The first step to be taken in community-based treatment of methamphetamine addiction is the most difficult step to take. It is believing that, in the long run, the best place for people addicted to methamphetamine to be meaningfully integrated in is within their home, in the sober community. “Sober community” does not mean exclusively the 12-step programs offered in the community. “Sober community” refers to those people close to the individuals, either because they live within the same defined geographic area or because they have some kind of a meaningful connection to them (i.e., friends or family). These loved ones have learned how to enjoy and value every aspect of their life experiences (including difficult times) without abusing or becoming dependent on any chemical substance.

Community integration of people addicted to methamphetamine is no small task. Many members from the community are against the idea. They wonder why they should assume that individuals who are addicted to methamphetamine are going to want to change their community associations in the first place. Difficult as it may seem, however, it is what must occur for several reasons. The first reason has to do with the fact that alienation from a sober community is one of the reasons methamphetamine addiction and substance abuse initially occur. Without that connection, there is no modeling, no training about how people live sober lifestyles. For example, without being integrated into some kind of a sober community, how do those addicted to methamphetamine learn how to celebrate, relax, settle down, or enjoy being with friends without using some kind of mood-altering substance? Integration with a sober community is also important because no matter what kind of treatment individuals addicted to methamphetamine may have received, if they cannot meaningfully join a sober community, then whatever benefit they may have gleaned from their treatment will be lost, and they will relapse.

This is one of many reasons why incarceration does not work as a treatment option for methamphetamine users. Incarceration does not do anything to help people learn to live sober lifestyles. All it teaches is that if they get caught there are negative consequences that can occur because of their methamphetamine use. The strong lesson learned from incarceration is not that using methamphetamine leads to negative consequences but, instead, that methamphetamine can lead to negative consequences only if you get caught. So the lesson learned is not to stop using methamphetamine but to keep using methamphetamine and just make sure not to get caught.

Often, what is taught in jail by other incarcerated peers are more ways to not get caught, as opposed to how to change the behaviors that led to incarceration in the first place. This is because too many inmates in prisons and jails are not psychologically ready to admit wrongdoing, culpability, or poor judgment in relation to their offences. It is easier, more convenient, and less damaging to self-esteem for them to continue to deny the problems that led to incarceration than it is to accept responsibility and prepare to make changes to keep it from happening again.

Even if the media hype regarding the extreme difficulty of stopping methamphetamine use once people have started is not entirely true, to sober family members and friends, the prospects of effectively helping people to stop using the drug often appear very bleak and almost hopeless. This is because they have likely witnessed many empty promises and failed attempts to stop using. They have also probably experienced what it is like to be pitted against the meth-using community, vying for the sobriety of someone who is involved in methamphetamine use. As powerful as their pleas and interventions may be, they are no match for the pull of the meth-using community.

Methamphetamine addiction is a community problem that requires community-based solutions. This is due to many reasons, including the fact that people who use methamphetamine seldom do it alone. A distinguishing characteristic of methamphetamine addiction is that people who use often do so as part of an insidious network of other users. Their involvement with other people who also use the drug is just as powerful and difficult to break as even the addiction to the drug itself. Sasha’s parents became painfully aware of this as they saw her addiction to methamphetamine correlate with and exacerbate her associations with the sordid subculture of methamphetamine addicts in their community. One person, say, a caring family member or an invested professional, working with an individual against the overwhelming tide of the meth-using community, will likely be unsuccessful. The principles that follow in this site are to help guide true community-based efforts to address methamphetamine addiction.

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