OUT OF THE SHADOWS OF CRYSTAL METH

Part 2 of a 2 part series

Addicts And Loved Ones Learn Recovery From Meth Is A Long, Hard
Road

Marie was spinning out of control in jail after her last crystal meth drug
bust. She was in a nightmarish place
where she didn't want to die and didn't want to live.

Another visit to jail featured a beating from members of the Redd
Alert aboriginal street gang over a long past due drug debt.

Fortunately for Marie, her parents bailed her out after three long
days fuelled with gut-wrenching hysteria and paranoia.

This time she did not return to the street, her home base for nearly
the past decade. She went to her parents' house to try to clean up any
way she could.

However, the crystal meth demon would not stop calling for her. It ate
voraciously at her soul.

Marie was angry. She hated the world. She hated herself.

Thoughts of suicide dominated her rattled mind, racing a thousand
miles a minute.

The only thing that kept her clean and alive was the image of her
precious four-year-old son.

Marie knew she had to somehow get herself straight. It would not be
easy.

The only thing she felt she could do was to isolate herself in the
basement of her parents' home. She did not know where to go for help.

In 2003, Alberta was only beginning to hear about crystal meth, its
prevalence isolated to a few communities such as Drayton Valley and
Hinton.

Provincial programs to help meth addicts were not even on the radar.
However, police agencies, alarmed at the growing number of criminal
activities associated with meth, were heading south to learn more.

Meth's fury arrives in Alberta

In 2003, RCMP S. Sgt. Ian Sanderson, K Division's coordinator for
drugs and organized crime awareness, was invited for three days to
attend anti-drug workshops in the American states of Colorado,
California and Arizona.

Sanderson learned the crystal meth problem in those areas had reached
epidemic levels.

"We were warned, 'Watch out for this stuff," said Sanderson. "In some
areas meth had taken over from crack as the number one drug problem."

That same year, police forces in cities in the north metro Denver,
Colorado area had responded and investigated more than 900 complaints
of meth home labs and dump sites.

For the same period, Alberta had only 21 such complaints.

"The potential is huge. Once home labs take off that is when you see
the real harm," said Sanderson.

In 2004, the number of meth home labs investigated by police in
Alberta had risen to 37 -- mostly in Edmonton and the Yellowhead
Highway corridor.

The rise in meth lab investigations across the province included the
bust of a superlab on an acreage near Cremona, 100 kms southwest of
Red Deer. It was the biggest bust ever with RCMP seizing 21.2 lbs. of
meth. It was an ominous sign central and southern Alberta were not
immune.

RCMP in Red Deer admit they have yet to bust a meth lab in the city,
but they strongly suspect they have arrived.

If production on meth was on the rise, so were RCMP statistics for
meth trafficking offences - jumping by more than 100% from 1998 to
2002.

In 1998, RCMP detachments across the province investigated 13
trafficking cases. That jumped to 156 in 2004.

Illegal possession of crystal meth in Alberta has skyrocketed as well,
from 20 in 1998 to 275 in 2004.

"We have seen it in every corner of the province now," said Sanderson.
"And organized crime has been involved from the beginning."

While police agencies in Alberta have now begun to log statistics
exclusively to crystal meth, social service agencies in Alberta and
across Canada are lagging behind in accurately measuring the scope of
the crystal meth problem.

To date, social service agencies and government departments have
lumped crystal meth with amphetamines or stimulants, including the
club drug ecstasy. In 2004, a national Health Canada addiction survey
listed "speed" and ecstasy use but not amphetamines.

In the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) Client
Statistics Report for the 2005-06 fiscal year, 15.7% clients reported
using amphetamines and/or stimulants.

AADAC officials are cautious to point out these statistics include,
but are not limited to, crystal meth.

These sort of statistics, vague as they are, have led many to believe
that while crystal meth may be an issue with a small number of
Albertans, it pales in comparison to the staggering number of people
using and abusing crack cocaine and alcohol.

However, front line addiction organizations and workers, cops on the
street and addicts themselves are telling a different and scarier
story about crystal meth.

In April 2004, the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre (AARC) in
Calgary conducted a survey with 33 clients on the use of crystal meth.

The survey revealed 17 of the 33 clients reported crystal meth use,
with nine of those 17 saying they used it several times a day.

"If anybody thinks meth is just a big city problem they are wrong,"
said Lindsay Young, harm reduction coordinator for the Central Alberta
AIDS Society in Red Deer.

"Meth is here. It has been here for a while."

At the downtown Turning Point building, Young regularly meets with
addicts to discuss prevention, safety against overdoses, and safe
sharing of drug use equipment.

"I'm starting to see more meth out there. Right now I see more smoking
of meth," said Young.

"I'm seeing an increase with injecting in rural areas. I know there
are others in Red Deer that are injecting it."

Young added she is seeing an increasing number of older people, in
their 40s and 50s, who are using the drug.

"It almost makes sense why people are choosing meth if it is going to
cost you ten bucks for a point and last you eight to 12 hours whereas
the same amount of crack will last half an hour," said Young.

The province makes its move

Three years ago Red Deer North MLA Mary Anne Jablonski warned
government and opposition members that something had to be done about
the emerging crystal meth crisis.

Jablonski has long held a strong, passionate interest in addictions,
particularly as they affect the young.

She was a leading force in getting government funding approved for the
new downtown detox in Red Deer.

The local MLA spearheaded Bill 202, the Protection of Children Abusing
Drugs Act. That legislation, which will be proclaimed into law on July
1, will give parents the right to go before a judge and have a warrant
executed on a drug-addicted child to have him or her apprehended and
taken to a safe house.

