BREAKING METH'S ICY GRIP

Three years ago Carla Meyer was a bright 16-year-old. She had good
grades, a loving family, and high hopes for the future.

But the social lure of crystal meth shattered it all.

Now, just nine days before her 19th birthday, her legs are covered in
red, circular scars. The left side of her lips still have the remnants
of burn marks. And her dark eyes clearly show a girl who's seen and
been through experiences well beyond her young years.

Meyer has a problem.

Meyer is an addict.

Meyer is 22 days sober.

"The worse thing is I didn't think I had a problem. I am such a
happy-go-lucky person but when I was on this drug I would go insane. I
would yell and scream and just go crazy. My dealer would even tell me
I had to slow down, but I didn't think it was a problem. I thought I
could handle it," she says.

"I had to hit my own rock bottom before I would ever get help. When I
went into detox, I knew I had hit the bottom."

And now that she's sober, she wants to stay sober. Help however, is
not always readily available.

Support recovery homes in B.C. - supporting those with addictions -
are riddled with long wait lists. And even if a bed opens up, it's
$1,300 a month, with limited government funding available.

"There are not nearly enough support recovery homes, and we definitely
need to improve on the funding process," says Meyer, who's currently
waiting for a bed.

"No drug addict can get off these drugs on their own - when we need
help, we need it now."

Meyer's journey towards drugs began with a boyfriend. She wanted his
attention, but his attention belonged to the drugs and the people in
that drug world. So, she decided to enter that world.

"It was purely a social thing," she says.

But by just the third time around, she was hooked. She did rails
before work, during her breaks, and after work. She needed it to get
through the day. And when she lost her job, she indulged in petty
theft to support the habit.

She broke promises; she made excuses; she lost friends; and worst of
all, she says, was that she hurt and disappointed her family with
every hit she took.

"I hadn't really talked to my parents in years. Every time they asked
me how I was doing I would start screaming and yelling at them because
I thought they were interrogating me. I couldn't ever look them in the
eyes," says Meyer, who's now on the road to rebuilding that once
cracked relationship.

"I couldn't actually see how much pain I was causing to everyone
around me .. all I cared about were the drugs."

And she couldn't see the damage it was doing to her
either.

She stopped sleeping and she stopped eating. She went from a healthy
170 pounds to a waif-like 118 pounds in mere months. And her once
young, vibrant skin quickly grew old and sickly with burn marks,
damaged blood vessels, and picked-at abscesses.

"It's like you have bugs all over you and you pick and pick and pick
at them forever," she says, pulling up her pant legs to show the now
permanent reminder of those dark days.

And the crimes and abuse she witnessed, while living in the "Ghetto,"
is unfathomable for most. The Ghetto was a drug house on Vedder Road,
recently condemned and bulldozed. While living there, Meyer feared for
the safety of what little belongings she had, and she feared for her
life as well.

"I saw people get shot. I saw them get sprayed with bear spray. I saw
guys beating on their women. I even saw one guy come out of the house
with his head cut in half," she says. "Half [the stuff] that happens
there goes unsaid because when you're on crystal meth you're living in
a fantasy world. You don't know what's real and what's not. It's crazy."

Those images finally caught up to her psyche though. She got out;
she's been out for 18 days; and she never wants to go back.

"Every day that I wake up, it's a new day and I say 'OK, I'm going to
be clean today,'" she says. "I don't think about tomorrow, I don't
think about the next day. I just think about today."

And while she's waiting for a bed and funding to become available,
she's eating and gaining her weight back; she's keeping busy through
volunteer ventures; and best of all, she says, she's finally causing
her parents to be proud.