Pubdate: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 Source: Peace Arch News (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Peace Arch News Contact: http://www.peacearchnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1333 Author: Tracy Holmes, Staff Reporter Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) 'IT WAS A LIVING HELL...' FRANK TALK FROM DRUG USERS, SURVIVORS TO HELP OTHERS Chelsea Norris wakes up every morning reaching for a hit of the crystal meth she once stashed in her night table. She's still terrified of the dark; she hears voices that aren't there, and people who aren't around. She's haunted by memories of trying to suffocate her dog, of attacking her mother with a rake, and introducing friends to a drug many still can't get away from. She can't be around those friends any more, because she can't help them. They have to help themselves, just like she did 18 months ago. Now 18, the freckled, brunette remembers well how she got caught up in the addictive drug. She's telling her story as part of an in-your-face documentary on crystal meth use, to help someone else resist the drug. "I want to do what I can," she said during a recent visit to White Rock beach, one of the many places she did and dealt the drug. She said taking part in the video "kind of helps me a little bit" in her ongoing recovery. "I wish I'd known the consequences." Norris was in Grade 9 at Semiahmoo Secondary when she started using crystal meth. She had braces and acne, and was a shy, chunky 5'5". After a squabble turned most of her friends against her, the "magnificence" of crystal meth was a welcome escape. A pusher she thought was a friend promised getting high would give her more energy, help her lose weight, and make her feel more outgoing. The weight loss sounded particularly appealing-Norris remembers thinking if she was thinner, somebody might like her. She started out using crystal meth on weekends. Within a month, she was high every day. After two months, she was using six times a day. Flying on a concoction of such toxins as battery acid and paint thinners, she'd stay awake for days. The ephedrine-based high wiped out her appetite and stripped her of 60 pounds within a year. Then came the mood swings-the pusher friend never told her about those. Her phases of irritability exploded into violence. "It'd slowly get worse. I'd snap and freak out," Norris said. "I attacked my mom a couple times. I came after her and tried to knock down her door with a metal rake." That was the peak of her downhill slide, and rock-bottom was just around the corner. Norris' mom, driven to a nervous breakdown-in fact, she's still on stress leave two years later-called police on her daughter, and in the same breath kicked her out of the house. "I was terrified of her, absolutely terrified," Jane Norris said. Chelsea's violence had been unpredictable for a year. Once, she punched her mother, fracturing her jaw, simply because her hair caught on an earring and pulled during a hug. "It was like walking around the house on eggshells," Jane Norris said. "It was a living hell." Homeless, Chelsea turned to a life on the streets of downtown Vancouver, staying with other drug users or her dealers, and using money her mom sent for food to buy more drugs. She'd go a week or more without eating, putting her habit above everything else. Meantime, her mother searched frantically for a treatment centre that had room for her daughter. She called every facility in B.C., finally tracking down a bed in Prince George. She had three days to find her daughter, and let her know help was there if she wanted it. The only catch was Chelsea had to want the help, had to ask for it herself. Fortunately, she did. She's been clean since May 26, 2003, and is closer than ever to her mom. She'll graduate from her Aldergrove high school in June. Her addiction left her with more than bad memories. Doctors say Chelsea may have permanent brain damage from the drug. Once an articulate girl, today she struggles to voice an opinion, and stumbles for words. Even reading aloud has become a challenge. She's on mood calming medication, and goes to counselling weekly. Still, "It gets better every day," she said. "You still have low points, where you feel like you're an ex-drug addict, but you've just got to keep hoping...relearn how to live your life without using." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek