By Myles Barker and Manuel Gutierrez/Special to The Collegian
Part 3 of 3
Methamphetamine: there is help out there. You just need to ask.
Bud Searcy, director of the Academy Rehab Program for men at the Fresno Rescue Mission — a Christian-based program — has four goals that he tries to achieve with the men going through the program.
“One, and first of all, we want to introduce them to a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ, and they have a lot of opportunities to do that when they are here,” Searcy said. “Second, we want to give them the healing and the tools that they need to conquer their addiction. Third, we want to restore their families, and fourth is to produce productive members of society.”
To assist in such a lifestyle change, Searcy requires that all men in the inpatient program stay for one year and don’t work during that time. While in the program, they go through 14 hours of classes a week. They have a counselor that helps them deal with the root issue of their problems. They are taught how to be self-disciplined and other basic life skills.
“The mission also pays for a GED test because we want them to have a GED by the time they walk out of here,” Searcy said. “We give them the tools and everything else they need to succeed to be able to live life when they leave here.”
Searcy said the No. 1 way for people to function while being clean is to drastically change their lifestyle.
“Some people think that because drugs were the problem that they can take up alcohol and then they end up relapsing back into their drugs again,” Searcy said. “If you are an addict, you cannot drink anymore. That is done. You have to change your lifestyle and the people that were a part of your life.”
Searcy said by changing their lifestyle, most men, after several months into the program, have a much clearer mind and start to feel more like themselves again even though some symptoms of meth are irreversible.
“It depends on how long they used it and how much,” Searcy said. “Some guys after using meth start hearing voices, which is a symptom of schizophrenia, and for some, those voices begin to quiet and disappear. So for the most part the body can go back to normal, but some damage is permanent.”
One thing that is not permanent anymore is the way in which law enforcement has categorized methamphetamine as a crime.
The state recently passed Proposition 47, which made possession a citable offense, something that Lt. Joe Gomez of the Fresno Police Department, disagreed with.
“Unfortunately the problem has been made worse by the passage of Proposition 47,” Gomez said. “Now these suspects that are in possession of methamphetamine are only cited out and can continue committing various crimes to support their habits.”
Gomez preferred the law before Proposition 47 because it allowed criminals to be booked.
“In the past, when we could book suspects, it interrupted their criminal activity,” Gomez said. “When they are in jail they can’t commit violent crimes or negatively impact society.”
Lt. Matt Alexander, of the narcotics unit at the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, said the severity of the meth problem in Fresno as being very common.
“I would say meth is easily, along with marijuana, the most prevalent drug in Fresno County and probably anywhere in the United States,” Alexander said. “Return rates for people who have been detained for meth are pretty high because once you get addicted to it, you start doing other crimes like burglaries and robberies. Their behavior becomes more erratic, and they can even commit assault or battery and other charges they wouldn’t commit without a drug addiction.”
Tony Botti, public information officer at the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, said meth continues to be a huge problem in Fresno County and is the No. 1 drug that fuels crime.
“Often times meth addicts will commit burglaries, robberies and all sorts of different crimes in order to fuel their habit, so it is an epidemic and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon,” Botti said.
He said marijuana and meth are the two most prevalent drugs the sheriff’s office sees, but oftentimes when they catch a burglar, a wanted felon, or somebody who has a warrant out, there is a good chance that they might have some meth or some sort of drug paraphernalia on them.
“A lot of times it is small amounts,” Botti said. “It is whatever they need to get them through a day or two so it is a very common occurrence before we book them into jail that we find the meth on them.”
Botti said that someone caught with three or four grams of meth will more than likely be charged with a misdemeanor, but if they are running around with a half-pound or more, they are now stepping into felony territory.
“These people, they need it every single day,” Botti said. “They feed on it, and they are going to do whatever it takes to get their hands on it. It just leads to horrible behavior that really puts their life into a spiral and a lot of times it is hard to recover, but people will stop at no cost to continue to feed their habit.
Although recovery may be a hard process, Bulldogs for Recovery, a Fresno State program, is a resource for students who are in recovery said Kathy Yarmo, health promotion and wellness services coordinator for the student health and counseling center, in March.
Bulldogs for Recovery provides students in recovery with resources such as Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and Bulldogs for Recovery open meetings.
“We want to let students know that there’s others out there — other people out there who are in recovery and know that they can connect with each other,” Yarmo said.
AA meetings are held on Thursdays from noon to 12:45 p.m. and Bulldogs for Recovery open meetings are on Mondays from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, today Gillespie still struggles with her sobriety, but she is still clean.
Chueyee Yang contributed to this story.