BATTLING METH

There is life after drugs.

Today, 15-year-old Jessica has been clean for two months and 21 days.
That's the story she wants to tell, and to do it, she had to share what
happened before she came clean.

Jessica was 12 when she began smoking cigarettes and pot, and 13 when she
ended up at a friend's apartment smoking crystal meth. Crystal
methamphetamine, otherwise known as crystal meth, crank, jib, ice, or
glass, is a popular street drug in the Sherwood Park area.

"The first time it's scary, and it's hard to think in your head why if you
were so scared the first time would you try it again?" Jessica asked
rhetorically. "But the second time you try it, it feels good."

The second time for Jessica happened about a year ago. She ended up running
into an old friend. She knew he was a crystal meth user, but decided to go
with him anyway.

"I ended up at a meth lab with about 15 people all around me with meth
pipes," she described, noting it was easy to accept when it was offered
around to her. "From then on I was smoking pretty much every day, if not
like 10 times a day."

Last fall, Jessica was kicked out of her junior high and went to another
one, but continued using meth.

"One thing people use crystal meth for is that they don't focus on anything
other than what's right in front of them at that moment," she explained,
adding her whole life revolved around crystal meth.

"It was just when am I going to get high, how am I going to get high, how
am I going to get here to get to my dealer to get this and get back to
smoke it. . ."

After being put in the Yellowhead Youth Centre in an attempt to curb the
problem, she ran away within a week and was back into the scene.

Although she never lived on the streets, Jessica said the places she did
end up staying weren't very safe.

"See that scar?" she asked, pointing to the pink mark on her neck. "That
was from a guy putting a four-foot machete to my neck when I lived with my
dealer."

She said although she realized she had a problem, she never felt strong or
motivated enough to deal with it.

"You think you're ok, and you think everything's fine and I'm smart, and
this is my life and I can do what I want, but when it comes down to it,
there is no life."

When she was using meth, Jessica didn't feel hungry or tired and as a
result ate and slept less, a common symptom with people using meth. She
also experienced feelings of paranoia and nervousness.

A lot of stuff happened when Jessica was using, but that isn't the story
she wants to focus on. The real story started when her dad said he would
kick her out of the house unless she stopped using. At that point, Jessica
realized she had to "shape up or ship out."

Once she was given the ultimatum, she went to the Alberta Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Commission (AADAC) to begin the process of getting clean.

"I went through a really bad stage. Cravings and withdrawals, I shook and
sweat, and I'd freak out and cry."

After getting over the first month of the AADAC program, Jessica said the
cravings and withdrawal symptoms started to fade and she could feel her
strength returning.

"You build up strength every day you're clean. You become a stronger person
every day because you've made it through one more day."

Jessica completed part of her schooling in the AADAC program. She'll
complete Grade 9 after September and then will move on to Grade 10 around
February.

"It's hard to quit, but it's totally worth it. It's ultimately worth more
than you could ever imagine. You feel so much better."

Jessica said it's important that kids find a hobby or passion that will
take up lots of their time.

"Find some other way to make yourself happy. Find some passion, or a sport
or a group or a job or something else to take up time. You need to keep
yourself busy."

Jessica's dad feels like two months is not enough time to get off the drug,
and is still keeping an eye out for her.

"Two months is a pretty big milestone for us, but it's not a particularly
safe distance," he said, noting that from what he's read, it might take a
year or more to feel "safe."

However he is proud of her accomplishments so far, and is hoping for the best.

"I've been pretty impressed with her steadfastness in the last two months.
Whenever I give her an opportunity to slip up, she doesn't." Jessica thinks
she can make it.

She even admitted to feeling a bit of thankfulness to a higher power,
something she had never felt before.

"I was never ever a God person," she said. "But when you have the
capability and you are strong enough to recover from a drug this strong,
you think to yourself, it wasn't just me doing this. There was someone
there helping me do it."

(AADAC has a help line at 1-866-332-2322.)

Parents Empowering Parents (PEP) will hold their next meeting Tuesday, July
27. The meetings are open to any family members or friends of people who
are addicted to or getting involved with crystal methamphetamines.

For more information, call Tina at 464-4244.