Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

'Chasing the High'

Aired February 04, 2005 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Here now a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."
On the road again. President Bush kicked off day two of his Social Security road trip within the last hour and a half. His first stop was in Omaha, Nebraska. He's also going to visit Arkansas and Florida to pitch his plan for private retirement plans in the Social Security plan.

Also, Afghan authorities say that a search and rescue operation was launched this morning for a missing passenger jet. The Comair flight was scheduled to land in Kabul. It was missing during a snowstorm yesterday. A Massachusetts company says that three of its employees were among the 104 people that were onboard.

Also, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is making his first public comments on the initial findings in that oil-for-food scandal we've been following. The commission, headed by former Fed chief Paul Volcker, finds that the man in charge of the program -- which was not Kofi Annan, to be fair -- deals with Iraq and violated standards of integrity.

Annan says the reports contain some hard knocks for the U.N. He says it is just the first step into finding the truth.

We have new details this morning about the amazing survival story in the wake of the tsunami disaster. These are people who somehow managed to survive for more than a month on a remote island in the Indian Ocean. It's the Nicobar Islands. The five men and two women and two children survived on wild boar and coconuts after climbing on top of the hill when the waves came. All now appear to be doing well.

It is 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. out West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Rick Sanchez.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Up first this hour, the nation's new top diplomat making the rounds in Europe. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Germany at this hour. We're looking at live pictures from Berlin, where she is about to hold a news conference with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. That is expected to begin any minute, and we will bring you portions of that live.

Earlier, during her stop in London, Rice was asked whether the U.S. has plans to attack Iran. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The question is simply not on the agenda at this point in time. You know, we have diplomatic means to do this. Iran is not immune to the changes that are going on in this region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: From Berlin, the next stop for Secretary Rice will be Warsaw, Poland. From there, she travels to Ankara, Turkey -- hello. After mores stops in Europe, Rice travels to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

SANCHEZ: President Bush, meanwhile, is back on the road once again. He's on the second day of his cross-country trip that we've been telling you about to try and push for Social Security reform.

Now, the president wants younger workers to be able to set up voluntary private accounts. That means he would be taking money out of the Social Security plan to do so. But it would be an investment which he says would pay off later. Now, in his first stop in Omaha, Nebraska, this morning, Mr. Bush said the need for change can be seen in the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So you've got more people retiring, living longer, with the promise of greater benefits. The problem is, is that the number of people putting money into the system is declining. So you can see the mathematical problem, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now, from Omaha, the president travels to Little Rock, Arkansas and then on to Tampa, Florida.

KAGAN: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is revealing new details about what happened behind the scenes during last year's Abu Ghraib prison scandal. At that time, some lawmakers were call are to Rumsfeld's resignation. But Rumsfeld said he had no intention of stepping down. Well, now, in an exclusive interview with CNN's Larry King, Rumsfeld now says he actually did offer to resign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I submitted my resignation to President Bush twice during that period. And I told him that I felt that he ought to make the decision as to whether or not I stayed on. And he made that decision and said he did want me to stay on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: On another matter, Rumsfeld admits the performance of Iraqi units has been spotty. He tells "The Wall Street Journal" "Over time the performance of units has been mixed. Early on, in particular, some forces didn't perform as well as hoped. But this is not without historical precedent. George Washington repeatedly expressed frustration with poorly trained troops, many of whom fled from battles."

SANCHEZ: The country's new attorney general takes the helm at the Justice Department. You saw part of that right here on CNN earlier today.

Alberto Gonzales arrived this morning for his first day on the job. He spoke with employees last hour. Gonzales was confirmed late yesterday by a deeply divided Senate on a vote of 60-36. Now, many Democrats objected to his role in crafting administration policies on the treatment of prisoners.

KAGAN: Now on to a very disturbing story from Florida. A manhunt is on this hour for a Florida couple accused of torturing and abusing children.

Police say five of the seven children living in the couple's home suffered abuse. They state some of the children had their toenails pulled out with pliers and they were so malnourished that 14-year-old twins weighed only 36 and 38 pounds. Authorities say John and Linda Dollar were the children's legal guardians but not their biological parents. A sheriff's department spokesman called the case unnerving.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAIL TIERNEY, CITRUS COUNTY SHERIFF'S SPOKESWOMAN: There are pictures of the children that have been -- you know, taken in connection with this case and, you know, they have very sweet faces. But when you look at their bodies, I mean, it looks like Auschwitz.

