March Against Meth - Walk the Walk
You “talk the talk” but now it’s time to “walk the walk”. Students from the Alternative High School in Sandpoint, Idaho will lead the way in a March Against Meth while providing information, education, and first person testimonials about the dangerous, addictive, life-stealing world of Methamphetamine abuse. Join Bashful Dan Young in supporting the efforts that these young adults are making to give us the brutal facts while putting a face on a national epidemic. You will feel startled, frightened, motivated, angry, sad, helpless, and many other emotions. Personally, I don’t believe many of us will show up unless of course your life or a loved ones has been impacted by this horrible, addictive, drug. That’s sad because here is what you will miss.
March Against Meth (Methamphetamine) across the Sandpoint Long Bridge, will be led by students from LPO High School on Thursday, March 26, 2009 following a program that begins at 10:30 a.m., at the Sandpoint Community Hall on First Avenue across from the Courthouse. This is the fourth year that students from the alternative high school have led the march and the most visible effort in our community to educate, inform, and create awareness of this lethal addiction that takes away the lives of the users and their children. Meth is a powerful, addictive synthetic stimulant that causes the brain to release a surge of dopamine, creating a high that lasts from six to 24 hours.
The slang names are “crystal”, “crank”, “glass”, “ice”, “speed” and “Tina” and it comes in two forms: powder or rock. The powder form is usually white, odorless, and bitter-tasting and can be snorted, smoked, eaten, dissolved in a drink (without your knowledge) and ingested, or heated and injected. The purer form of the drug called “crystal”, “glass” and “ice”, appears as clear, chunky crystals that are usually smoked or injected. Meth can also come in small, colored tablets that are less common.
It’s estimated that there are over 1.4 million meth users in America and the number is growing. Meth has traditionally been associated with white, male, blue-collar workers in rural areas of the western United States. The National Association of Counties reports that users are both high school and college students and white and blue collar workers as well as people in their 20s and 30s who are unemployed.
Everyone including parents, grandparents, and teachers should understand the risks posed to kids before they are drawn into a peer situation where they are convinced that trying it just once won’t hurt or having their soda spiked without their knowledge. Information is the best weapon in the fight against meth. Join us at the Sandpoint Community Hall from 10:30 to 12:30 on March 26, 2009 to learn how meth is made, how it affects the body, how can one recover from meth addiction, is it really a national epidemic and what can we do as individuals and a community?
After the March Against Meth the Elks Club will serve hot cocoa, Idaho Meth Project will provide black bracelets to all the marchers, and some great information will be provided by the Sandpoint Teen Center, Bags of Love, and NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Note: Information used in this release came from PBS.org and their FAQ on Meth.
More information is available from my good friend Margareta Larson at glyconutrients@verizon.net
Check out the link below to see why over 2,300 Teenagers marched in Montana:
Tags: , addiction, crank, crystal, drug, ice, long bridge, march against meth, Margareta Larson, meth, meth Idaho, meth Sandpoint, sandpoint foreclosure, Sandpoint march, sandpoint mls
Hi Dan,
Wow! The young ones at LPO, the Alternative High School in Sandpoint, Idaho; are vigorous and brave! They are sharing their diverse stories from their young lives with all of us at a 10:30 a.m. assembly at the Sandpoint Community Hall. The featured speaker will be Dr. Gary Hopkins, Drug Prevention Specialist, but the impact speakers will the kids. The event will culminate with a march across the Long Bridge.
The assembly has an honor student that was a top athlete and not doing any drugs in high school. Shelley was in college, started on Meth and a “living hell” began for her. Shelley will share her “life story” leading up to an explosion of a meth lab that left her badly burnt. LPO students will share experiences, poems, and testimonials that come straight from their hearts.
If you, like me a year ago, wanted to be there to support this school and young ones in their efforts to stopping the use of Meth and help Sandpoint become a safer community – then you are in for a day that might stick within you forever. The painful and emotional stories may be tough to take but the growing risk to our young people across the United States requires that each community step up their efforts to inform and educate.
The Teens are telling their story: it can be a dad in jail caused by meth addiction. It can be a girl telling how she grew up in a meth home and “cooking” meth together with her dad. Or it can be the dad telling how he got started, why he was held at a gunpoint and how he “got out of the drug life he was living” . Several of the young ones tell how they are clean and this is a victory for a drug free life – it is so commendable that they are willing to share their struggle! They are going to feel the addiction coming several times during the rest of their lives, and some days are going to be very bad with the addiction trying to pull them back to the hellish drug addicted lives they led. Hopefully, they will continue to have a life free of drugs and the associated nightmares.
After the March Against Meth the Elks Club will serve hot cocoa, Idaho Meth Project will provide black bracelets to all the marchers, and some great information will be provided by the Sandpoint Teen Center, Bags of Love, and NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). I hope we – the grownups can show our support for this school and all of our young people. Yes, we care about you and other kids and young adults’ daily life, and that is why we are marching with you on March 26th. Thank you LPO for what you and others do for our community – you rock! And thank you Dan for helping to spread the word about Meth in Sandpoint and what people are doing to fight back.
Margareta
Dan, I want to help. Should I call Margareta or would you just pass along my email address and phone to her, please? I have no one that I know of that has had their life taken away by meth but I did see a presentation at Chamber a couple years ago and it was really horrible. The teeth, the faces, and these were young people in their 20s and 30s and they just looked beat up. I want to be there and march. Anna
Dan,
Thank you for putting all this work together to help our community to be Drug Free.
The Teens at LPO is offering a powerful tool to help younger ones to to start doing Drugs or get their sodas spiked by drugs, cause someone wants to hook them on it, or just do a prank having fun (is this fun?!-Not)
If people/Teens wants to sign a petition :We the Young People of Sandpoint want to boot out Meth and Drugs from our Community!
We can give a copy to the Police/Sheriff and Politicans - to show how We Care!
Hi Margareta,
Your message is very powerful! I hope people will take this opportunity to join these great young people in their fight against meth.
As you requested, I made some suggestions for possible changes to your letter. I kind of simplified it by combining some thoughts together. Please don’t use my suggestions if you don’t like them. I hope they might be helpful, but I don’t want to be offensive by changing too much of your message. Please forgive me if I have overstepped my bounds.
You are an amazing woman and your heart is strong in defense of the lives of these wonderful young people. It is an honor to know you!
Blessings,
Sandy
Dan,
I am a student at LPO. I have been for 3 yrs. I have gone through my very own struggles with drugs and how they can totally destroy your life and the ones around you thaT you love. i have never personally been addicted to meth, but my mom has. This march is very important to this community and the people in it. No one really realizes that meth is here in sandpoint and its taken over more lives than peole like to realize and acknowledge. So i just want to thankyou personally for talking about this on your web site. It means so much to this community and this school.
It means a lot to this school because everyone that goes here has either been addicted to drugs of some sort, or knows someone that has been personally affected by drugs. We do not do the Marchg Against Meth for our name to get out, or to try and make our school look good. We do it because we care. We care about this community, and the people in it. We don’t want to see it be over run by this horrible drug. So we feel we need to do something about it so that the community knows because how can we get help to stop this if the people that live here don’t even realize how bad it is.
So THANKYOU Dan. I hope to see you t the march
Sweet Katie,
Thank you for sharing your story with us - and others too.
2 years ago I was one of “the people” living in my “sunny little world” and did’nt know that meth existed or what it does to people/families + their pets.
Everything in a meth house is toxic -walls,carpet, toys, dogs, children……….
I was told that Children removed from Meth homes couldn’t take Anything with them at a bust. They had to go to the hospital to get detoxed without anything known and loved to them.
This broke my heart and I got involved with Bags Of Love -homesewn clothbag + blanket/quilt and we put in 1 toy, 1 stuffed animal, 1 book, 1 calendar +personal toiletries and a note, saying:” Dear One, this Bag of Love is especially made for You.
We care about you.
signed Sandpoint Community”
These bags are given to Health & Welfare who gives them to children removed from methhomes 18 mths - 18 yrs old in our county.
Last year I was at the assembly at the Panida Theater, once again my heart was broken by Your lifestories and poems.
Thank you for educating me on this hazardous drug.
My heart goes out to You and I am hoping that more and more people will feel the need of ending drug use in our community.
Sandpoint, ID: Say Yes to Life & Fun and No to Drugs!
Hi Katie…LPO has an outstanding tradition of successfully changing lives and the young people who attend have served this community in a number of ways that have benefited our aging Americans, kids, and community that many citizens are not aware of at all.
