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Conditions We Treat

Meth addiction treatment in Colorado, built on what actually works.

Stimulant recovery runs on structure, therapy, and people rather than a prescription. We treat methamphetamine use at all six Colorado offices and online, around the job, the family, and the life you are trying to hold on to.

Verify your coverage Call (303) 219-0973
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Understanding Methamphetamine

Meth rarely looks like the warning posters at first.

Methamphetamine is an extremely potent and highly addictive stimulant that acts on the central nervous system. The National Institute on Drug Abuse describes it as a lab-made stimulant with high addiction potential, sold illicitly as a powder or as the crystal form people call crystal meth or ice, and used by smoking, snorting, injecting, or swallowing.

Meth was long thought of as a rural, lower-income problem, mostly because it was simple to produce. That has not been true for a long time. Use is now widespread across the United States and beyond it, and Colorado is no exception.

The other common misconception is that meth ruins someone's appearance and circumstances immediately. It does not. Early on the drug delivers exactly what a person is reaching for: euphoria, confidence, energy, and the feeling of finally being on top of things. That gap between what it gives at the start and what it takes later is why the cycle runs so long before anyone puts a name to it, and it is why noticing the signs early matters as much as it does.

If you or someone you know in or near Colorado is struggling with meth, you can call The Redpoint Center today and speak with someone who can help.

Signs and Symptoms

What meth use tends to look like.

These follow from what methamphetamine does to the central nervous system. Someone struggling may show only a few of them, and the earliest ones are easy to read as a good mood or an unusually productive stretch.

Unusual sociability

Increased sociability and loosened inhibitions, often read as someone finally coming out of their shell.

Unexplained euphoria

A bright mood and an optimistic outlook with nothing in particular behind it.

Appetite and weight loss

Meals skipped without noticing, and weight coming off faster than anything else in their life explains.

Dilated pupils

Widened pupils and rapid, restless eye movement.

Days awake, then a crash

Odd sleeping patterns: long stretches without sleep, followed by a crash and a day or more of catching up.

Twitching and tics

Twitching, facial tics, and mannerisms or body language that are not like the person.

Dramatic mood swings

Warmth and irritability trading places quickly, sometimes inside a single conversation.

Paranoia and psychosis

Anxiety, paranoia, and delusions. NIDA lists psychosis among the effects of frequent methamphetamine use.

A racing heart

A fast or pounding heartbeat and raised blood pressure, along with the cardiovascular strain that comes with them.

Tooth and skin damage

Tooth decay and skin sores, which NIDA associates with longer-term use.

Thinking that slows down

Memory lapses and trouble concentrating between runs, part of what NIDA describes as cognitive decline.

A day that keeps narrowing

More of the week going to getting it and using it, and everything that used to matter sliding down the list.

Coming Down

The hard part is not the first 48 hours.

Meth withdrawal is not dangerous in the way alcohol withdrawal can be. It is something else: a long, flat stretch where nothing feels like anything, and that is where most people go back.

The crash comes first. After a run the body takes back everything it was lent: sleep that goes on for a day or more, an appetite that returns all at once, and a mood that bottoms out. Unpleasant as that is, it is usually the short part.

What follows is harder to sit through. Methamphetamine drives the brain's reward system far past anything ordinary life produces, and for a stretch afterward ordinary life stops registering. Food, music, company, a good day at work: all of it lands flat. NIDA lists cognitive decline among the effects of frequent methamphetamine use, and clear thinking, steady sleep, and normal appetite tend to come back gradually rather than all at once. That distance between stopping and feeling like yourself again is the single most common reason someone who genuinely wanted to quit picks it up again.

It is also why a plan that amounts to "stop using" does not hold here. The plan has to cover the flat weeks: structure in the day, people who expect to see you, therapy that gives you something to do with the low, and treatment for whatever depression or anxiety is sitting underneath it.

There is one more thing to know before you get there. Colorado publishes its overdose data through the state's drug overdose statistics program, which records which substances were involved in each death. Nationally, the CDC now describes polysubstance overdose as a defining pattern, with illicitly made fentanyl and stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine turning up together in the same deaths.

Overdose Risk

What is sold as meth is not always only meth.

Illicitly made fentanyl now turns up in drugs sold as something else, including stimulants, and there is no way to see, smell, or taste it. If meth is what you use, these are worth knowing today rather than after you have finished deciding about treatment.