They did tell detectives that, you know, they had had toenails pulled out. And when asked how were their toenails pulled out, they said by pliers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Authorities believe the Dollars may have been traveling in a 1996 black and gold Provost Marathon motor home. The Florida tag number, we should tell you in this case, the police want you to know, is U06Y -- can we put it up? Yes, let's go ahead and do that -- U06YAC. Now, the couple may also be towing a 2000 model gold-colored four-door Lexus with Florida tag number DH41D.

The first full day of jury deliberations is under way in the trial of a defrocked priest accused of raping a boy in the 1980s. Attorneys for Paul Shanley say that the allegations were orchestrated and exploited by personal injury lawyers. But the prosecution says the accuser's memories are too agonizing to be made up. Records reveal that church officials knew Shanley advocated relationships between men and boys, but they still continued to move him from parish to parish.

Well, you can snort it, you can shoot it or you can smoke it. We're talking about methamphetamine, or just meth, as some call it.

It gives the user an intense but fleeting rush. According to the government, 12 million Americans have actually tried meth. And many go on to addiction and shattered lives.

This is a special CNN report. It's called "Chasing the High." The reporter is Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thornton, Colorado, 10 miles outside Denver, a drug raid under way. But this bust will reveal more than just drugs. A victim, one you wouldn't expect.

His name is Brandon, just 18 months, exposed to a world no child should ever see. Brandon and his mother are in this home where the drug methamphetamine is being made. It's a meth lab. Right next to Brandon's toys, deadly chemicals.

His mother reaches out to him to assure him, but it's too late. His mother is arrested, later convicted for drug possession and child abuse. This little boy now faces a tough journey. He's not the only one.

PEGGY WALKER, JUVENILE COURT JUDGE: We see it over and over and over again. And I'm sick of it. I'm angry. I'm tired of it.

KAYE: Meth use is spiking across the country. And children are suffering.

WALKER: Who's going to raise these children? Who's going to care for these children?

KAYE: Juvenile court judge Peggy Walker sees it in her Douglasville, Georgia, courtroom every day.

WALKER: It's the most addictive drug I have ever seen.

KAYE: Meth is made using every day household items, like hydrochloric acid, found in toilet bowl cleaner. The chemicals are used to convert common cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine into meth. That process creates toxic fumes that are especially harmful to children.

(on camera): According to the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, kids are found in more than 30 percent of meth labs raided nationwide. It also says most women who are meth cooks are of child-bearing age. And when a pregnant woman gets high on meth, so does her baby.

(voice-over): Dr. is a pediatrician who studies the effects of meth on children.

DR. RIZWAN SHAH, PEDIATRICIAN: Methamphetamine crossing placenta can cause a sudden rise in the blood pressure of the brain, and that can cause a stroke in an unborn child, resulting in convulsions, muscle tone problems, tremors and sometimes even paralysis.

KAYE: This is what a meth baby looks like, premature, hooked on meth and suffering the pangs of withdrawal. They don't want to eat or sleep, and the simplest things cause great pain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She would cry when she would have her diaper changed because it was so tender and sore.

KAYE: This baby's bottom is burned. When her mother inhaled meth, so did she. Now every time the baby goes to the bathroom, the acids from the meth in her system burn her own skin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The buttocks actually is bleeding.

KAYE: Ron Mullins is a cop turned coordinator with the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children. During his years on the streets he shut down hundreds of meth labs. Today, he helps states care for children of meth.

RON MULLINS, CHILDREN'S ADVOCATE These children are being raised in homes that are absolutely filthy. There's rotting food everywhere, there's animal and human feces everywhere. It's just deplorable conditions.

WALKER: Parents are walking away from the children, they walk away from their spouses, they walk away from their home, they walk away from their jobs. They walk away from their life as they knew it.

KAYE: No one knows that more than this woman. Her name is Tiffany. She's a meth addict and a mom. Her life offers a glimpse at the power of meth. It's so powerful, it can pull a mother away from her child.

TIFFANY, FMR. METH ADDICT: I felt so ashamed and so guilty, and I almost just wanted to die because of what I had done to my kid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: There's more. We're going to have part two of Randi Kaye's special report coming up. In fact, we'll have it for you right after the break.

