NORTH COUNTY - Methamphetamine use is becoming a growing concern in American Indian communities, including local reservations, say tribal leaders who are trying to combat the problem.

Methamphetamine, or meth, is a highly addictive drug that can cause paranoia and delusions in long-term users. Addicts often turn to crime to supply their habits, which can sometimes lead to violent, headline-grabbing offenses.

Tribal and law enforcement officials say Indian communities are not immune to the drug's destructiveness.

"We are no more and no less susceptible to this drug than anybody else," said Temet Aguilar, an administrator with the Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association, a North County-based consortium of 19 Indian tribes that coordinates health, safety, cultural and educational programs.

Aguilar said he is working with officials at the state attorney general's office to create a meth awareness presentation designed to help teach members of Indian communities how to spot and prevent meth problems. He is also part of the Indian Country Alliance, a multi-agency group formed to combat drug and alcohol abuse.

The effects of meth on local reservations are difficult to pin down, officials said.

According to a federal study, meth use is more prevalent among American Indians than in some other ethnic groups. About 1.7 percent of American Indians had used meth in the last year, compared with 0.7 percent of whites, according to the 2005 study.

Federal and tribal officials sounded the alarm last year at a Senate hearing.

Robert McSwain, deputy director for Indian Health in the Department of Health and Human Services, said meth addiction had become a "crisis" in some Indian communities, especially remote reservations in the Upper Plains and the West.

"It is a crisis for individuals, families, communities, agencies and governments across the country," McSwain told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.

At the same hearing, Bill Ragsdale, director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, told the committee that tribal leaders were using terms such as "epidemic" and "out of control" when describing meth use on their reservations.

Ragsdale said other social problems are contributing to the spread of meth use in Indian communities.

"Social problems such as methamphetamine abuse do not occur in isolation, but are intertwined with other social problems such as crime, abuse of other substances, limited economic opportunities, reduced academic achievement, and suicide, to name just a few," Ragsdale said.

Last week, the San Diego Association of Governments, the region's chief planning agency, released a report indicating that meth was found in about 36 percent of men and 47 percent of women who were booked into local jails.

The report was based on drug tests administered over four separate months in 2006 to a total of 736 participants within 48 hours of their arrest and booking into Vista, Central or Las Colinas jails.

Lt. Sean Gerrity of the Valley Center Sheriff's Substation, which oversees most North County reservations, said that while meth use is a concern in local Indian communities, there are no statistics available that show the extent of the problem.

"All I can tell you is that they have not been exempted from what everybody else has experienced," Gerrity said. "We have issues with meth usage on the reservation."

In a highly publicized case last year, Andre Calac was sentenced in November to 80 years in prison for killing his pregnant girlfriend with a shotgun blast at the Rincon Indian Reservation. His blood, taken shortly after the shooting, tested positive for marijuana and methamphetamine, and his blood-alcohol level was 0.19 percent.

Last month, Olin Jones, who heads the office of Native American Affairs at the state attorney general's office, attended a meeting with local tribal law enforcement officials in Pauma Valley. Jones said meth use is one of the most pressing problems Indian communities face.

Jones said his office provides training for tribal law enforcement on how to deal with many of the problems meth presents. He said a training session in July held in San Francisco was widely attended and many tribal officials have requested additional training.

"Meth has been a real big issue in Indian Country and in all our nation," he said.

- Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.