Pubdate: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 Source: New Westminster Newsleader (CN BC) Copyright: 2002 New Westminster Newsleader Contact: http://www.newwestnewsleader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1297 Author: Michael McQuillan Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) FIGHTING METH'S ICY GRIP The methamphetamine drug epidemic is already here, says Jody Meyer with the New Westminster-based Last Door Recovery Society. His proof? Nine out of 10 drug abusers that come for help at the 10-bed youth recovery home are hooked on meth. Meyer, a recovering addict and now the program manager for the New Westminster home, will also tell you the so-called drug epidemic has been around for decades. Just look at the last four years, he says. Right now it's meth, but last year every kid that walked in the door was hooked on heroin. And before that they were all strung out on crack cocaine. Drugs change; the problems that cause drug abuse remain the same. "Every time they say there's an epidemic I tell people the epidemic is the addiction. The drugs, if it's crack or meth, are just what's on the street at the time," says Meyer. Although he paints meth, heroin, crack cocaine and other trendy hard drugs with the same brush, he explains that meth is different from the rest. Both Meyer and co-worker Jessica Cooksey are shocked at the condition kids arrive in and what the drug does to them. Cooksey, a former meth addict, is currently dealing with a 16-year-old girl who can't shake the drug despite repeated attempts. It's not helping her that everyone around her is hooked on the drug. Meyer tells a story of a 12-year-old boy that was brought in after playing video games for seven straight days without sleep while he was on a meth binge. His father, who had to wrap him in duct tape to control him, brought him in. The father had been beaten and bruised by his violent son. "It's extremely tough on the families I deal with because they watch the kids they love, that they've raised, get wired to a drug that makes them possessed," says Meyer. "When you're in that addictive frame of mind you want to do more meth and you'll do anything to get it, including stealing from the family home. "Usually when kids come in they're really defeated, they have no other options but to deal with their drug problem," says Cooksey, an addictions counselor. "If they had options they would have tried them. In most cases they've completely destroyed their relationship with their family or their family can't take another day with them living at home." "Living with a meth addict is like living with a terrorist in your own home," adds Meyer. It's no wonder so many families give up on their addicted sons and daughters. But a family is the most important support network that youth has, says Cooksey. Especially if the only other network they have is friends that do meth. Both dispute claims that recovery from meth addictions are very low. Cooksey, who quit as a high school senior, is proof of that. "I know they're saying you're less likely to recover from crystal meth but they said the same thing about heroin and they said the same thing about cocaine," says Meyer. "If you're in the trenches and on the front line and you're doing the same thing with the same people, of course you're going to feel it's hopeless. "People have to break the cycle. Meth and the street are a lifestyle." "Addiction is a way of life," adds Cooksey. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl