Free care
offered to women
on meth

St. Francis will test a
new program to halt
substance abuse

By Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

Island women addicted to methamphetamine are invited to participate in a free treatment study at the St. Francis Medical Center.

The center has received $371,785 as one of seven sites selected for a $3.1 million study to determine the effectiveness of treatments for methamphetamine.

The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is sponsoring the study in California, Montana and Hawaii.

Alice Dickow, director of the Women's Addiction Treatment Center of Hawaii at St. Francis, said the funding will cover costs for anyone who wants to participate in the study.

Incentives, such as grocery coupons, also will be offered for participation, she said.

The sites will test a successful Los Angeles outpatient treatment program called MATRIX, Dickow said.

Programs will be conducted for eight and 16 weeks "to see if we get the same effectiveness," she said.

Eligible for the program are women 18 or older who have used methamphetamine in the last 30 days and have not been in inpatient treatment for a week or longer, she said.

Dickow said the MATRIX program is based on a "psycho-educational" curriculum and differs from conventional treatment. There is less emphasis on individual counseling or any issue other than substance abuse, and it is not confrontational, she said.

"It's not meant to get into a lot of emotional or family issues," she said. "It's very specific, with educational skill-building to deal with problems of methamphetamine."

She said it focuses on what addiction is, how a person becomes addictive and "on triggers -- things that keep a person wanting to use it -- and on relapse prevention."

Hawaii was chosen for the study because of its unique population and methamphetamine problems, and because the local program will deal only with women, she said. Little research has been done in general about substance abuse among women, she said.

A pilot group will begin about mid-February "to get people interested," she said. It will meet three times a week. She's planning for a day program, but said she is willing to set one up at night if there is a demand for it.

Nelba Chavez, administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said the study is "a crucial step in our efforts toward stemming the spread of methamphetamine abuse and its disastrous effects on too many individuals, their families and communities."

She said the study will provide essential data to determine what treatment methods should be used to treat substance abusers.

The University of California at Los Angeles Drug Abuse Research Center will coordinate the study and analyze data from the various sites.

Dickow said there is no limit on the number of participants here. "We're really hoping we can accommodate lots and lots of people. The more, the better."

For more information or to sign up for a program, call the Women's Addiction Treatment Center of Hawaii at 547-6273.