Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jun 2010
Source: Willits News (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Willits News
Contact:  http://www.willitsnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4085
Author: Monica Stark

DEATH TO METH EVENT SET FOR JUNE 19

Heavy metal head Justes Wilson and college student  Bonnie Lockhart
know firsthand how meth can destroy  families and contribute to an
unending perpetuation of  drug addiction.

Wilson's 15-year-old cousin died within minutes of  taking one hit of
it. He's from the Pine Ridge  Reservation in South Dakota where meth
is widely  abused. He left there because "meth is crazy," he says.  "A
lot of people are users ... my cousin's mother, she  showed my cousin
that lifestyle. She made it OK for her  to do that. ... it's not just
the kids that are messed  up; it's the parenting that's messed up, the
mentality  that's blown out of the water."

Since Wilson's cousin's death, Wilson and his  girlfriend Lockhart
have organized the annual Death to  Meth - part concert, part open mic
- - events on the Pine  Ridge Reservation in South Dakota with hundreds
attending, but this year they're bringing the action to  the Coyote
Valley gym on June 19.

Coincidentally, Wilson found out about his cousin's  death shortly
before he was scheduled to perform with  his musical hero, Aztlan
Underground, a metal band  whose ex-drummer was addicted to meth. At
this year's  Death to Meth, Aztlan Underground is scheduled to
perform alongside HGW, Tybox, Overload, local band The  Broadcasters,
and Marvin Helper; and recovering meth  abusers are scheduled to talk
about how they broke  their habits.

There will be no prepared speeches allowed at the open  mic because
Wilson is looking for the real stories, not  the premade.

The family-friendly event will be free of charge and  drugs and
alcohol will be prohibited.

Even though Mendocino County's meth problem may be  smaller than South
Dakota's, Lockhart and Wilson are  urging the community to stop it
before it gets out of  control. "We don't want to get to the point
where  Mendocino County is the best place to get it," Lockhart  says,
adding that it's become increasingly difficult to  organize Death to
Meth in South Dakota because meth is  so much more prevalent. "(It's)
such a part of life and  people really, really love it. It would be
like us  saying here: no marijuana, everybody stop."

Lockhart, who grew up on the Pinoleville reservation,  explained that
when medical marijuana became much more  prominent there, people put
up barbed-wire fences and  got guns to guard it. "It really changed my
  neighborhood. I think that the desensitization that has  occurred in
the excess of marijuana and the celebration  of it all is definitely
very similar to the  desensitization of the meth in Pine Ridge."

Pine Ridge is even more rural than Ukiah. Other than a  "Boys and
Girls Club that you have to pay a membership  fee for," Lockhart says
there are "two gas stations,  one supermarket and two stoplights. It's
really, really  rural."

And meth is readily available. Nine-year-olds could buy  it at the
store, she says, and it doesn't help that 85  percent of the
population is unemployed. "It's low  expectation," she says.

Wilson says he left Pine Ridge because of how out of  control it is.
"Meth is crazy A Meth culture is a joke  there. It's so bad people
will joke about it. The  people who won't use it will joke about it A
Even old  ladies aren't safe from it there. Their grandchildren  are
smokin' it in the next room, fumes are coming in  and affecting them.
So that's the culture - there's no  care ... I know a guy that killed
his own parents,  burned their bodies alive. It's like geez, are you
kidding me? I went to school with you.'"

Asked if he could make a comparison between meth  culture out in Pine
Ridge to the pot culture here,  Wilson said: "There's a bunch of
sissies out here, you  know what I mean? A Marijuana will make you
messed up.  It will make you stupid, but I don't know anyone whose
blood vessels exploded from smoking marijuana. I am in  between on
that - the pros and cons of marijuana ...  People are actually killing
people for doing crazy  stuff, people selling their virginity for
meth. Stuff  like that - it's such a horrible thing."

The concert will be held on Saturday, June 19 from noon  to 9 p.m. at
the Coyote Valley gym, located at 7751 N.  State St. in Redwood Valley.

The event is sponsored by the Mendocino County Youth  Project, the
Coyote Band of Pomo Indians, Mendocino  County Sheriff's Office,
Sherwood Valley Rancheria,  Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Ukiah Holiday
Inn Express.  For more information, call MAO at 272-6218 or MCYP at
463-4915. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D