EX-ADDICTS RECALL THE STRUGGLE OF METH LIFE

Jordan Fields recalls how easy it was to find shelter when he was
hooked on crystal meth. The 27-year-old Vancouver resident said that
sometimes, it was as simple as stealing a set of postal keys, which
Canada Post staff use to deliver the mail.

"That would get me into an apartment building," Fields told the
Georgia Straight. "If I was in an apartment building, I was warm. I
could go into the parking lot to find abandoned cars, and sleep in
these cars. That was how I first got into breaking into cars."

Fields, who has been in recovery for 16 months, now has a chance to
make amends for his previous life of drug-induced crime. He has been
cast in the role of Trey, a drug dealer, in a new production called
Meth by Headlines Theatre. It will be performed at the Japanese Hall,
475 Alexander Street, from November 30 to December 3, and again from
December 6 to 10. In the new year, Meth will go on tour, stopping in
26 communities across the province.

The company has recruited former meth addicts and relatives of
addicts to play roles in a forum-theatre play. In forum theatre,
audience members get a chance to yell "Stop", come up on-stage, and
replace a cast member to demonstrate how they would deal with a
particular situation.

Fields said he's glad that Headlines has given him a chance to give
something back to the community. "This is a huge thing for me," he
said. "People can see what it's like for a meth addict through this play."

Kayla Cardinal, a 17-year-old from Prince George, plays Karen, a
young girl who is drawn into the world of crystal meth. Like Fields,
Cardinal also struggled with a meth addiction, and has been clean for
15 months after going through treatment.

Cardinal told the Straight that she was 14 when she first tried
snorting the drug. She had been drinking, and it wasn't a pleasant
experience. "My friends told me that I ended up passing out, just
puking on the couch, and turning blue," she said. "I got really sick.
I don't remember a whole lot."

Cardinal said she tried meth again two months later and continued
using for two years. During this period, she worked at McDonald's and
lived at home. She said that family and friends got her into
treatment. "I had made a lot of poor choices through my addiction,"
Cardinal recalled.

In October, the B.C. government launched a $3-million school-based
education program to try to discourage crystal-meth use among
teenagers. At the time, Education Minister Shirley Bond, who
represents a Prince George constituency, cited research showing that
five percent of students in grades seven through 12 may have tried
crystal meth.

Cardinal, however, estimated that at least 15 percent of high-school
students in Prince George have tried the drug. "Kids choose it as a
way to cope," she said. "It's like the easy way out. I'm not going to
lie to you--it's fun." However, she said that the fun stops when the
drug begins taking a physical toll. "I didn't get a lot of the burns,
like people hear about, on my face," she said. "I got some."

She added that she lost so much weight that her eyes sank into her
head, and her mother thought she had an eating disorder. Cardinal
said that after her mother learned the truth, she was given a choice:
either get treatment or move out.

Jordan Fields said that it's almost impossible to get through to a
person in the throes of crystal-meth addiction. "I was really
depressed," he recalled. "I was super-paranoid. I only came out at
nighttime. Anyone I saw was a cop. I was hiding in bushes."

In the end, he said, a girlfriend's mother steered him into
treatment. He added that since he began rehearsals, he has had
intense dreams of using drugs again. "I'm reliving these emotions," Fields said.