"From my first use I was hooked," he said of his addiction. "All I could think about was how and when I would get high next."

Symes would miss family functions to purchase drugs or get high. His wife eventually told him he was no longer welcome in their home, he said. He had no desire to go to work and turned to theft so he could continue financing his drug habit.

Today, Symes feels there is a place for both incarceration and treatment in helping a person kick their drug habit.

Treatment is mandatory, he said. The problem is a lack of treatment facilities in Utah. Even at the First Step Home there is a three- to four-month waiting list to get in, he said.

"We just don't have enough room," he said.

Nearly 28 percent of all admissions to substance-abuse treatment facilities in Utah in 2005 were for meth addiction, according to the state. Almost 37 percent of all women admitted last year were for meth use, making it the drug of choice for females, according to the state.

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