Roger Hopper calls it the AIDS of drugs. He refers to users as the "walking dead."

From sunken eyes and cheeks to acne, sores and decaying teeth, methamphetamine clearly can take its toll.

"It just eats your body up so bad," said Hopper, a Paris, Ill., narcotics officer.

Meth use often withers addicts to skeletons and can damage the heart beyond repair.

Over time, it can zap the amount of brain chemical dopamine, leading to depression and even suicide, studies have shown. In pregnant women, use of the drug increases the risk of premature labor, eruption of the placenta and fetal death, said Dr. Randy Stevens of Union Hospital Family Practice.

And the effects of the Wabash Valley's drug of choice is impacting local resources -- from jails to hospitals.

In Edgar County, Ill., health-care costs at the county jail have skyrocketed. "They've just got a lot of medical problems," former Sheriff Karl Farnham said of meth users, to whom he attributes most of the increase.

In 1999, the county paid $11,000 in medical bills for inmates. In 2002, that number rose to $73,000, said current Sheriff Tim Crippes, whose term began in December.

"It's an unbelievable expense to the taxpayers of the county," Crippes said.

To control the costs, the county has approved a $52,000 contract with a Peoria, Ill.,-based company that will send a nurse two hours a day to the jail and a doctor once a week, Crippes said. Medical personnel are also on call for emergencies.

The medical problems of meth addicts can range from symptoms of Hepatitis C -- a viral liver disease that can be contracted through shared needles -- to dental problems requiring teeth to be pulled.

In Vigo County, records show inmate dental costs more than tripled between 2001 and 2002, while the average number of inmates has not quite doubled. And methamphetamine appears to be, in part, to blame, said former Vigo County Sheriff Bill Harris.

A possible explanation: Meth use is linked to dry mouth and to counter that problem, addicts drink a lot of carbonated soft drinks, according to a story published in a recent journal of the Michigan Dental Association. The article also points out that while bingeing, meth abusers usually don't brush or floss their teeth.

In Vigo County, one inmate, a known meth user, required $653 in dental work between mid-April and late June 2002. Another inmate jailed on meth charges: $382. Yet another's: $262.

Medical problems faced by meth addicts, however, are not limited to dental decay. Health officials in Terre Haute say they are treating patients with other ailments related to the use of methamphetamine.

Both Dr. Ronald Leach, Union Hospital's chief of staff, and Jennifer Likens, supervisor of Terre Haute Regional Hospital's emergency department, said though the figures are difficult to pinpoint, they've seen an increase in the number of patients treated in connection with methamphetamine.

And the patients aren't always paying their bills. "It's putting pressure on the system as a whole," Leach said.

The symptoms might be heart problems. Or infections. Or respiratory problems, as a result of inhaling fumes from ether and anhydrous ammonia -- some of the chemicals used to make meth.

And it's not just the "cooks" who are risk. A 12-year-old Sullivan County boy was hospitalized for a couple weeks after a meth bust at his home. His immune system had been compromised as a result of prolonged exposure to the chemicals used to make methamphetamine, said Jim Bedwell, director of the Sullivan County Office of Family and Children.

In December, a Vigo County highway worker was treated at a hospital after being overcome by fumes when he opened a trash bag alongside a road. The bag contained components of a meth lab.

But the most visible cases are the burns that result from mishaps at the makeshift labs -- something that has made Stevens take notice.

"It's just shocking me seeing the burns they've sustained," said Stevens, a family physician who is certified in addictions medicine and is director of family practice residency at Union Hospital.

In at least one instance, a Vigo County man died as a result of a suspected meth lab explosion. Ralph Cassidy, who was discovered in late October lying outside a burning shed that police say contained items used to make meth, succumbed to his burns in November.

At the time of Cassidy's death, Carol Frerichs said it was difficult watching her brother lay in the hospital for three weeks, never to reawaken from a drug-induced coma.

"This is what can happen," she said. "You can die for the next high."