Pubdate: Tue, 06 Nov 2012
Source: Now, The (Surrey, CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact:  http://www.thenownewspaper.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462
Author: Carolyn Cooke

FAMILY'S FIGHT WITH METH IN FILM

'Aftermeth' Documentary Takes Another Look at Webbs a Decade After 
Filmmaker First Focused on the Family

Aftermeth, a new documentary airing tonight (Tuesday) on the 
Knowledge Network, offers a surprising look at how one family was 
devastated by drug use and then rebuilt their lives.

One of the subjects, Aaron Webb, said he hopes people see that there 
can be life after drugs.

"You know how people say, 'Once an addict, always an addict - even 
when you're clean,' I think that's a load of crap," he said. "That's 
like the biggest step toward failure that there is."

Eva Wunderman first met the Webb family a decade ago when she was 
filming Crystal Fear, Crystal Clear in and around Hope, her hometown. 
At the time, Aaron, who started using when he was 14, was on crystal 
meth and the film followed him and his family as well as others as 
they battled the addiction.

When Aaron saw the completed film, he was so upset with himself he 
vowed to turn his life around.

"I cleaned up," he said. "I didn't use any rehab or detox or 
treatment or anything. I just did it.

When I saw myself in that documentary, I was so disgusted with 
myself, that's what drove me to quit. It was just not wanting to be 
like that at all and I made myself the way I want to be."

Aaron, who has been clean for about six years, is pursuing his 
musical career, living in Vancouver and has a good job framing 
custom-made houses.

Wunderman said many people have asked what happened to the Webb 
family since her documentary, wondering whatever became of Aaron, his 
mom Michelle, and younger siblings Kyler, Kelly and Amber. So she set 
out to make Aftermeth to find out.

In one of the more ironic twists, Aaron, who was reluctant to 
participate in the first film until his mom agreed on his behalf, now 
said yes to Wunderman, against his mom's protests.

"She said, 'I'm not doing it, I'm not doing it,' and I said, 'You 
know what, you kinda owe me.'"

Michelle, an RN a decade ago, has faced some dramatic ups and downs 
in the intervening years and also had her own brief battle with addiction.

Amber and Kelly, the two youngest children, had their fair share of 
upheaval as the family temporarily blew apart in the face of stress, 
divorce and job loss.

Kyler, the second eldest son, had perhaps the most dramatic turn as 
he went from being a successful young man with his own vehicle and 
good-paying job to a raging meth addict.

Aaron said his reaction to that news "could have been better."

He and Kyler had a huge argument about it, in part because Aaron said 
he was so angry, and meth often put Kyler into rages.

In recounting it, Aaron said, "Like, how could you do that? Like what 
the hell? If you see a person trip over a wire and you go and trip 
over that exact same wire....

"I figured he would have been like, if somebody had said, 'Hey, you 
wanna do some crystal meth?' he would have been like, 'No thanks!'"

One by one, the family members moved from the Interior to Surrey, and 
now, except for Aaron, they all live in Delta. The rollercoaster 
continued from the low point of another child in a full-blown 
addiction to a place of real hope for a more stable and healthy future.

Aftermeth airs on the Knowledge Network tonight, Nov. 6, at 9 p.m.

For more information and updates on the Webb family members, see 
www.webbfamilyties.com . The site also includes a blog for each 
family member to update in future.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom