Pubdate: Fri, 28 Oct 2005
Source: Chilliwack Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Chilliwack Times
Contact:  http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1357
Author: Mike Chouinard
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada)

END OF THE RUSH

Addiction & Recovery looks at the experiences of a young person getting off 
crystal meth. This is the first of two parts.

When the city held its community forum on crystal meth on Oct. 11, hundreds 
of people attended the Evergreen Hall to try to learn more about what the 
drug can do to a community and how to fight it.

Carla Meyer wasn't one of them. She wanted to be there but couldn't make 
it. The reason was that she was in detox, having gone in only the day 
before Thanksgiving. At 18, she had reached a point where she wanted to get 
off the drug and would need help.

"I'd been awake for three days before I went into detox," she says. "My 
first day of being clean was Oct. 9."

Meyer started using drugs at age 15. Her boyfriend at the time and others 
in her circle were the introduction. She began with other drugs, most 
notably crack, but then switched to crystal meth.

The first time she smoked it out of a broken lightbulb and ended up with a 
bad night's sleep. The second time she did rails

(snorted) and became badly sick to her stomach. Still she wanted to get 
high. The third time she smoked it again with her boyfriend and another 
guy, and from there the addiction grew.

Meyer admits she liked the feeling she got from meth when she started using 
it, and that's what makes it so addictive for users. It's hard to give up 
the rush, even after the physical, social and emotional problems start.

With the extra stimulation, meth addicts are known for staying busy but not 
accomplishing a lot. One example, and it's one Meyer has seen firsthand, is 
of someone taking apart a bicycle and putting it together again, over and 
over. For Meyer, she used her energy drawing in a sketchbook and rollerblading.

"My three years stood still," she says. "Nothing got accomplished."

Her weight dropped by about 50 pounds, but when she finally wanted to eat 
she would binge through a weekend. She might end up putting on 10 pounds 
while she was eating but then it would come off.

She would work at service sector jobs but then be fired. Often awake for 
days on end, when she did finally nod off it would be at the wrong time.

Still, the income allowed her to get the money she needed to buy crystal 
meth. At first, $40 worth lasted her about a week but then this was being 
used up in less than a day. Like about 80 per cent of the users she knows, 
she was at a point where she wasn't taking the drug anymore to get high but 
rather just for maintenance.

Now back at her family home, she says she has nothing to show for any money 
she made from jobs while she was on the drug because it all went to meth.

Meyer admits she also resorted to petty theft to support her habit, yet in 
the world of meth users, one often ends up a victim. For example, Meyer 
lost all her CDs and now has only four left. Theft is commonplace, as are 
violent crimes.

"That's what happens in the drug world. People just take over."

She has seen everything from someone being bear-sprayed in front of her to 
acts of extreme violence. She herself was even the victim of a violent attack.

"The meth world is a mythical world to live through," she says. "I've seen 
lots of people get hurt."

She was hanging out with older men, often with their own drug problems. She 
had sores on her face and burns on her hands.

She had used up any money she had and was often surfing from couch to couch 
to find a place to stay.

Meyer was living in a house that was being condemned by the city, and 
finally she had to leave. While she feels bulldozing these homes isn't the 
ultimate answer to the meth problem, in her case it was the catalyst she 
needed to get help. Even with friends she cares about still on the drug, 
she knew then it was time to get clean.

"If it wasn't for that place getting condemned, I'd still be doing drugs."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom