Thursday, March 15, 2007 

Town hall meeting addresses effects of drug

Community: Three women and mothers address public about horrendous effects of meth, need to quit habit

By Kendel Murrant - Idaho Press

NAMPA — Three mothers sat on a panel in front of dozens of people Wednesday night and told the story of their lives. All three women were former methamphetamine addicts.

Rebecca, Amanda and Misty shared their stories as a part of the Idaho Press-Tribune’s “Meth Kills” town hall meeting and gave the public a first-hand look into the lifestyle of meth addicts.

All three women had been in jail for varying amounts of time, one up to six years. At one time, all had lost custody of their children. They committed crimes in order to get money to feed their habits, and all received help to turn their lives around.

“Meth is a beast; it’s evil,” Rebecca said after describing how she and her teenage son started using at the same time. “It makes you become a liar, hateful and shameful.”

Amanda, who used for two years before she was arrested, said her addiction to meth was immediate.

“The day I started doing it I didn’t stop,” she said.

Misty began using meth at age 13 after her mother, a California police officer, was killed. Misty spent a total time of six years in California and Idaho jails and prisons before making the decision to quit using the drug.

“Every thought in my mind was about getting and using and how to get more,” Misty said of her time on the drug. “If it meant hurting someone, it didn’t matter,” she said.

All three women described a severe apathy and disregard for everything when they used meth.

“This drug absolutely makes you care about nobody,” Misty said.

Misty described how she graduated from college and held steady, well-paying jobs when she was sober. But she said the lust for meth trumped anything good she had been able to achieve.

“Any of the positives I have in my life, it’s hard to use them because of all the negative things in my life,” Misty said through tears.

The women also agreed that the public, even children, need to know about the consequences of becoming a drug addict.

“Tell them about the emotional heartache and pain,” Amanda said. “Don’t just tell them that your teeth will fall out, because people just think, ‘oh, I’ll just go to the dentist.’”

“People need to know about the honest-to-goodness consequences,” Misty echoed. “It rips your family apart.”

The three women said they embraced religion and 12-step programs as their salvation and escape from the clutches of meth addiction.

Some of them said they needed to hit rock bottom and experience “tough love” before they were ready to change.

“Without jail, I wouldn’t have been sober enough to make the decision to quit,” Amanda said.

“You have to be ready to change,” Rebecca said. “Sometimes we use our past as a crutch, as an excuse” for not quitting or for starting again.