FORMER ADDICT DESCRIBES DEPTHS OF METH HABIT

As his wife lay beside him, crystal meth addict David Parnell grabbed
his SKS assault rifle and shot himself under the chin.

His battle with addiction had started with a marijuana joint the
Tennessee native tried when he was 13 years old.

Twenty-three years later, the habit had progressed to harder drugs
and, eventually, methamphetamine.

His arms shook uncontrollably, he stayed awake for four or five days
at a time, and he was paranoid -- crouching behind trees, wanting to
shoot his mailman because he was convinced the carrier was an
undercover police officer.

The day he grabbed the rifle, his wife had told him that after seven
years of living with his meth addiction, she and their six children
were leaving.

"At that point, something snapped," he said, speaking at a Slaying
the Dragon crystal meth conference in Black Diamond on Saturday.

"I pulled the trigger. I remember hearing the gun blast. I felt my
face blow apart.

"I realized at that moment that nothing was that bad I should do that."

As his blood pooled on the floor, Parnell mumbled an apology to his
wife and mother -- some of the last words he'd speak for two months
as he underwent over a dozen surgeries reconstructing his face.

Three years later, a sober Parnell has a simple message: crystal meth
is poison, and it makes a user do things they would never dream of otherwise.

Earlier this month, a provincial task force that was formed to fight
the spread of crystal meth in Alberta released a report with 83
recommendations, including creating specialized courts that would
send drug users to treatment and adding hundreds of new beds for addicts.

Crystal meth is a chilling, mind control drug, said the initiative's
co-chair Colleen Klein.

"You should be scared. You are up against a monster," Klein told the
conference Saturday.

"What I've learned . . . has left me truly horrified."

While meth use is on the rise in Alberta, she said, there's also a
growing list of people stepping forward to take on the drug.

"Fighting back is exactly what we want and we need all Albertans to
do," she said.

The best approach is keeping people from getting addicted and
stopping the drug from getting a strong hold in the province, she said.

Parents need to know adequate treatment facilities are in place.

Additionally, the province needs to send the message that meth
dealers aren't welcome, and that means law enforcement officials need
a "bigger toolbox" to deal with the situation, she said.

Overall, the level of concern over the drug is growing as it spreads
into small towns and more people are affected by it, said RCMP Sgt.
Donna Hanson the drug awareness co-ordinator for southern Alberta.

"That being said, police-wise it's still not on the same scale as
cocaine is in the Calgary area."