ONE MOM OPENING DOORS TO RECOVERY

When one local Parksville teen started to get worried about her close
friend's drug use, she knew exactly who to go to.

She talked to her mom, Marilyn (whose last name has been withheld to
protect annonymity).

"I have addiction in my life, and always will," says Marilyn about her
struggle with drugs in the past.

Her daughter knew Marilyn could talk to the friend, Sarah. Marilyn
thought she would be able to help too.

So, she started doing research, and learning about crystal
methamphetamine. She already understood the addiction side, says
Marilyn. What she couldn't understand was the drug. It ended up being
something beyond even her own understanding.

"I couldn't help Sarah, Sarah was doing crystal meth," says
Marilyn.

Sarah went from being a happy, outgoing, polite and pretty girl, says
Marilyn, to stealing, lying and literally picking pieces of meth -
like pieces of glass - out of the skin on her face and arms as her
body rejected the drug.

She was 14 years old.

It was an addiction to something that Marilyn says even she couldn't
fathom doing - but it was an addiction nonetheless, and that, she
understands.

"The bottom line is they use to live and live to use," says
Marilyn.

It's a draw that many parents don't and can't understand, she
explains. It's that understanding she shares, that has turned her home
into a bit of a safe house, she explains. Somewhere that kids can come
to eat , sleep, wash their clothes and have a shower - but not do drugs.

Marilyn has learned a lot about the drug and the kids who are using it
- - in hopes of bringing her knowledge to help groups like the Oceanside
Community Crystal Meth Task Force.

"They're all creative kids, they're just scared. Lots of them want to
die, which breaks my heart, but lots of them want to live," she explains.

There are probably 14 regulars who roll through her house, she says,
and the number one challenge to their treatment is their age.

"It's the disease of addiction and the age of the children who are
doing it," she says. "People are treating them like adults, and
they're not."

She's been able to help a few, she says. Kids like Brandon (name
changed), a friend's son, who came across her house, and told her over
the kitchen table that he wanted help, and about the troubles he had
so far in finding it.

She asked if he was serious, and he said he was. They got in the car
and took him to Victoria, and only then would Brandon let her phone
his mom.

Marilyn says it's vital that these kids get the help they need - and
that people are educated about what comes with addiction, before the
drugs leads to permanent mental illness.

"At least if they're addicts, we're dealing with one disease," she
says.

Until she can help through the task force or elsewhere, she says,
she'll keep helping through her own home.

"These kids are just realizing they're out of control," says Marilyn.
"There needs to be the right help there for them."