Thirty-three-year-old Joanna remembers where she was the first time she tried meth. She was in a car behind a grocery store in Moody, it was one in the morning and a friend told her she would like it. “It’s cheaper than pot, they told me. I used to spend a lot of money on weed, I really loved the stuff,” Joanna recalls. “My friend told me meth cost less and the high was better, so I thought why not.” She said when she first saw meth she thought it was crushed glass, “I was scared, I had never done meth before and it looked like it would cut you going down. My friend shot it, but I smoked it because of the way it looked.” Joanna said she discovered the high was better and she wanted more. “The feeling was great, I had so much energy and I thought this drug could probably make me work better if I did not let it become a problem for me. I wish I could have known what would happen after that first time.”

What happened was she woke up everyday thinking of ways she could get more meth and quickly learned at about $60 to $75 a gram it was not cheaper than marijuana. To pay for her habit Joanna pawned her car title and all of her belongings, she even sold her children’s swing set. “All I could think about was needing money for meth, I didn’t care about what I was doing to get the money or who it would hurt.” She stole from family and neighbors, “After I didn’t have anymore of my stuff to sell I took from other people to get money. If it wasn’t cemented down, I’d take it.” Joanna used meth daily and said her growing appetite for the drug caused her to loose all boundaries. “I went home with anyone who told me they had meth to share with me. That led to some pretty bad experiences.” She is most ashamed of the times she left her children unattended to get high. With tears in her eyes she confessed, “I was a terrible mother and the drugs cost me my kids. They are no longer living with me and it is totally my fault. I traded my babies for meth.”

Joanna lost her car not long after pawning the title and then lost her job for not showing up. She stopped paying her bills, because any money she had went to buy meth and the utilities in her home were eventually cut off. “Believe it or not, that didn’t bother me. All I did was get high and look for drugs, so I could have cared less there was no power or water. Meth takes away your appetite, so I didn’t need the refrigerator to work anyway. My kids needed it though, and I was too lost in meth to see that.”

Joanna said there are several ways to use meth, but she preferred smoking it. “I smoked meth in a glass pipe with a bulb on the end. It’s called an oil burner and are sold in tobacco stores. I doubt those have any other use, folks have to know what people are buying it for.” She said she referred to using meth as “smoking the kitchen sink” because it can have everything in it but the kitchen sink.

Meth is a mixture of over-the-counter decongestant medications and household chemicals such as drain cleaner, ammonia, kerosene, and even battery acid. It can be swallowed, snorted, smoked, or shot through a needle. Users often become addicted after their first time trying the drug, and meth has dangerous side effects like increased respirations and body temperature, delusions, malnutrition from loss of appetite, violent mood swings, paranoia, and crawling sensations on the skin. One of the most recognizable sings is “meth mouth,” which is a decaying and loss of teeth related to use of the drug and malnutrition from not eating. Joanna lost 11 of her teeth over the last three years and has watched her 160 pound frame shrink to 97 pounds. “I am five-six, and I know I am too skinny. I tell people I used to be pretty,” she said with a laugh that did not disguise her embarrassment. “I have been clean for 23 days, and I hope I never use meth again. I’ve said that lots of times before, but I really want to mean it this time.”



Brittney, 23, of Pell City said she was raised in a good environment by parents who loved her but that did not stop her from trying meth when she was 19. “I first tried meth at a party. I knew it was stupid when I did it, but I tried it anyway.” Brittney said she did not consider herself hooked the first time, but did become addicted after experimenting with the drug a few more times. “I knew I was addicted when I started using meth by myself. Before I was just doing it with friends to have a good time, but when I began doing it alone I got scared.” Unfortunately, she was not scared enough to stop. Attending college and living at home with her parents, Brittney said she did not consider herself an addict because she was not like her idea of a typical meth addict. “I had a job, got along with my family, did well in school, and ate food so I thought I was more of a recreational user even when I used by myself. Plus I swallowed it instead of snorting or shooting, and somehow that made a difference in my mind.” Brittney said eventually her relationship with her parents did deteriorate and she moved out. “When I moved out, I used meth more because I did not have to worry about my parents catching me.”

When Brittney moved in with a friend who also used meth her life took a turn for the worse. “Once I got out on my own, I could not afford my habit and my bills so my friend and I decided to start selling the drug. We did not think it was a big deal because we were only selling to our friends.” After about six months of dealing, Brittney got caught possessing methamphetamine by the police and was arrested. “My parents knew something was wrong with me, but I don’t think they knew what was wrong until then. It was a real shock to them.” Brittney pleaded guilty in drug court and completed a substance abuse program. “Now that I am sober, I can see what a hold meth had on me. It changed who I was as a person. I rationalized that I was not addicted by stupid things like not loosing any weight or my teeth.” Brittney has been clean for over a year and said she worries for other young people who might make the same mistake she did. “It was too easy to get meth, and if I could get hooked on it anyone can.”



St. Clair County District Attorney Richard Minor is committed to making people aware of the dangers of methamphetamine use by participating in the Alabama District Attorney’s Association’s ZEROMETH campaign. The campaign’s web site www.zerometh.com is filled with personal stories of addiction, facts about the drug, and information on how to get help. “The response has been overwhelming and I hope people are starting to see what this drug is all about,” Minor said. “We are expanding our efforts to the local community and high schools this school year with a new ZEROMETH DVD and a brochure filled with meth facts and information.” Minor’s office has ZEROMETH ads on local radio and television stations warning of the dangers of using meth and has provided ZEROMETH T-shirts to all county high schools to be thrown out at football games. “The more exposure we have so that people will just log onto the website and see what meth is and does is priceless. If we can prevent just one of our youth from this disastrous path it will have been well worth the effort.”