Last year, she lobbied hard for her own government to get into action
on crystal meth, and it paid off with the creation of the Premier's
Task Force on Crystal Meth, which is now touring the province and
meeting with community leaders to come up with a plan to beat the
problem before it becomes an epidemic.

"We have to reach the hearts of the youth out there, and maybe even
the adults," said Jablonski, whose task force is expected to come out
with a report and recommendations in September.

"I would like to start with the youth because I think they are more
vulnerable, and more easily swayed. If we don't do something about our
kids what kind of future are we all going to have?"

Drayton Valley, 150 kms northwest of Red Deer, is one such community
that did pull together to ensure a better future.

In 2000, community officials noticed the drug problem was hitting the
town hard. A community task force was created.

Shortly after, town and RCMP officials noticed meth was specifically
taking over at epidemic levels. In fact, Drayton Valley was being
lumped with Hinton, Edson and Whitecourt as the primary meth trouble
spots in Alberta.

Every community group then rallied. A prevention officer -- a
recovering addict - was hired, and RCMP created a unit to directly
deal with the drug problem.

The community effort worked. In 2004, Drayton Valley was recognized by
Health Canada as one of the few communities in Canada that showed a
reduction in meth-related crime and health cases.

"I would say it is a two-pronged proactive approach about getting the
whole community involved on the prevention side, giving RCMP the
resources directed to that issue, and the whole community getting
behind wanting to make a difference," said Drayton Valley Mayor Diana
McQueen, who is also a member of the provincial task force. "We didn't
try to hide the problem. We said, 'Listen we got a problem as many
communities do and we are going to do something about it."

Jablonski, meanwhile, is confident the task force will produce a set
of recommendations that will not only wipe out the current meth
trouble spots but stop the problem in other areas from even starting.

"I hope we can find some way to stop kids from making these choices
from the very beginning," said Jablonski. "I have seen how this drug
tears a family apart."

A family's troubled journey

For years Red Deer parents Lea and Ferdinand could not see an end to
their nightmare. Their son Tyler was hooked on crystal meth. There was
constant fighting and worrying.

The young man was kicked out of school in Grade 10 for smoking pot.
His using graduated to crystal meth, a run that lasted four years. He
stole more than $15,000 in goods and money from his parents. Tyler
also got in trouble with the law.

"That was an absolute crazy time. There was yelling, screaming and
fighting. He was definitely a completely changed person," said Lea.
"He was completely rebellious and defiant. Whatever we said it had to
be the opposite."

Tyler's nightmare became their own. Everything around them was falling
apart. They had the "Why me?" syndrome. The feelings of shame were
overwhelming.

"You feel so disgraced,' said Ferdinand. "There were nights when we
didn't sleep."

However, Lea and Ferdinand were not alone.

Penny, another Red Deer parent, had co-founded Renew Hope 19 months
ago. It is a support group for parents of children struggling with
addictions.

Her story is much the same -- a once fine son whose life was destroyed
by crystal meth. She was dragged along with his trip to hell.

"I once went to a symposium on television and I can tell you who in
the room were the mothers of the crystal meth addicts because we all
had big bags under our eyes," said Penny. "We looked like hell because
we hadn't slept or eaten. It is hard to look after yourself when
somebody you love is going through something like that."

The support group meets once a week at the Red Deer Regional Hospital
Centre. Participants rely in part on the 12-Steps of recovery. They
share their feelings, and learn to cope and carry on with their lives.

Penny's son Anthony is now in recovery, as is Tyler. The parents know
their kids' recovery is a slippery road. But they have learned their
childrens' addiction is not their fault, and they must take care of
themselves first. Their own recovery is paramount.

"Until they are ready there is nothing you can do for them," said
Penny.

Marie finds recovery

Marie was ready and has been clean for three years. She is now
26-years-old, living in Red Deer, and is in a stable and loving
relationship with a boyfriend.

Marie has a new second son, now one-year-old. She has dreams of going
to Red Deer College this year.

Her recovery has included volunteering in the Cole'sKids program, an
Edmonton Police Service initiative that sees troubled addicts
mentoring the young. She also isolated herself for the first six
months, going to any lengths to stay away from crystal meth and all
its evil surroundings.

"Anything, anybody was a trigger. I would see somebody and I'd say,
'They're tweaked out, I want some," said Marie, proudly showing a
government letter that gave her an early release from probation.

Perhaps best of all, she is a proud member of Narcotics Anonymous, a
12-Step program to help recovering drug addicts.

There isn't a second when Marie takes her recovery for granted. She
knows the meth demon and the hellish flyers are only a slip away.

"I'm not going to lie. I think about it, when things are going bad and
even when things are going good," said Marie.

"But if you are really, really serious, and willing to do whatever it
takes, you might just have a chance. That's only might. It is really
hard."

Where To Get Help

Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) (403) 340-5274 Web
site: corp.aadac.com

Renew Hope (support group for parents). Contact Penny at (403)
340-0216

Parents Empowering Parents (P.E.P.) (support group for parents)
Contact Jackie at (403) 342-0895, Lorrie at (403) 343-9104, or Deb at
(403) 358-5160 Web site: www.pepsociety.ca

Safe Harbour Society (detox)
(403) 347-0181

Central Alberta AIDS Network Society
(403) 346-8858

Crystal Meth Anonymous Web site: www.crystalmeth.org

Narcotics Anonymous Web site: www.chinookna.org

Cocaine Anonymous Web site: www.ca.org