Crystal Darkness: meth addiction

(Graphic By Russell Mills)

Reported by: Marla Carter
Melissa said meth took her for a ride she'd never imagined,"It was fast, and it was powerful."
All things that had Melissa coming back for more, until she handed over control, to a controlled substance.
"The drugs were doing me. I wasn't doing the drugs anymore," said Melissa.
Drugs were a part of Melissa's life for decades. She started using drugs when she was just 12-years-old, but didn't turn to meth until her late 20's. "A very tragic event happened in my family's life, and I turned to meth to deal with the feelings. I didn't want to feel."
Soon she said she didn't feel anything, as she sat back and watched life go into overdrive.
"It wasn't uncommon for me to stay awake for 5 or 6 days at a time," said Melissa.
But the high only lasted for a few months before she crashed. She lost her son and her home, "I had to steal my food. I was homeless. I showered at truck stops," she said.
"Nationwide meth is probably one of the worse drugs to ever come out," said David Hale with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. Hale said a 2004 state law limiting Pseudoephedrine sales cut meth labs by 90%, but Hale said the number of users hasn't changed because people are bringing the drug up from Mexico.
Hale said Melissa's story is a common one. He says the need for a fix causes users to do just about anything.
"They have to do burglaries, or robberies, or fraud, forgeries, any number of things so they can support their habit," said Hale.Just a year after starting the drug, Melissa found herself behind bars, weighing just 100 pounds at 5 foot 7.
"I detoxed in jail. I had so much drugs in my system it took me about 7 and a half weeks to completely clean out my system," said Melissa.
After going into treatment in Tulsa, Melissa says she stopped using and says this month marks her fourth year of being clean.
Still, Melissa said what took just a moment to destroy, has taken years to rebuild, "Overnight I didn't get the house, and the job, and the car, and the fiance. It took me two years to get my son back."