Pubdate: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 Source: Penticton Western (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 Penticton Western Contact: http://www.pentictonwesternnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1310 'DOPE TEARS PEOPLE APART' Amanda also developed a heart condition after her drug habit prevented her from seeking treatment for an infection. When you're using cocaine heavily, you don't sleep or eat, Amanda says, and you use drugs to mask any physical ailments you may have. When Amanda was 17, she gave birth to a baby boy. "He was apprehended at birth," she said. She used drugs before she knew she was pregnant and then drank heavily after she quit using drugs part-way through her pregnancy. "He has FAE (Fetal Alcohol Effects - a "milder" form of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome)," she said. Shortly after that - and because she was beat up and stabbed twice in Alberta - Amanda moved to Kelowna and was enrolled in a drug rehabilitation program - a cycle she repeated numerous times. "I'd come to Kelowna and clean up and then go back to Alberta - 11 times actually," she said. She'd go back onto the street, meet up with old "friends" and be using again in no time. "After a while, you don't care. If you don't have cigarettes, you go back out there. I knew how easy it was. It was always my first solution to all my money problems. "It's what you know." Amanda hasn't been a prostitute since her daughter was born. And her most recent relapse with cocaine lasted only three weeks - shorter than usual. And she's determined it will be her last. She goes to local Narcotics Anonymous meetings and attends Pathways. "What got me off drugs was I built a family connection," she says. "I just wanted to show them I could do it." Amanda says she will use her own story to teach her daughter about drugs - she won't lie to her. She gives "shock talks" for youth groups and has this advice for young people who think that experimenting with drugs is harmless: "It's not what it's made out to be," Amanda says. "Dope tears people apart." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman