Program opens eyes to horrors of meth

A Methamphetamine Awareness Program will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. today at Kenai Central High School.

Brittany West didn't know what meth was when she first tried it, but as soon as she did, she was hooked. After four months of using it, methamphetamine got West arrested and landed her in the Kenai Peninsula Youth Facility.

"I know the side effects," she said. "And I know how it feels to withdraw."

Sober for a year, a month and 13 days, West, a senior at Kenai Alternative High School, is this year's Red Ribbon Week chairman and hopes her experience, not only with using a highly addictive drug, but overcoming that addiction, will encourage her peers to shake their own drug habits.

"Maybe it might just get them to quit tobacco," she said.

In order to come up with ideas for her own project, West will attend tonight's Methamphetamine Awareness Program, sponsored by Marathon Oil and Gas Corporation, at Kenai Central High School today from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The presentation will include testimony from those who use and are affected by methamphetamine, and local counseling and treatment center representatives will be on hand to provide information and advice.

"It actually educates people on what happens to someone who gets addicted to meth," said Amy Mifflin, Community Programs Manager for Marathon Oil and Gas Corporation. "Sometimes we find people are just not aware of how devastating it could be and the magnitude with which it can effect a community."

As part of its zero-tolerance stance on drugs in the workplace, Marathon Oil began its meth awareness program about a year ago in Wyoming and has reached more than 10,000 students and community members in the Lower 48. Marathon also does school assemblies for students in sixth through 12th grade, Mifflin said.

"Reaching young people is a critical step," she said. "The students become very well educated and they may have friends that use it who weren't aware of all the horrors, so it's a very strong message of prevention to them."

Kenai Police Chief Chuck Kopp calls methamphetamine a blight on society, one that has plagued the Kenai Peninsula for more than seven years.

"It's not a drug that can just be experimented with," he said. "It impacts the community because meth produces addicts that are desperate to do anything it takes to get another fix or another rush."

Because of methamphetamine's addictive quality, use and production of the drug is rampant on the Kenai Peninsula, Kopp said. Property crime, such as breaking and entering of vehicles and homes, as well as robberies, have also increased, making methamphetamine a top concern for public officials.

Eddie Hill, owner of Heartland Safety Solutions in Smyrna, Tennessee, has presented Marathon Oil's methamphetamine programs for the past year. Hill, who watched his sister battle her own addiction to methamphetamine, wants his audience to recognize the problem they have as well as their ability to fight it.

"We believe that the only way to ever win this war is to get that community involvement," he said. "(If) we continue to introduce new users to the problem it's just going to potentially get worse."

Marathon's awareness program is not just a community outreach endeavor, but a way to recruit and retain employees. Marathon wants to set up shop in sustainable communities, allowing its employees and their families to thrive in a safe environment, she said. The corporation also wants employees who are drug-free and can pass their pre-employment drug screenings.

Kopp, who will attend today's presentation, said he's confident it will be effective in reaching community members and he'll be excited to see the outcomes. An understanding that there is a real problem and that it's urgent and requires a response is important, he said. Tonight's presentation should also give landlords and apartment managers the tools to recognize methamphetamine use in others as well as methamphetamine production.

"Meth labs can be extremely dangerous and volatile environments," he said.

Hill encourages community members ages 12 and older to attend tonight's presentation, especially parents. His advice in battling methamphetamine is for parents to educate their children and get involved in anti-drug coalitions and neighborhood watches.

"We ask (the audience) if they believe they're part of the solution and we get a 100 percent response to the affirmative," he said. "Intuitively, I think we made an impact."

West, who was released from rehab for her meth addiction in May, said even though commercials make people aware that methamphetamine is a problem, people don't know what it is. That is why parents should attend this event so they can explain to their kids what methamphetamine is while being sure of their facts.

"I didn't know anything about meth when I started doing meth," she said. "I didn't know what it was and where it came from. I was drunk and that's why I tried it."

Jessica Cejnar can be reached at jessica.cejnar@peninsulaclarion.com.