  1. 1

    Assume it could be in there.

    No way to tell by sight

    Fentanyl has been found in supplies sold as methamphetamine and as cocaine. A tolerance built on stimulants is no protection against an opioid, and nothing about the look of a batch tells you either way.

  2. 2

    Keep naloxone within reach.

    Available over the counter

    Naloxone, often sold as Narcan, reverses an opioid overdose and is available over the counter. It does no harm if opioids turn out not to be involved, which is exactly why giving it when you are unsure is the right call.

  3. 3

    Do not use alone.

    Call 911

    Most fatal overdoses happen with nobody there to respond. Someone in the next room who knows the signs and will call 911 is the difference between an overdose and a death.

  4. 4

    Then call when you are ready.

    Where we come in

    None of this replaces treatment, and none of it is a reason to wait for a better moment. When you want to stop, we can usually get an assessment on the calendar quickly and start from wherever you actually are.

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How We Treat It

There is no prescription for this one, so the program is the treatment.

It is worth saying plainly, because plenty of pages will not. There is no FDA-approved medication for methamphetamine use disorder, or for any other stimulant use disorder. That is not a gap in what Redpoint offers. It is where the science currently sits, and anyone promising a prescription that fixes meth is selling something.

What the evidence does support is behavioral treatment. NIDA points to contingency management, which offers small tangible incentives for verified abstinence, alongside cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and group support. SAMHSA's guidance on treating stimulant use disorders runs along the same lines. Structure and repetition are the active ingredients, which is precisely what an intensive outpatient week is made of.

Your plan at The Redpoint Center is built from the approaches our clinicians actually practice: individual and group therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, EMDR where trauma is part of the picture, motivational interviewing, experiential work, and family therapy. Medication still has a role, just not for the meth itself. If depression, anxiety, trauma, or another substance is part of what is going on, that gets treated too, and our medical team manages that side of it.

  • Individual therapy
  • Group therapy
  • Dual diagnosis care
  • Family involvement
  • Relapse prevention planning
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Levels of Care

How much structure the first months need.

With stimulants the early weeks are the fragile ones, so most people start with more structure than they expect and step down as things steady. An assessment decides which level, not a guess about how bad it should be before you are allowed to ask.

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PHP

Partial Hospitalization (PHP)

Our most structured outpatient level, several hours a day, for early recovery or when more support is needed.

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IOP

Intensive Outpatient (IOP)

Structured group and individual therapy several times a week, built to fit around work and family.

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OP

Outpatient (OP)

Lighter-touch weekly therapy for step-down and continuing care as you return to your routine.

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Virtual

Virtual IOP

The full IOP structure delivered by telehealth, with the same clinical rigor, anywhere in Colorado.

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Housing

Sober Living

Supportive, structured housing that reinforces recovery skills as you step back into daily life.

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Clinical Approaches

What each therapy is doing here.

CBT for the run

Cognitive behavioral therapy maps the specific chain that ends in using: the hour, the place, the person, the thought. Then it builds a different link into it.

DBT for the flat weeks

Distress tolerance and emotional regulation give you something concrete to do on the days when nothing registers, which is when most people go back.

ACT for cravings you cannot argue with

Acceptance and commitment therapy stops treating a craving as something to defeat and builds a life that keeps moving while it passes.

EMDR when trauma is underneath

Stimulant use often sits on top of something specific. EMDR treats the memory itself rather than the coping that got built over it.

Motivational interviewing for the unsure part

Ambivalence is normal and it is not a reason to wait. This approach works with it instead of arguing against it, which is where most people honestly begin.

Experiential therapy for the body

Sleep, appetite, and movement all take a beating with meth. Getting out of the chair is part of the treatment rather than a break from it.

Cost is why most people wait, and it is usually the wrong reason.

We run your benefits before you commit to anything and tell you plainly what your plan covers, what it does not, and what the gap looks like. The check is free and takes a few minutes.

Verify Your Insurance (303) 219-0973

Accepted insurance

Employer and EAP partners

Don’t see your plan? Call us and we will check it, including out-of-network benefits.

What Else We Treat

Meth is rarely the only thing in the picture.

All conditions we treat

Stimulant Addiction

Cocaine and prescription stimulants, and the class-wide risks that meth shares with them.

