Former addict chills audience (Minnesota)

By Tracy Frank, The Forum
Published Friday, March 31, 2006

ADA, Minn. – When David Parnell was lying in a hospital bed three years ago, his face a swollen and sunken distortion of what it once was, the drug addict decided to turn his life around.

Parnell was hospitalized after he threatened to kill his wife and children, he and his wife struggled with the gun and a bullet went through his head.

After barely evading death’s grasp a second time – the first was when he tried to hang himself – Parnell resolved to spend his life warning others of the dangers of drugs, specifically methamphetamine.

Ada-Borup high school students sat Thursday, some on the edge of their seats, others huddled on their chairs with their hands over their faces, as the motivational speaker from Tennessee graphically described the deadly consequences of using methamphetamine.

While Parnell rattled off statistics like 95 percent of people who try meth become hooked, he tossed in stories about his own struggle, “facing the dragon,” like the time he bought marijuana instead of milk for his kids.


David Parnell
Parnell also showed picture after picture, each more disturbing than the last, of people burned alive in meth lab explosions.

“That’s what this drug is doing every day in the United States,” Parnell said.

The students gasped and cringed when Parnell displayed pictures of meth addicts reduced to walking skeletons with rotten teeth and bloody, scarred arms.

“It was really gross and hard to watch to see they had to go through that,” said ninth-grader Nina Lofgren.

And teachers were reduced to tears when Parnell detailed the torture, suffering and eventual death children of meth-addicted parents are forced to endure.

“There’s not a word in the English language bad enough for me to describe the conditions children have to live in because of meth,” Parnell said.

Parnell does not hold back when warning the teens of the dangerous drug. He shows photos of his own face, bloodied and broken from a bullet shot from his own gun, he discusses getting his wife hooked on meth, and he talks about the miracle of finding out his wife was pregnant with their seventh child while he was fighting for his life.

“With drug addicts, the pain it really causes is to the people around us,” Parnell said.

Parnell now devotes his life to fighting meth, by speaking to schools, churches, jails, rehabilitation centers and community groups to warn about the dangers of meth.

“It was really effective,” ninth-grader Derek Webb said of the presentation.

Not only does Parnell want to prevent others from trying meth, but he also wants to give hope to those already addicted.

“You guys can make a huge difference in this fight, if you would pledge not to use meth, it would die off with the cooks and users because their life expectancy is so short,” Parnell said.

“I really believe in my heart I’m trying to save these kids’ lives.”


Readers can reach Forum reporter Tracy Frank at (701) 241-5526
David Parnell is a motivational speaker from Tennessee

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