KRYSTAL'S JOURNEY

Looking to 'fill that void inside,' Krystal Meade started using drugs and
alcohol in her early teens, eventually landing in a rehab centre in Alberta

Krystal Meade doesn't seem different from a lot of 19-year-olds. The
pretty, auburn-haired daughter of Betty and Mike Meade just finished high
school, has a job at a great coffee shop, recently moved to a new apartment
and loves her life. "I had a pretty awesome childhood," she says. "I wasn't
deprived of anything. There was plenty of love and lots of time with my
family."

But there were times when Krystal wasn't always so happy. Times when she
contemplated suicide.

Earlier this year Krystal starred in a television documentary about her
life as a teenage drug addict. CBC television's The Nature of Things with
David Suzuki traced Krystal's past and followed her treatment at the
Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre (AARC).

"Looking back on it now, it's like a section of time that was a dream,"
says Betty. "A bad dream."

When, where and why did Krystal turn to drugs? Even Krystal herself can't
answer that question.

When she was young, she had lots of friends and really liked school. She
was involved in ballet, skating and gymnastics. Her parents split up when
she was in grade five. "I was very angry at both of my parents. I imagined
it was my fault that they split."

She didn't want to spend time with her friends and withdrew.

She changed schools in grade seven. "I had distanced myself from everyone
in my life over the past two years and I was very lonely." In grade eight
she joined a youth group at the Pentecostal Church. "I went to church and
met lots of people around my own age and had a good time, but it still
never filled that void inside of me."

She changed schools again in grade nine and started feeling out of place.
"I didn't really know how to be myself. I ended up trying pot one night
before youth group. I didn't get stoned, but I still felt a bit better
about myself."

Soon after, she stole a six-pack from her mom. "I felt cool. I didn't
really get drunk." A month later, though, she did. "It was the most amazing
feeling ever. I didn't care about anything."

After that all she wanted to do was to get drunk. "I stopped going to youth
group and church. I was rebelling. I made new friends."

That summer she got stoned for the first time. She liked it more than
drinking because she felt like she had more control over herself.

School started in the fall. "I got stoned at school for the first time.
This became a regular lunchtime activity for me. I also got drunk at school
a few times that fall. That Halloween I did mushrooms for the first time."

Krystal was hooked. "From then on I was smoking pot, drinking and doing
mush whenever I had the chance."

That fall, Krystal went to Vancouver Island to live with her father. "I
hated it."

She was allowed to return to Powell River the following January under
certain conditions, but she didn't stick to them. "About a month after
moving home I dropped out of school. I started doing harder drugs like
ecstasy. I eventually quit my job and spent all my time partying."

Soon after school started in the fall of 2000, Krystal moved into a new
apartment with some friends. "I was doing ecstasy three or four times a
week, and smoking pot several times a day. " She started doing cocaine and
it soon became her "new favourite."

Krystal says the last six months of her drug use is a blur. "I just wanted
to stay high all the time. I pumped so much drugs into my body that I
couldn't function without them. I didn't talk to my family unless I needed
money."

Betty knew her daughter was "experimenting" with drugs as early as grade
eight, but she had no idea to what extent.

She watched her daughter change. "She started quitting all the activities
she loved, like ballet and figure skating. She was alienating herself from
all her friends and choosing different friends. Her marks slipped terribly
and her attendance at school was getting worse and worse."

There were signs, Betty says. Krystal lost weight, she no longer cared
about her appearance. When Betty made eye contact with her, "There was no
one there."

In February of 2001 Betty knew she had to do something. She began looking
into rehabilitation centres and learned about AARC. Two weeks later, they
were there.

Krystal's parents had to trick their daughter to get her to Calgary. Her
father, Mike, told her the truth when they were in the driveway of AARC.

"I immediately began to freak out," Krystal says. "I yelled, and swore, and
tried to get out of the car, but the child locks were on."

She describes her year in rehab as the "hardest thing" of her life.

"I was in denial for a long time that I really needed to be in rehab, but
eventually I told people what I felt and how messed up my life was. I
learned that I was an alcoholic and a drug addict."

Krystal's mother was never far from her daughter. To participate in the
AARC program, a parent must reside in Calgary and open a secure host home.

It was tough year for them, a year filled with ups and downs, hugs and
tears. But it wasn't a choice Betty regrets. "You save your kid's life at
any cost," she says simply. "And she's alive. She's clean and sober."

Krystal Meade celebrated her second year of being clean, sober and drug
free in March of this year.