I hope you will continue to be a force for change in other people’s lives. It takes courage and self-respect to stand up in front of a crowd and speak. It’s even tougher when the story is so personal.
Thanks for being courageous and tough when needed and caring and compassionate enough share….see ya at the March Against Meth….Dan
Hi Dan,
Can you on your Front page down by the bottom line (written in red: click here if you want to read more about the story)
Can you also put Click Here To Make A Comment
Thanks (I think people like me “oldies & goldies” don’t understand + don’t give the time to check further…………………
Bless You
Greetings–Dan, Margareta, LPO Students and Teachers,
I am so thankful that you are all working so diligently to keep the message going that Meth is a very dangerous substance. Your example and messages are so powerful to those who may be tempted or are not aware of the effects of Meth, other drugs and alcohol on anyone who gets involved. I’m planning to be there to support and march with you!
I don’t understand what “awaiting moderation” means.
Hi Dan,
in my 2:nd comment, should read
The Teens at LPO is offering a powerful tool to help younger ones Not to start doing drugs or get their soda spiked just because someone wants to hook them on it or just doing a prank have fun (is this fun?! -Not!)
Hi Marilyn … Awaiting Moderation means that the site was waiting for one of us to approve the comment. It’s a safeguard that we employ to prevent internet robots, spammers, or just mean-spirited people from placing strings of meaningless or obnoxious, or pornographic word strings in a comment. Normally we approve all comments within a few minutes and at most a few hours because we are notified via email when there is a comment waiting to be approved. Sorry about the delay.
I can’t really add those things you mentioned Margareta but most folks know to click on the bottom where it says to read the rest of the story and most know to toggle down for the comment box. I have sent it to the I.T. guys to see if they can add some instructions for the newbies. It’s a great point and a great idea.
Dan and other interested,
Just listened to Laura Ingram show on the radio.
Rusty Fleming former drug addict, now filming a documentary called “Drugwars movie” -he is on a war with the Meth clans from Mexico and USA.
Very interesting - how he has tried for years to get the message “through” to politicians.
No one really can fathom the “real cost” for society in the loss of healthy lives of people, children and pets and Homes that are toxic for years after meth is smoked there.
Rusty started in his Teens, due to peer pressure, when he was 27 he was totally addicted, when he turned 32 he was getting food in the dumpsters. He was so fed up with his life/hellish life - then He met God and it is Thanks to this that he turned around.
I am so Thankful to LPO and the young ones in the school that stands up and Say No Not Even Once to drugs.
This will help us to get a healthier community and world!
Hi Dan.
I am also a student from the LPO alternative high school. I just wanted to thank all of you for supporting us and trying to make idaho and this community better. I also know how badly meth use is in our town and yes it is here. I have done many drugs in my life and realize that it took over my life. I hope to see you all at the community hall and i hope i will be speaking there and letting all of you know my story.
well thank you so much for supporting our school. This does mean a whole lot to us. Thank you so much.
A number to call if you see a child endangered by parents high on Drugs in Sandpoint,ID is: 265-5525
this is the dispatch at the Police.
If we see any drugs dealed in a house or has suspicion about selling or making or doing Drugs - we as citizens can call anonymously and help the Police stop the Drug use here!
Just found this out by talking to the Sheriffs Office - Lt Lakewold will come to the March Against Meth this Thursday March 26
Sheriff WHeeler is out of town this thursday.
I will see you at the event Krystal. Thanks for going public. I know you are a strong voice for your peers and may seem more genuine than an adult. We all ignore warnings during our lives and they usually come from those who love us. Parents that want us to look both ways before crossing, don’t chase the ball into the street, don’t leave the school grounds to help the nice man find his missing dog….etc. But I will tell you this Krystal - if you find out later in life that you helped just one person avoid this horrible addiction; you will have saved a life (in so many ways). Thanks for stepping up. I’m proud of you.
I spoke to District 1 Judge John T. Mitchell and Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden on Saturday and described the March Against Meth event. Obviously both men recognize the epidemic proportions of the meth problem in America. More importantly they know too many of the individual stories in Idaho and the drastic effect it has on the life of the addict and their families. I can tell you that both men are thankful for the efforts made by individuals and communities to help educate and inform BEFORE people have their lives ruined and admire the efforts underway in Sandpoint.