ADDICT'S HISTORY ENGAGES AUDIENCE

City councillors sat beside recovering crystal meth addicts, seniors
sat beside concerned parents and students came with their friends to a
crystal meth dialogue held at Lord Kelvin Elementary School Wednesday
night.

More than 80 people came on a dreary, wet night to attend the forum
organized by New Westminster MLA Joyce Murray. They were given
information from a variety of sources about the drug that is becoming
the most pervasive recreational drug in society today.

"Crystal meth, I loved it, I absolutely loved it," recovering addict
Chelsea Trites said. "There was nothing that could compare to it. I
had the illusion that it was the answer to all my problems and this
addiction took over my life."

Trites, who has been clean for 18 months now, was one of the keynote
speakers and her presentation had the most telling impact on the
participants interspersed at nine tables throughout the school's gym.

"I hurt my parents a lot. I ripped them off, I stole what I could,
there was no truth after the age of nine," Trites said as her mother
Marilyn Trites dabbed away tears. "But my mom never gave up on me. She
would come to visit me in some pretty scary places and try to help but
I wouldn't listen. _ She never gave up, though."

Marilyn spoke of her struggles to keep her daughter
safe.

"I went into trailer parks and dragged her out of some of the
scummiest places you couldn't even imagine," she said. "My biggest
problem was I enabled Chelsea. My instinct as a mother was to protect
her, but I believe we did everything as a family to prevent this and
it still happened."

Marilyn said the scariest incident occurred during one of Chelsea's
periods of psychosis.

"One day, I woke up in the middle of the night and Chelsea was
standing over her dad with an axe," Marilyn recalled. "I asked her
what she was doing and she said she was protecting us from the people
who wanted to kill her. _ I was scared but I never gave up hope."

Chelsea went into Westminster House in May 2003 and has been clean
ever since. What has impressed her mother the most is that the
reminders she was giving Chelsea when she was strung out on crystal
meth didn't go unnoticed.

"I'd slip pamphlets into the food packages I gave her and she told me
she remembered," Marilyn said. "That's why you have to keep talking to
your kids because it will eventually get through to them."

When the formal presentations ended, each of the nine tables convened
their own roundtable discussion with questions for the panel afterward.

The strongest voice came from Surrey Fire Capt. Ron Cross, a
recovering drug addict who is now seven years clean. He was concerned
that people can't get immediate treatment at a detoxification centre
and are put on wait lists, sometimes for up to two weeks.

"I took a call tonight from someone I'm sponsoring who wants to get
into detox now. He called and they said to phone tomorrow," Cross
said. "He calls me in a panic and I don't know what to tell him. What
is the government doing for somebody like him?"

Murray was sympathetic to Cross' cause.

"It's not good enough what's happening now," the MLA said. "There's
more to do and your frustration is heard." She added that the mental
health budget has increased to more than $1 billion this fiscal year
to help address these problems and that the feedback garnered from
this forum may spur the province to put even more money into it.

Coun. Casey Cook sat at a table with Nicole, a nine-month recovering
addict who preferred not to have her full name identified. Cook
expressed his admiration for her fight before introducing her to ask
their table's question.

Nicole pointed out that while having a police liaison officer in the
high school is theoretically a good idea, where they are really needed
is in the elementary schools.

"The first time I talked to a police officer was when I was arrested,"
Nicole said. "You weren't my friends. _ Even tonight when I was coming
here and I saw the police cars parked outside, I was shaking."

Const. Camille Shim-Ping, police liaison officer for the district,
agreed, saying that's part of her mandate.

"We need to be in the elementary schools. We know that if we want to
change children's opinions, we need to start in kindergarten."

Murray was pleased with the evening's success, especially since it
fell on a night when several other competing forums, the high school
capital project and twinning the Port Mann Bridge, were competing for
citizens' interest.

"The overwhelming interest tonight is a testament to the community's
belief that this is a worthwhile initiative," Murray said.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what comes back on the feedback forms
and then sharing that with other agencies.

"There's always more to do and we wanted to get the discussion going
on this." Murray said. She added that while she hasn't looked at
holding another forum, if demand warrants and the feedback forms
indicate it, that's something she would seriously look at.