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Stimulant and Meth Addiction

The combined overview of stimulant use, if you are still working out which of these describes it.

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Alcohol Addiction

Alcohol use disorder, which often travels with stimulant use as the way people try to come down.

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Opioids and Fentanyl

Opioid use disorder, and the fentanyl now turning up in supplies sold as something else entirely.

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Marijuana Addiction

Cannabis use disorder, including the heavy daily use that often outlasts everything else.

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Mental Health Treatment

Anxiety, bipolar disorder, and trauma, treated alongside the substance use rather than after it.

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Dual Diagnosis

Substance use and a mental health condition handled as one plan with one team, not two referrals.

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Depression

The low that shows up after stimulants, and the depression that was often there before them.

Learn more

Common Questions

Meth treatment questions, answered.

How is meth addiction treated at The Redpoint Center?
Methamphetamine use is treated on an outpatient basis, through structured programming rather than a medication. Care runs at the PHP, IOP, and outpatient levels, and virtually, so you get real clinical intensity while continuing to live at home and, for many people, keep working. A plan usually combines group and individual therapy, relapse prevention, family involvement where it helps, and treatment for any mental health condition underneath. We treat this at all six Redpoint offices in Fort Collins, Boulder, Longmont, Greeley, Thornton, and Glenwood Springs. See all locations.

Is there a medication for meth addiction?
No, and it is better to know that going in. NIDA states that there is no FDA-approved medication for methamphetamine use disorder or any other stimulant use disorder, which is the opposite of the picture with opioids or alcohol. What that means in practice is that behavioral treatment is the treatment, not a supplement to one. Medication can still matter for what sits alongside the meth: depression, anxiety, sleep, or another substance use disorder. That side of care is managed by our medical team as part of the same plan.

How long does it take to feel normal again after stopping?
Longer than the first bad week, and shorter than it feels while you are in the middle of it. The initial crash, with heavy sleep and a returning appetite, usually passes in days. The flat stretch afterward, where food, company, and good news all fail to register, is the part people underestimate, and it eases gradually rather than on a schedule anyone can promise you. NIDA associates frequent methamphetamine use with cognitive decline, and clear thinking tends to return by degrees. This is precisely why the plan needs to cover months rather than the first difficult week, and why doing it with structure and people around you works better than doing it alone.

Do I need to detox before starting an outpatient program?
Usually not, but that is a clinical judgment rather than something to decide about yourself. Stimulant withdrawal is generally not medically dangerous in the way alcohol or benzodiazepine withdrawal can be, though it can be genuinely miserable, and if you are using more than one substance the picture changes. The Redpoint Center provides outpatient treatment and does not run a detox unit. If your assessment shows you need medically supervised withdrawal, we help you arrange it and pick your care up once you are stable.

Can meth cause psychosis, and can you treat that?
Yes to the first part. NIDA lists psychosis among the effects of frequent methamphetamine use, and paranoia and delusions appear on almost every list of what to watch for, including the one on this page. Symptoms often ease as someone stays off the drug, though not always immediately. Here is the honest limit: active psychosis needs a higher level of care than outpatient treatment can safely provide. If that is where things are, we will say so at the assessment, help you reach the right care, and take over once you are stable. If it is in the past rather than the present, it belongs in the plan and we treat it alongside everything else.

Is fentanyl really turning up in meth?
It is, and it is the reason overdose risk now applies to stimulant use in a way it did not a decade ago. The CDC describes polysubstance overdose as a defining feature of the current picture, with illicitly made fentanyl found together with stimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine in the same deaths. You cannot see it, smell it, or taste it, and a tolerance built on stimulants offers no protection against an opioid. Keeping naloxone on hand and not using alone are worth doing today, whatever you decide about treatment.

Does insurance cover meth addiction treatment in Colorado?
Often a good deal of it, and the details vary more than any treatment website suggests. What you pay depends on your plan, your deductible, and the level of care, so a number quoted before a benefits check is guesswork. We verify your coverage for free and tell you what we find, including the parts your plan will not pay for. Start a benefits check and you will know where you stand before committing to anything.
Not sure which level of care this calls for? Talk to our team

The right time to call is earlier than it feels.

You do not have to have lost everything to qualify for help, and you do not have to have stopped before you get in touch. Send us a note or call (303) 219-0973, and we will work out what is going on and what would actually help.

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