DEATH * BY * METH

This is dedicated to Travis Holappa who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered on July 25, 2004 in Northern Minnesota. This was all due to meth. I am Travis' mother and I wish to make this devastation turn into a better thing by educating and exposing the truth about meth, the dangers, and the deadly consequences it brings about to individuals and communities.

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Location: Colorado, United States

I want to do what I can to educate people about what is going on around the world with the meth problem. I want people to know about it BEFORE they even get the idea to want to try it. It is a dangerous drug and will ruin your life as well as all those who love you. I am on a mission on behalf of my only son, Travis.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Faces Of Meth Addiction

I found an informative site on CBS. You should check it out. It has many resources and videos.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/29/eveningnews/main692101.shtml

(CBS) They are portraits of self-destruction.

A death march under a microscope. A jailhouse gallery of lives laid waste by meth addiction.

Forty-two year old Teresa Baxter, after 2 1/2 years on meth, now can't stand the sight of herself.

"I don't look in the mirror," Baxter told CBS News Correspondent Bob McNamara. "I don't want to see. I don't want to see."

Portland Deputy Bret King collects the pictures of meth addicts.

"[Meth addiction] just really destroys them," King said. "[It] deteriorates their body."

While booking suspects into the county jail, King spotted a grisly trend in how mug shots of many repeatedly arrested meth users changed over time. When looking at earlier pictures of future addicts, "there's life in their face," King said.

"There's life in their eyes. Then you switch to the second picture and that life is gone," King said. "Look at their eyes. Their soul seems to have left their body."

From cold tablets, alcohol, lithium in batteries and the deadly ammonia often stolen from farm fertilizer supplies, meth is a chemical jambalaya that can be cooked quickly and cheaply into rocks with more kick than cocaine.

"This stuff is powerful, makes people do crazy things," Baxter said. "People do outrageous things on this stuff."

Today Oregon treats more meth addicts per capita than any other state. But photographs of ravaged faces give only a hint to the damage meth does to the mind.

"This particular damage [shows]... he has trouble learning and he really doesn't feel very good when he's not on [meth]," said UCLA researcher Dr. Edith London, who found meth's toxic chemicals eat away an addict's brain tissue.

They almost look like they've been given either a life sentence or a death sentence.

"I think the death sentence," said King. "The latter of the two is probably most accurate."

Teresa Baxter wants to be a living lesson to anyone thinking of trying meth.

"I do hate the drug and I wish I had never used it, but I did use it," Baxter said, crying. "I have used it and I can't be away from it. It's hard. It's really hard for me."

Bret King will take his Faces of Meth to Portland area schools.

"I'm letting them hear it straight from the horse's mouth, and if that is not testimony to what this drug will do to you, it will — there's no question — it will happen to you."

The Faces of Meth — it is a reality show that's all too real. And nobody wins

7 Comments:

Blogger Snow said...

Hello my name is Tera from Oklahoma and I have been clean from meth for 3 years this december after using for 3. I am looking into motivational speaking so I can help others to get off the terrible drug and know I can help. I have read your page over and have really taken interest into the Baxter woman. I felt at one point in my life that I too couldn't get off the drug. I did it every way you could think of to do it. I will even go into detail to tell anyone who wants to know... I went so far as to shoot up in my neck at one point. One day I saw all the blown veins in my arm and it clicked. 'How could I do this to my body?' I thought. I had 3 blown out on one arm and 4 on the other and was still looking. I disgusted myself...enough so to quit and never look back. To those people that say they can't quit, it's mind over matter. If you WANT to quit you CAN, I know first hand. I was getting high in a way that people say you can never come back from. Now I am a legal assistant working for a law office and have graduated from college. I have actually made something of myself after thinking for many years I would never be ANYTHING. I know I can help many people and would really like to. You CAN quit. You can do anything you set your mind to. I would really like anyone who sees this who has a problem or who knows how I can get into motivate against meth to pleast email me at loveforzoey@gmail.com. I WANT to help, and I WILL.

Thank you,
Tera

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:52:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thank you tara for your story...that took a lot of courage! I am a recovering addict myself, and for some people that cannot do the "mind over matter" thing, there is a program called Narcotics Anonymous that can help with satying clean and living life on life's terms. Just look up meetings under "Na Meetings" then type in your area!! What a blessing to be clean!

Thursday, April 16, 2009 10:03:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thank you Tera, you're an inspiration. i just passed my 20th birthday in sobriety, and it just gets better with time. (life may or may not get better, but you do!) such joy awaits you. your experience, strength and hope could really help newcomers in NA; i hope you give them a try.

Sunday, July 05, 2009 4:43:00 PM  
Anonymous chris s said...

here is a great article that talks about meth withdrawal and recovery meth addiction from a personal point of view. http://www.soberliving.com/blog/methamphetamine-withdrawal-and-addiction-recovery-by-a-staff-member

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5:00:00 PM  
Anonymous Billy O. said...

Thank you, this is very inspirational. I have been clean and sober for three years now. I got help through New Life House because I couldn't get clean from crystal meth. They may be able to help you too if you are suffering. Check out their website at http://www.newlifehouse.com

Wednesday, September 26, 2012 7:58:00 PM  
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