TOWN HALL MEETING HIGHLIGHTS DANGERS

Woman Lost It All; Use Of Drug Is Rising In N.C. High Schools

In three years, Sara Silva lost her car, house, job, marriage and
custody of her 3-year-old daughter.

As a Minnesota girl, she once competed in beauty pageants and had
dreams of working in law enforcement. She's unrecognizable in
pictures before and after her drug addiction.

At a town hall meeting last week at ImaginOn McColl Family Theatre,
A&E Network, the Partnership for a Drug-Free N.C. and Time Warner
Cable partnered to raise awareness about methamphetamine abuse and
how to combat the growing epidemic.

Silva, 28, was featured in 2005 on an episode of A&E's
"Intervention." After being confronted by her family and an
interventionist from A&E, Silva turned to treatment and fought her addiction.

It is most common for 18- to 24-year-olds to use crystal meth because
these are common ages for kids to experiment, said Cindy Murphy,
director of Prevention Services at the Chemical Dependency Center for
Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, who participated in a panel
discussion at the meeting. A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention showed that 6.5 percent of high school
students in N.C. have used meth. In 2007, it was 4.7 percent, Murphy said.

Silva's story could happen to anyone, she said. She started
experimenting with drugs because everyone else was doing it, she
said. Luckily, she said, she was one of the ones who bounced back.
"By the grace of God and the (A&E) show, I'm not dead and not in
prison," said Silva, sober for three years.

Her dream is now a reality: She's a corrections officer for the
Ramsey County Sheriff's Department in St. Paul, Minn.

Resources for meth addiction Meck Link Service Center, 704-336-6404.
For screening, triage and referral to services in Mecklenburg funded
by the state or county. Meth360: A program of community presentations
delivered by law enforcement, prevention and treatment professionals
to community organizations. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Drug-free
Coalition can deliver Meth360 presentations for free. Details: The
Chemical Dependency Center for Charlotte, 704-927-8868; or Substance
Abuse Prevention Services in Charlotte, 704-375-3784.

Dilworth Center for Chemical Dependency: 704-372-6969. Mecklenburg
County Area Mental Health Authority: 704-336-2227.