a circle. Every time you think
you've got it handled, it's just another problem."