The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
62°F
Current Conditions
Clear sky
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Meth users’ health costs adding up at local jails

Wayne Longo of the Idaho Department of Law Enforcement holds methamphetamines in a sealed evidence bag. Because of the dangerous chemicals used to make the drug, Longo must wear protective gear during the cleanup phase of each drug bust. The drug has serious health effects on many of its users. (File/ / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Wayne Longo of the Idaho Department of Law Enforcement holds methamphetamines in a sealed evidence bag. Because of the dangerous chemicals used to make the drug, Longo must wear protective gear during the cleanup phase of each drug bust. The drug has serious health effects on many of its users. (File/ / The Spokesman-Review)

LEWISTON, Idaho – Health costs related to methamphetamine abuse are escalating for local governments in Idaho and Washington as they’re forced to treat drug-related problems of prisoners in the region’s jails.

Washington’s Whitman County had one $35,000 patient, a chronic intravenous drug user who had liver failure, the Lewiston Tribune reported. Clearwater County spent $16,000 on an Idaho inmate with meth-related health issues.

Using drug-charge records and other criteria, Nez Perce County Auditor Patty O. Weeks has estimated that 40 percent of her county jail’s medical expenses are related to meth users. The numbers in most counties are dramatic, and they’re climbing each year.

Lewis County Sheriff Phil Steen said his jail’s medical budget has risen 25-fold since 2001.

He said he can see the meth-caused changes in prisoners, especially repeat offenders, by comparing older booking photos with more recent ones. His jail’s medical costs were $335 in 2001, $2,459 in 2003, and $8,197 in 2004. The bills for just the first half of this fiscal year have topped all of last year at $8,601, he said.

Some of the rise in prison health care costs isn’t directly related to methamphetamine, officials said.

Some sophisticated prisoners are entering jail and requesting specific drug prescriptions because they know they can get them, Lewis County Auditor Cathy Larson said.

Still, meth appears to be the biggest factor, said Idaho County sheriff’s Capt. Skott Mealer. Half of his county’s costs for prisoner medical care – $28,379, or three times the figure from five years ago – are due to the illegal stimulant that creates an intense high but also can cause symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease.

Abusers’ teeth hurt and their bodies have been deprived of nutrients and sleep and are out of whack physically and emotionally, he said.

Clearwater County Jail Commander Gene Fish said 85 percent of his medical budget was spent in the first 45 percent of the year. Of the $18,336 spent so far, $5,700 was related to dental health – often for meth abusers. Many counties are forced to pull the rotting teeth of methamphetamine users, whose dental problems arise from poor nutrition, bad oral hygiene and the effects of poisonous chemicals that are inhaled into the mouth, jail officials have said.

“I would say 70 percent of all our people in jail have a drug problem,” said Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers. “Meth is clearly the leader of the problems in this area. At least half of our inmates who require medical/dental work are or have been meth users.”