MOM'S TOUGH LOVE PUSHED ADDICTED DAUGHTER TO GET HELP

Debbie Sklapsky refused to believe that she was enabling her
daughter's crystal meth addiction.

She and her husband gave their daughter a place to live, food to eat
and money, even though she was working full-time. A drug and alcohol
counsellor said that if they wanted their daughter to quit, they had
to stop enabling her.

"It wasn't the answer I wanted to hear," Sklapsky said. "I thought,
there's got to be something else out there."

She begged and pleaded with her daughter to quit, offering her money
as a reward.

"My husband and I were trying everything to make her see she needed
help," Sklapsky said. "She wasn't interested in any part of that.
When she was ready, she thought she could do it on her own."

Sklapsky was afraid that if they cut off support she would choose the
drugs over her life.

"I was afraid we'd lose her -- that she'd go out to the streets and
that would be it," Sklapsky said. "Finally one day, I hit rock
bottom. "That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life."

For a week, Sklapsky said they lived not knowing anything. But then,
her daughter asked for help.

They checked her into a private treatment facility because it was the
only one in the city without a waiting list.

Six months later, she was released and immediately confronted with a
dealer offering her a hit of crystal meth.

She turned it down.

A year later, she's got a full-time job and plans to return to school.

Sklapsky's advice to other parents is to get informed. Find out about
crystal meth and watch for warning signs. And most importantly, don't
enable their habit.

"You can be informed," Sklapsky said. "You can be there to support
them but you can't make them quit."