DEALING WITH THE MENACE OF METH

It starts so slowly and seems so harmless. You take a cigarette lighter, a
piece of broken light bulb, a bic pen with the inside removed and a small
plastic bag with a little white powder in the bottom. You pour the powder
into the light bulb, heat it with the lighter and suck up the smoke through
the pen.

Claire (her name has been changed for reasons that will become obvious) was
at a party when she first tried methamphetamine, a drug she'd never heard
of until she moved to Drayton Valley.

"That was about three in the morning and the party lasted until two in the
afternoon," she says. "That's what it does, it's like drinking lots and
lots of coffee. It's awesome. You're the life of the party; you feel ten
feet tall."

Methamphetamine is an artificial stimulant. Smokable methamphetamine, the
kind most commonly found in Drayton Valley, is white or off-white powder.
The whiter the powder the purer the meth. It costs about $20 for a grain of
meth - enough to get a new user high for up to eight hours.

"My friends were doing it so I did too," says Claire who used meth
occasionally for four or five months after her first experience. Things
changed for her when she got to know the dealers and started buying meth
herself. Then she could use it whenever she chose to. And use it she did.

A small amount of meth makes the user feel alert and energetic. Smoking or
injecting the drug produces an extremely pleasurable rush that lasts for
several minutes. Side effects can include restlessness, shakiness,
sweating, anxiety, headache, blurred vision, dizziness, irregular heartbeat
and chest pain. The stimulant effects of the drug are so strong that sleep
seems unnecessary.

"I think the longest I stayed up for was seven days," says Claire. "I knew
people that were up for two weeks but I never could last that long. You
start hallucinating and stuff. I saw dogs and cats. That's what I saw
marching around. Always out of the corners of my eyes I'd see the dogs and
the cats."

Methamphetamine is, as Claire found out, highly addictive. As an addict's
body becomes used to the drug, it takes an increasingly large dose to get
the same effect. That can get expensive. Trying to support a meth habit
leads many users to a life of petty crime.

"With the spin off crime it's the biggest problem facing our community,"
says Const. Daryl Scott of Drayton Valley RCMP. "Vehicle theft, house break
ins, vehicle break ins . . . They're looking for cash or anything that's
easy to sell."

Claire was working in a store when her meth habit was at its peak. That
meant she didn't have to go too far afield to find some extra cash. "I was
a little bit of a thief while I was on it," she says. "I wasn't afraid of
anything. Your brain doesn't work right. You don't have a conscience about
anything anymore. Nothing at all; I didn't feel bad about anything that I
did. I probably ripped off my place of employment for a good $100,000 when
I was there. It didn't take long to figure out how to make this add up to
that when it didn't really."

As her methamphetamine use continued the drug began to take its toll on
Claire's mind and body. She lost weight - one of the side effects that made
the drug attractive to her in the first place - and found herself having to
take more and more of the drug in order to simply feel normal and be able
to function. It just wasn't fun any more.

"When you're coming off it you hurt so bad that you need to do it again,"
she says. "You want to just keep doing it so you don't feel bad. You can't
sleep, you can't eat, your body hurts. It's terrible. Terrible. People that
are on speed like to pick their skin and they're all marked up. Scabby,
pale skin. They just don't look good. I'd spend two hours a day getting
ready for work because I looked so bad."

Meth Use On The Rise

Scott says methamphetamine use has been on the rise in Drayton Valley for
about four years now. Most of the meth in town is shipped in from Edmonton.
However, Scott says, he believes some is now being manufactured in town.

Meth is made by extracting the chemical ephedrine from over-the-counter
cold medicines. Meth can be cooked just about anywhere, in houses, motel
rooms, camping trailers and even moving vehicles. The cook will add either
lithium strips, usually extracted from batteries, and anhydrous ammonia or
red phosphorous, usually extracted from match tips, and iodine to the
reduced ephedrine to start the chemical reaction that produces the drug.

For Claire though, it didn't matter how the drug was made or where it came
from. She only knew she wanted more. Things finally caught up with her when
her boyfriend, who was also a heavy meth user, moved out of their home and
checked into rehab.

"The shit hit the fan," she says. "I had nowhere to live. I had nowhere to
go. No money and no job, so I checked into rehab myself. I slept for five
days. My body was shut right down."

Claire's story is typical of many young people who get involved with meth,
but not all users follow the same pattern.

"There's a pretty big range. It's most common with young folks aged 16 to
the late twenties; people who have a bit of free time and cash in their
pockets," says Kevin Fisher, area supervisor with AADAC.

"But in Drayton Valley with the demands of business you get people working
as much as 80 hours a week. Methamphetamine is a very powerful stimulant so
you can see why it's attractive. Unfortunately, there's also a very
powerful kickback in terms of withdrawal."

There's some debate about how long a person can use methamphetamine before
he/she becomes addicted. Claire was a casual user for about six months.
Scott says he's heard of a recent study that suggests second- and
third-time users have a 90 per cent chance of going on to become addicts.

"I think it depends on the person, the amount they use and the situations
they use it in," says Fisher. "If someone's using it for energy or to boost
their self confidence or to fit in they're more likely to become addicted.
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. You can have one beer and I'm not going
to say you're an alcoholic. You can't take a safe dose of meth. It's harder
to control and the cravings come pretty quickly."

Claire says she now wishes she'd sought help sooner and she worries that
the past may still catch up with her. "I feel bad about the things that I
did to people," she says. "I found out that you have to have a conscience
in life. It's not all about you or the now. That's what it's like. I need
drugs right now. I need to feel better right now. You never think past
that. I still get panic attacks over the things I stole. They could come
knocking on my door tomorrow. It scares the hell out of me, especially when
I'm making an effort to try to be a normal person."

It's hard to get a handle on the scale of Drayton Valley's meth problem
although the provincial court sees a steady stream of people, mostly young,
charged with possession of the drug. Fisher says that alcohol and marijuana
remain the two most commonly abused drugs in town. Scott, meanwhile, would
like to see parents getting more involved if they think their children may
be using meth.

"The biggest problem is that kids deny and parents accept," he says.
"They've got to be firm and strong and not accept wishy-washy answers."

Warning signs Scott would like parents to look out for include weight loss,
shortage of money, a teen who suddenly starts hanging out with a new group
of friends, and objects going missing from the home.

Claire adds one more item to that list.

"Kids' parents would always come in and ask 'where's the freakin' light
bulb?" she says.

"It's pretty easy to hide, except for the fact that you're up all the time.
I told everyone I had insomnia. When I did tell my parents they were pretty
good about it. I think a lot of kids forget that. They forget that their
parents would help them if they just would say. But it's embarrassing to
admit that you're an addict."