HOOKED ON CRYSTAL METH

Local Man Shares His Story About Drug Addiction

(Editor's note) - Crystal meth is a drug that is quickly spreading
across Canada, with more and more youth using it as their drug of
choice. This week is National Addictions Awareness Week.
Herald-Tribune reporter Fiona Isaacson recently met with a mother and
son who know first-hand the effects of crystal meth and say that more
resources are needed to deal with the growing problem, even in Grande
Prairie. They have asked to remain anonymous.

Crystal meth makes you care about nobody but yourself, says the
28-year-old Grande Prairie man.

At 23, when he was having a hard time dealing with a breakup, a friend
offered him crystal meth to help him take his mind off of it.

"It did it take my mind off of it, and everything else," he
says.

The first time he tried it, he admits, crystal meth was
fun.

"I was very happy with myself, (had a) very inflated sense of
self-esteem, which at the time I didn't have," he says.

"You don't have the same high you get from other drugs. You don't
really think about anybody or anything else but yourself on the drug."

It started once every two weeks, grew to twice a week and then, after
a month, he was smoking or snorting every day, maybe even every half
hour.

The drug took over his life, and he got it right here in Grande
Prairie.

When he was high on crystal meth, his personality changed.

He worked four different jobs in five months "because the drug was
more important than anything," and he ended up stealing money from his
parents to pay for it.

"It changes your personality totally. You become something you'd never
think you'd become," he says.

"I thought I was fine. I was using the excuse 'it helps me think
because I was ADD.' But then when I was coming down, I'd start
spreading out, so I'd have to get more in focus again. I thought it
was helping me think and calm myself down."

Once he got kicked out of his parents' house, he lived with a friend,
who eventually kicked him out as well.

Soon after he made the decision to quit, cold turkey. He cut all ties
and walked away.

"I had a few situations where I had no control over and I didn't like
that. (One night), I ended up doing way too much and I was just, 'OK
enough's enough. I have to do something or I'm not going to be
alive,'" he says.

"Another situation arose with my younger brother. He needed help. I
couldn't help him, because I didn't want to bring him into my world.
That's when I started to realize something's got to be done."

His weight had dropped from 220 pounds to 130-140 in six to eight
months. "I dropped so much weight you can actually see my rib cage, my
eyes were sunken in. I basically looked like a walking skeleton."

Some friends took him in. He slept for almost a week and a half
straight, and then ate and ate and put the weight back on in two
months. He only had one relapse.

"It's one of the hardest things to quit, because it's so addictive,"
he says.

"I lost a lot of good friends. When I cleaned up, a lot of them didn't
trust me," he says about how the drug has changed his life.

Side Effects

He is still dealing with side effects and every day has to remind
himself that he's not doing crystal meth.

"I still have irrational mood swings. For just no reason I'll get mad,
and 20 minutes later, all of sudden, I'm happy again. I still have the
insomnia.

"I only sleep an average of four hours a night. And that's if I'm
lucky," he says.

"In situations where I get really stressed out, my body knows what I
could do to end it. I sit there fighting with myself. It's quite a
battle inside," he says.

"The biggest thing coming off it is the emotional struggle. The body
doesn't crave it so much anymore. It's still psychologically fighting
with it.

"To tell you the truth, if I went to a house party and there was some
available. I don't know what I'd do."

He says today he's happy and the struggle with the drug has helped him
learn more about himself.

"I have my good days, my bad days. I'm human, but all around I'm
definitely in a better mood. I'm definitely enjoying life a lot more.

Anyone thinking about trying this drug should think twice, he
says.

"No. It's total garbage. I've never seen any good from it whatsoever.
It ruins lives. It kills people. When you're on it, it seems like fun.
Once you look back, it's like: 'Man I can't believe I did that.'"

One way to stop is to let people know what the drug can
do.

'People Need to Know'

"People need to know about it. People need to be aware of it, of what
it does, (and) know you can help somebody on it, how you can help
somebody deal with it."

Maybe people turn a blind eye to the use of crystal meth in Grande
Prairie, he says.

"A lot of people don't consider it a problem, when I think it's
actually one of the worst problems in Grande Prairie for drugs. I've
seen it a lot more than any other one."