METH - THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL

Jason Bonnar leans forward and puts his elbows on the table in the
interview room at the Hinton RCMP detachment. He tries to gesture
emphatically with his hands as he speaks, but the handcuffs restrict his
movement.

"I'm an addict, I can't lie about that," says Bonnar.

Steve Walton, a police officer from the Calgary Drug Unit, has come to
Hinton to do a public workshop on the drug methamphetamine. An expert on
street drugs, Walton has written a book and 25 articles on the subject.

"A person that uses meth once has a 44 per cent chance of becoming
addicted," says Walton.

"For someone that uses it more than once, there is a 96 per cent chance
they will become addicted."

Bonnar, his face thin in the cheeks and temples, says he first tried meth
around 1995. He had just moved to Hinton and was working full-time in the
forest industry. He had recently bought a truck and was in a steady
relationship.

Now, Bonnar is 27 and has no house, no vehicle, and no assets.

"I haven't held a job in years," he says.

"My last real job was for two months over the summer in 2000."

Health care providers, social service professionals, teachers and law
enforcement workers fill the boardroom at the Hinton Health Unit. Walton
tells the crowd that meth becomes the most important thing to the user -
more important than jobs, family, or friends.

He says that meth impairs a person's ability to intellectualize.

"People high on meth will sometimes inject random words and sentences into
conversations," says Walton.

He tells a story of one woman who was videotaped while on meth.

"This lady was high on meth and describing the effect of the drug when she
suddenly said, 'No, you cannot grow lime trees in my back yard,' and then
she continued on with what she was saying before."

Bonnar started snorting one to three grains of meth (about one-tenth of a
gram), every week. Soon three grains turned into a gram, then to an
eight-ball (one-eighth of an ounce).

Bonnar needed meth more frequently and in larger doses to get high.

He began to smoke the drug and then to inject it.

"At times I used a quarter ounce per week," he says.

Walton is a large, imposing man who does undercover work as a motorcycle
gang member. Except for the clean, tucked in T-shirt and pressed plaid
over-shirt, he fits the stereotypical biker look. He stands at the front of
the boardroom, holding a glass vile filled with a few granules that look
like rock salt for melting ice on roadways. The vile holds one-third of a
gram - roughly $50 worth of meth.

"A fraction of this would get someone like me high for about 18 hours," he
says.

"A chronic user, however, would do this whole thing in a matter of minutes."

He says people build up a tolerance to meth, and there is a saturation
point where meth users will stop feeling the affects of the drug, even
though they are using more and more.

"A chronic user will have around a $100-a-day habit," he says.

They will not sleep, and they will become more and more irritated and
irrational.

Meth is an appetite suppressant, says Walton. A person will eat next to
nothing while on a binge.

"People stop getting a pleasure response from eating while on meth," he says.

Bonnar says that if you look in the fridge at a meth user's house, you
would be lucky to find a jug of water.

When Bonnar lost his job because of his meth use, he started stealing to
pay for his habit. Meth was costing him about $100 a day.

"I stole trucks, quads, Skidoos, anything I could," says Bonnar.

Most recently, he has been charged with possession of stolen property, and
is currently being held while awaiting a court date.

He pleads that he wants to turn his life around.

"When I'm on the drug, I hate myself. I do it - then I don't care about
anything," he says.

"You don't realize the consequences of your actions until you're in here
(jail), or in rehab, and you sober up."

He says he now has a son who is almost a year old.

"I don't want my boy to grow up like I did - without a father. I want to
work for a living and provide for my family.

"When I get out I'm going to check myself into rehab. I'm going to get a
sponsor, someone who is not a drug addict that I have to check in with."

Methamphetamine Facts

* It is also called jib, crank, meth, crystal, ice, and speed

* It is commonly used in the club and rave scene for the high-energy rush

* It is an artificial stimulant closely related to amphetamines

* It is often distributed as a capsule, powder, or in chunks resembling
pieces of ice

* It is often cut with other dangerous chemicals such as sodium hydroxide
and red phosphorus

* It is hard to know what is in the drug, even when buying from a familiar
supplier

* Taking it with other drugs, including alcohol, greatly increases the risk
of overdose and death. Boosting (taking more while already high) is even
riskier

* It is highly addictive and produces extreme cravings

* Long-term effects include problems with thinking, memory, and movement