STUDENTS GIVEN GRAPHIC LESSON ABOUT CRYSTAL METH

They say pictures are often better than words.

Composite High School Career and Life Management (CALM) students not
only received pictures, but eye-opening testimonials from three
former crystal methamphetamine addicts last Thursday.

The presentation, made possible by the Edson and District Drug Action
Coalition and the Alberta Alcohol and Drub Abuse Commission (AADAC),
featured three local female addicts who have since kicked the habit.
But, they told the students, that doesn't mean they might not have a
relapse and that the memories of being hooked on the addictive drug
and what their life was like before, during and after, will ever go away.

Marg* said meth tore her life apart.

"It's just an awful drug. I was down to 97 pounds."

Meth not only causes a person to do thoughtless things, it also
distorts your senses, thinking you look better than you actually do.

"You look awful but you don't realize it."

However, if you do manage to stop, the results are astounding, said Marg.

"When you stop using, you feel like a whole person again."

Kylie* pointed out to students that meth is a hard addiction to shake
and that only two per cent of users manage to shake it for good.

"It's an on-going struggle not to keep using."

Christie* shared similar experiences with her two colleagues.

"I was an addict for five years before I even realized it."

She added her emotional spectrum was quite limited when she was on
the drug -- angry, depressed and happy, with nothing in between.

"You don't care about anything, just about drugs."

Edson AADAC office manager Edith Zuidhof-Knoop said meth, also known
as speed, makes the body work harder.

"It speeds up the metabolism, heart and the circulation goes faster."

It also causes paranoia and overdoses can cause delusions,
hallucinations, seizures, stroke, heart failure, coma and death.

One of Marg's hallucinations had to do with clowns. Specifically, she
has a fear of them. It got worse with meth addiction.

"I thought I saw one in the middle of the road throwing balloons."

With meth, recovery is a process, the majority don't get better right
away, said Zuidhof-Knoop.

For an average person, it takes seven attempts to quit meth. For
others, it's 35 to 40 tries.

Kylie summed it up by comparing religious people to meth users and
one commonality they have.

"Religious people are ones who don't want to go to hell -- addicts
are those who have been to hell."

For more information on meth or other drugs, call AADAC at 723-8232.

This week is National Addictions Awareness Week. People are invited
to drop by the AADAC office in the Edson Provincial Building on
Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

*Editor's note: Pseudonyms were used to protect identities.