KAGAN: Also ahead, the Super Bowl is almost here. It is Sunday. The Eagles and the Patriots are ready. So are security forces. A look at plans to keep the Super Bowl safe.

SANCHEZ: Also, you have seen "The Incredibles?" Trust me, if you have kids you've seen it over and over again. We're going to have more on this Oscar-nominated movie later in the show.

We're CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT) KAGAN: Now more of Randi Kaye's special report. Children have become the unseen victims of meth addiction. Now part two from Randi Kaye's special report, "Chasing the High."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Look into the eyes of this woman. You'll see a life full of drugs, abuse, neglect and violence. Her name is Tiffany. She asked that we not use her last name.

She says she's been around meth since she was a young child, a meth addict since her early teens. She's also a mom who chose drugs over her own children.

TIFFANY: I could never make that more important than getting another dose.

KAYE: At 25, Tiffany says she's clean. She was hooked on methamphetamine for a decade. It's like speed, but far more addictive.

On the street, they call it ice, glass or crank. Some women take it to lose weight, others to help them get chores done. And some, like Tiffany, because she didn't know any better.

TIFFANY: Your heart just, you know, starts racing, you know, 200 beats a minute. And then your legs go weak. And you try to get up and walk around but you're not going to walk straight for a few minutes. And then, you know, after about 30 minutes, the rush is gone and you're just up and you're just wide open, 90 miles an hour.

KAYE (on camera): How long had you gone at some point without sleep?

TIFFANY: I think the most I ever stayed up was right at three weeks.

KAYE (voice-over): Tiffany tried meth for the first time when she was 12. She snorted it.

(on camera): And do you remember the first time, what it felt like?

TIFFANY: I remember it burned, it hurt.

KAYE (voice-over): Still, Tiffany kept doing it. Meth is so powerful, it takes a hold of you and doesn't let go. That taste led to a lifestyle Tiffany never imagined for herself.

TIFFANY: It had become a daily thing, pretty much. And if I wasn't using meth, I was smoking marijuana or drinking or taking pills, whatever.

KAYE: At 15, Tiffany had her first child, Terrell (ph), but meth was still her baby. She'd hit the street searching for the next party, the next high. Gone weeks at a time, family members looked after her son.

TIFFANY: It's really sad to say this, but my son had gotten so used to it, he quit worrying about me.

KAYE: And she quit worrying about herself. Then she got pregnant again. Even that didn't stop her from taking the drug.

TIFFANY: I think I was almost three months pregnant when I found out I was pregnant. And I had been using heavily.

KAYE: Her daughter Audrey (ph) is now almost three.

TIFFANY: I wouldn't shoot up in front of them, I wouldn't smoke in front of them. I would hide in the bathroom. But my son always knew something was going on.

I left my son at school a few -- a few times. I would be so caught up in what I was doing I just wouldn't remember him.

KAYE: Typical behavior for a mom on meth. Too high to know where her children are, too high to even care. A meth high can last 12 hours, plenty of time for a child to get into trouble. And when Tiffany came down...

TIFFANY: I felt so ashamed and so guilty, and I just -- I almost just wanted to die.

KAYE: And she almost did. She downed a bottle of pills, cut her wrists.

TIFFANY: I could be dead right now. By all rights I should be.

KAYE: Then the car accident. These photos, an ugly reminder.

TIFFANY: They made me think about how close I came to death.

KAYE (on camera): So what would drive a mother to take such risk? Remember, before Tiffany was a mom who used meth, she was a child who used meth. Where she learned to do this drug is at the heart of her story.

TIFFANY: I think how a child turns out has got to do a lot with their parents. And, you know, what I was shown was how I turn out to be.

KAYE (voice-over): Tiffany's mom was arrested and charged in 2003 with running a meth lab. She has not yet entered a plea.

TIFFANY: For a long time I wanted to blame her for everything.

KAYE: But now, Tiffany blames herself, at least for what she did to her kids. This photo was taken on the night she was arrested for possession of meth, the night her life started to turn around.

TIFFANY: It's real hard to look back at what I did to my kids.

KAYE: Her family refused to bail her out of jail. Tiffany's time away from home hit her son, Terrell (ph), hardest.

TIFFANY: He stayed with my stepsister, and she would tell me he would cry himself to sleep at night, wanting me.

KAYE: Jail sobered Tiffany, gave her time to reflect. It forced her into recovery, something she struggles with two-and-a-half years later.

(on camera): Do you feel you've broken the cycle in your family?

TIFFANY: I hope so.

I'm watching you, baby.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Tiffany, who is living in north Georgia with her two children, is expected to graduate from her drug court program the end of this month. She's working and going to school. And as part of her recovery, she also counsels other meth addicts and gives them hope for the future.

KAGAN: So what is being done overall about the problem? Which is huge.

KAYE: It is a huge problem. It's moving from the West Coast to the East Coast.

On the state level, states are setting up meth task forces. They're trying to get all of their agencies working together.

On the federal level, just last week Republican and Democratic senators are trying to push through the Combat Meth Act. They introduced it last week. And this would help put children first by targeting the parents who are cooking meth at home.

And if the act goes through, it would put cold medicines used to make meth behind the counter. It would also limit the number of packages sold. Plus, consumers would have to show identification and sign for each of these purchases.

KAGAN: Randi Kaye. Randi, thank you.

SANCHEZ: There is a sad note just now coming into us from the entertainment world. It has to do with the death of a very well-known and certainly respected actor.

We have just learned and confirmed here at CNN that Ossie Davis, the actor distinguished for roles with dealing with racial injustice on stage, screen and in real life, has passed on. Davis was found dead Friday in his hotel room in Miami. Ossie Davis, 87 years old, last seen on some of the "Cosby" episodes, dies at the age 87.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Let's go back to America's favorite meteorologist. (WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We are about right there, 30 seconds away from the midpoint in this hour for all of you on your busy Friday. I'm Rick Sanchez.

KAGAN: And I'm Daryn Kagan. Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

We have learned within the last half-hour that actor Ossie Davis has died. An aide says that Davis was found dead in a hotel room in Miami where he was making a film. Davis is known for his roles dealing with racial injustice both onscreen and in real life. He was married to actress Ruby Dee. Ossie Davis was 87.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired February 4, 2005 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Here now a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."
On the road again. President Bush kicked off day two of his Social Security road trip within the last hour and a half. His first stop was in Omaha, Nebraska. He's also going to visit Arkansas and Florida to pitch his plan for private retirement plans in the Social Security plan.

Also, Afghan authorities say that a search and rescue operation was launched this morning for a missing passenger jet. The Comair flight was scheduled to land in Kabul. It was missing during a snowstorm yesterday. A Massachusetts company says that three of its employees were among the 104 people that were onboard.

Also, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is making his first public comments on the initial findings in that oil-for-food scandal we've been following. The commission, headed by former Fed chief Paul Volcker, finds that the man in charge of the program -- which was not Kofi Annan, to be fair -- deals with Iraq and violated standards of integrity.

Annan says the reports contain some hard knocks for the U.N. He says it is just the first step into finding the truth.

We have new details this morning about the amazing survival story in the wake of the tsunami disaster. These are people who somehow managed to survive for more than a month on a remote island in the Indian Ocean. It's the Nicobar Islands. The five men and two women and two children survived on wild boar and coconuts after climbing on top of the hill when the waves came. All now appear to be doing well.

It is 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 8:00 a.m. out West. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Rick Sanchez.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning once again. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Up first this hour, the nation's new top diplomat making the rounds in Europe. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Germany at this hour. We're looking at live pictures from Berlin, where she is about to hold a news conference with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. That is expected to begin any minute, and we will bring you portions of that live.

Earlier, during her stop in London, Rice was asked whether the U.S. has plans to attack Iran. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: The question is simply not on the agenda at this point in time. You know, we have diplomatic means to do this. Iran is not immune to the changes that are going on in this region.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: From Berlin, the next stop for Secretary Rice will be Warsaw, Poland. From there, she travels to Ankara, Turkey -- hello. After mores stops in Europe, Rice travels to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

SANCHEZ: President Bush, meanwhile, is back on the road once again. He's on the second day of his cross-country trip that we've been telling you about to try and push for Social Security reform.

Now, the president wants younger workers to be able to set up voluntary private accounts. That means he would be taking money out of the Social Security plan to do so. But it would be an investment which he says would pay off later. Now, in his first stop in Omaha, Nebraska, this morning, Mr. Bush said the need for change can be seen in the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So you've got more people retiring, living longer, with the promise of greater benefits. The problem is, is that the number of people putting money into the system is declining. So you can see the mathematical problem, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now, from Omaha, the president travels to Little Rock, Arkansas and then on to Tampa, Florida.

KAGAN: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is revealing new details about what happened behind the scenes during last year's Abu Ghraib prison scandal. At that time, some lawmakers were call are to Rumsfeld's resignation. But Rumsfeld said he had no intention of stepping down. Well, now, in an exclusive interview with CNN's Larry King, Rumsfeld now says he actually did offer to resign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I submitted my resignation to President Bush twice during that period. And I told him that I felt that he ought to make the decision as to whether or not I stayed on. And he made that decision and said he did want me to stay on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: On another matter, Rumsfeld admits the performance of Iraqi units has been spotty. He tells "The Wall Street Journal" "Over time the performance of units has been mixed. Early on, in particular, some forces didn't perform as well as hoped. But this is not without historical precedent. George Washington repeatedly expressed frustration with poorly trained troops, many of whom fled from battles."

SANCHEZ: The country's new attorney general takes the helm at the Justice Department. You saw part of that right here on CNN earlier today.

Alberto Gonzales arrived this morning for his first day on the job. He spoke with employees last hour. Gonzales was confirmed late yesterday by a deeply divided Senate on a vote of 60-36. Now, many Democrats objected to his role in crafting administration policies on the treatment of prisoners.

KAGAN: Now on to a very disturbing story from Florida. A manhunt is on this hour for a Florida couple accused of torturing and abusing children.

Police say five of the seven children living in the couple's home suffered abuse. They state some of the children had their toenails pulled out with pliers and they were so malnourished that 14-year-old twins weighed only 36 and 38 pounds. Authorities say John and Linda Dollar were the children's legal guardians but not their biological parents. A sheriff's department spokesman called the case unnerving.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAIL TIERNEY, CITRUS COUNTY SHERIFF'S SPOKESWOMAN: There are pictures of the children that have been -- you know, taken in connection with this case and, you know, they have very sweet faces. But when you look at their bodies, I mean, it looks like Auschwitz.

They did tell detectives that, you know, they had had toenails pulled out. And when asked how were their toenails pulled out, they said by pliers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Authorities believe the Dollars may have been traveling in a 1996 black and gold Provost Marathon motor home. The Florida tag number, we should tell you in this case, the police want you to know, is U06Y -- can we put it up? Yes, let's go ahead and do that -- U06YAC. Now, the couple may also be towing a 2000 model gold-colored four-door Lexus with Florida tag number DH41D.

The first full day of jury deliberations is under way in the trial of a defrocked priest accused of raping a boy in the 1980s. Attorneys for Paul Shanley say that the allegations were orchestrated and exploited by personal injury lawyers. But the prosecution says the accuser's memories are too agonizing to be made up. Records reveal that church officials knew Shanley advocated relationships between men and boys, but they still continued to move him from parish to parish.

Well, you can snort it, you can shoot it or you can smoke it. We're talking about methamphetamine, or just meth, as some call it.

It gives the user an intense but fleeting rush. According to the government, 12 million Americans have actually tried meth. And many go on to addiction and shattered lives.

This is a special CNN report. It's called "Chasing the High." The reporter is Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thornton, Colorado, 10 miles outside Denver, a drug raid under way. But this bust will reveal more than just drugs. A victim, one you wouldn't expect.

His name is Brandon, just 18 months, exposed to a world no child should ever see. Brandon and his mother are in this home where the drug methamphetamine is being made. It's a meth lab. Right next to Brandon's toys, deadly chemicals.

His mother reaches out to him to assure him, but it's too late. His mother is arrested, later convicted for drug possession and child abuse. This little boy now faces a tough journey. He's not the only one.

PEGGY WALKER, JUVENILE COURT JUDGE: We see it over and over and over again. And I'm sick of it. I'm angry. I'm tired of it.

KAYE: Meth use is spiking across the country. And children are suffering.

WALKER: Who's going to raise these children? Who's going to care for these children?

KAYE: Juvenile court judge Peggy Walker sees it in her Douglasville, Georgia, courtroom every day.

WALKER: It's the most addictive drug I have ever seen.

KAYE: Meth is made using every day household items, like hydrochloric acid, found in toilet bowl cleaner. The chemicals are used to convert common cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine into meth. That process creates toxic fumes that are especially harmful to children.

(on camera): According to the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children, kids are found in more than 30 percent of meth labs raided nationwide. It also says most women who are meth cooks are of child-bearing age. And when a pregnant woman gets high on meth, so does her baby.

(voice-over): Dr. is a pediatrician who studies the effects of meth on children.

DR. RIZWAN SHAH, PEDIATRICIAN: Methamphetamine crossing placenta can cause a sudden rise in the blood pressure of the brain, and that can cause a stroke in an unborn child, resulting in convulsions, muscle tone problems, tremors and sometimes even paralysis.

KAYE: This is what a meth baby looks like, premature, hooked on meth and suffering the pangs of withdrawal. They don't want to eat or sleep, and the simplest things cause great pain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She would cry when she would have her diaper changed because it was so tender and sore.

KAYE: This baby's bottom is burned. When her mother inhaled meth, so did she. Now every time the baby goes to the bathroom, the acids from the meth in her system burn her own skin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The buttocks actually is bleeding.

KAYE: Ron Mullins is a cop turned coordinator with the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children. During his years on the streets he shut down hundreds of meth labs. Today, he helps states care for children of meth.

RON MULLINS, CHILDREN'S ADVOCATE These children are being raised in homes that are absolutely filthy. There's rotting food everywhere, there's animal and human feces everywhere. It's just deplorable conditions.

WALKER: Parents are walking away from the children, they walk away from their spouses, they walk away from their home, they walk away from their jobs. They walk away from their life as they knew it.

KAYE: No one knows that more than this woman. Her name is Tiffany. She's a meth addict and a mom. Her life offers a glimpse at the power of meth. It's so powerful, it can pull a mother away from her child.

TIFFANY, FMR. METH ADDICT: I felt so ashamed and so guilty, and I almost just wanted to die because of what I had done to my kid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: There's more. We're going to have part two of Randi Kaye's special report coming up. In fact, we'll have it for you right after the break.

KAGAN: Also ahead, the Super Bowl is almost here. It is Sunday. The Eagles and the Patriots are ready. So are security forces. A look at plans to keep the Super Bowl safe.

SANCHEZ: Also, you have seen "The Incredibles?" Trust me, if you have kids you've seen it over and over again. We're going to have more on this Oscar-nominated movie later in the show.

We're CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT) KAGAN: Now more of Randi Kaye's special report. Children have become the unseen victims of meth addiction. Now part two from Randi Kaye's special report, "Chasing the High."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Look into the eyes of this woman. You'll see a life full of drugs, abuse, neglect and violence. Her name is Tiffany. She asked that we not use her last name.

She says she's been around meth since she was a young child, a meth addict since her early teens. She's also a mom who chose drugs over her own children.

TIFFANY: I could never make that more important than getting another dose.

KAYE: At 25, Tiffany says she's clean. She was hooked on methamphetamine for a decade. It's like speed, but far more addictive.

On the street, they call it ice, glass or crank. Some women take it to lose weight, others to help them get chores done. And some, like Tiffany, because she didn't know any better.

TIFFANY: Your heart just, you know, starts racing, you know, 200 beats a minute. And then your legs go weak. And you try to get up and walk around but you're not going to walk straight for a few minutes. And then, you know, after about 30 minutes, the rush is gone and you're just up and you're just wide open, 90 miles an hour.

KAYE (on camera): How long had you gone at some point without sleep?

TIFFANY: I think the most I ever stayed up was right at three weeks.

KAYE (voice-over): Tiffany tried meth for the first time when she was 12. She snorted it.

(on camera): And do you remember the first time, what it felt like?

TIFFANY: I remember it burned, it hurt.

KAYE (voice-over): Still, Tiffany kept doing it. Meth is so powerful, it takes a hold of you and doesn't let go. That taste led to a lifestyle Tiffany never imagined for herself.

TIFFANY: It had become a daily thing, pretty much. And if I wasn't using meth, I was smoking marijuana or drinking or taking pills, whatever.

KAYE: At 15, Tiffany had her first child, Terrell (ph), but meth was still her baby. She'd hit the street searching for the next party, the next high. Gone weeks at a time, family members looked after her son.

TIFFANY: It's really sad to say this, but my son had gotten so used to it, he quit worrying about me.

KAYE: And she quit worrying about herself. Then she got pregnant again. Even that didn't stop her from taking the drug.

TIFFANY: I think I was almost three months pregnant when I found out I was pregnant. And I had been using heavily.

KAYE: Her daughter Audrey (ph) is now almost three.

TIFFANY: I wouldn't shoot up in front of them, I wouldn't smoke in front of them. I would hide in the bathroom. But my son always knew something was going on.

I left my son at school a few -- a few times. I would be so caught up in what I was doing I just wouldn't remember him.

KAYE: Typical behavior for a mom on meth. Too high to know where her children are, too high to even care. A meth high can last 12 hours, plenty of time for a child to get into trouble. And when Tiffany came down...

TIFFANY: I felt so ashamed and so guilty, and I just -- I almost just wanted to die.

KAYE: And she almost did. She downed a bottle of pills, cut her wrists.

TIFFANY: I could be dead right now. By all rights I should be.

KAYE: Then the car accident. These photos, an ugly reminder.

TIFFANY: They made me think about how close I came to death.

KAYE (on camera): So what would drive a mother to take such risk? Remember, before Tiffany was a mom who used meth, she was a child who used meth. Where she learned to do this drug is at the heart of her story.

TIFFANY: I think how a child turns out has got to do a lot with their parents. And, you know, what I was shown was how I turn out to be.

KAYE (voice-over): Tiffany's mom was arrested and charged in 2003 with running a meth lab. She has not yet entered a plea.

TIFFANY: For a long time I wanted to blame her for everything.

KAYE: But now, Tiffany blames herself, at least for what she did to her kids. This photo was taken on the night she was arrested for possession of meth, the night her life started to turn around.

TIFFANY: It's real hard to look back at what I did to my kids.

KAYE: Her family refused to bail her out of jail. Tiffany's time away from home hit her son, Terrell (ph), hardest.

TIFFANY: He stayed with my stepsister, and she would tell me he would cry himself to sleep at night, wanting me.

KAYE: Jail sobered Tiffany, gave her time to reflect. It forced her into recovery, something she struggles with two-and-a-half years later.

(on camera): Do you feel you've broken the cycle in your family?

TIFFANY: I hope so.

I'm watching you, baby.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Tiffany, who is living in north Georgia with her two children, is expected to graduate from her drug court program the end of this month. She's working and going to school. And as part of her recovery, she also counsels other meth addicts and gives them hope for the future.

KAGAN: So what is being done overall about the problem? Which is huge.

KAYE: It is a huge problem. It's moving from the West Coast to the East Coast.

On the state level, states are setting up meth task forces. They're trying to get all of their agencies working together.

On the federal level, just last week Republican and Democratic senators are trying to push through the Combat Meth Act. They introduced it last week. And this would help put children first by targeting the parents who are cooking meth at home.

And if the act goes through, it would put cold medicines used to make meth behind the counter. It would also limit the number of packages sold. Plus, consumers would have to show identification and sign for each of these purchases.

KAGAN: Randi Kaye. Randi, thank you.

SANCHEZ: There is a sad note just now coming into us from the entertainment world. It has to do with the death of a very well-known and certainly respected actor.

We have just learned and confirmed here at CNN that Ossie Davis, the actor distinguished for roles with dealing with racial injustice on stage, screen and in real life, has passed on. Davis was found dead Friday in his hotel room in Miami. Ossie Davis, 87 years old, last seen on some of the "Cosby" episodes, dies at the age 87.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Let's go back to America's favorite meteorologist. (WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We are about right there, 30 seconds away from the midpoint in this hour for all of you on your busy Friday. I'm Rick Sanchez.

KAGAN: And I'm Daryn Kagan. Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."

We have learned within the last half-hour that actor Ossie Davis has died. An aide says that Davis was found dead in a hotel room in Miami where he was making a film. Davis is known for his roles dealing with racial injustice both onscreen and in real life. He was married to actress Ruby Dee. Ossie Davis was 87.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com