METH SCHIZOPHRENIA

I'd like to congratulate you on your great articles on methamphetamine.
There is one aspect of the drug that you didn't cover, which is the effects
of meth on the mental-health system here in Maricopa County.

I work for one of the mobile crisis companies contracted and dispatched by
ValueOptions. We help people deal with mental-health crises anywhere in the
county 24/7. This service is free to anyone in Maricopa County. Our calls
range from people feeling suicidal to domestic-violence situations to
parent-child problems to a homeless person wanting a blanket to someone
simply "acting bizarre."

Over the past couple years, there has been a huge increase in our overall
volume of calls -- specifically, calls where the client has recently used
meth. I would estimate that in about 50 percent of the calls, meth is involved.

Meth will cause paranoia, aggression and psychosis, which are all reasons
that people call us. This situation could be called "schizophrenia in a
pipe," because it is almost impossible to tell the difference between
someone on a five-day meth binge and a long-term paranoid schizophrenic off
his medication.

Meth is overwhelming our already underfunded, beleaguered and complicated
mental-health system, with little hope in sight.

Name withheld by request