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Feedback excerpts from various professionals.

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Feedback from more recent professional contacts.

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Media Inquiry

Hello Mr. Pamenter,

I'm the deputy managing editor at The Vancouver Sun. I've been reading your website and the stories are amazing. I would love to talk to you. My phone number is 604-xxx-xxxx. Harold Munro, Vancouver, BC, Canada, May 25, 2005

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Police Inquiry

Thank you for your quick reply. I am involved in drug enforcement and have been researching many different drugs... Lately the drug of choice here, seems to be OxyContin. Thanks again! Maybe I could contact you from time to time, if I need any questions answered? And you the same, if I could be of any assistance. Steve XXXXX, NS, Canada, May 17, 2005

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Hi Doug,

Thank you for your email, and your initiative for pooling together for discussion the various non-government-funded anti-crystal meth web sites.

My name is Gary Leigh, and for three years now I have been working on www.lifeormeth.com, which I launched originally to raise awareness of the dangers of crystal meth in London, but has since gone on to become a respected global resource targetted at gay men.

I was a publisher for many years, but, looking for a new challenge, I sold up in 2001 and took a year off, travelling around America, where I became aware of the problem of crystal meth abuse blighting the gay community. I was angry that no one was speaking out against it (it seemed to have become culturally embraced in the gay world, and to speak out against it was a no-no as you risked derision and isolation).

I also observed that the pattern of spread - like wildfire from the West coast to the East - would eventually see crystal meth crossing the Atlantic and reaching London, the gateway to Europe. Persistent attemptes to warn the various UK government drug organisations fell on deaf ears (unbelievably, they do not grasp the concept of prevention being better than cure!), so I made it my mission to get my message out to as many of my fellow Londoners as possible - to equip them with the facts from which they could make an informed choice whether or not to use.

Suffice it to say, crystal meth is now rife within the London gay community, but my efforts have paid off to a degree, and I am continuing to raise awareness where it counts: only yesterday I was interviewed by BBC television for an upcoming documentary about gay life in London, and have written articles for several magazines. The site was also the catalyst for spurring others into action across America, and now crystal meth is highly stigmatized within the gay community as a result (i.e. it is no longer cool to be known to take crystal, except, of course, within the drug's network).

The next, critical step is to campaign for meth to be upgraded from Class B to A in the UK order for the police to take serious action (at the moment they have the resources only to concentrate their efforts on Class A drug felonies). The real danger now is that crystal will cross over into the mainstream, and that people will start making the stuff domestically (it is currently being imported from North America via UPS and a number of flight attendents).

I run www.lifeormeth.com entirely on my own and from my own funds (I actually sold my home two years ago to support both the site and myself since it has been a near-full time venture). As well as my time working on the site, there is a lot of traveling, meetings and advertising of the web site to finance. Recently I was forced to suspend my work and make the site's funding page the home page to try and attract funding: its original home at the end of the site yielded no offers whatsoever!

The move has resulted in some kind donations and an amazing offer from a motivational speaker, Bob Davies, to gear his one-day seminar at my audience *if* I can get a first event off the ground. Being London-based this is no easy task, but I am committed to manifesting this into reality. Perhaps someone reading this may feel compelled to want to help in some way, or even to suggest or offer a venue that can seat between 100-200 people for our first event. We are proposing that the first Life Or Meth seminar will be in LA, and are counting on word of mouth and positive press from the event to take this empowering program to all the major cities across America.

Life Or Meth encourages abstinence over harm reduction and recognises that meth abuse is an underlying symptom of the general lack-of self worth, guilt and shame experienced by gay men due to societal conditioning and religious indoctrination. Our seminars will seek to go some way to equipping gay men with the tools to commence the process of deprograming the negative, grid-locking thought processes that keep them imprisoned in fear, and so help them to realise their true potential. It will be a natural extension of the site, but geared at all.

Well, that's about it. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, and to circulate this information. It would be great if we could secure a venue quickly as myself and Bob are keen to get the ball rolling on this.

All best wishes,

Gary @ lifeormath.com May 6th, 2005

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Dear Crystal Recovery,

I just wanted to drop you a line and thank you for a great website. I am a deputy sheriff and am assigned to schools. I do alot of public speaking and meeting one-on-one with kids. I talk about your site alot. I love the information. I just wanted to thank you for a job well done. I was also wondering if it would be ok to use some of your photos in my anti-drug classes. I will have your site listed on the photos. Thanks again, Lee "Kindergarten Cop" Sjolander. Deputy/Juvenile Officer. Goodhue County Sheriff's Office. Red Wing, MN, USA, May 03, 2005

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I am a psychiatric nurse, and I work on an acute psych unit. At any given time, at least 60% or so of our patients will be admitted for some problem related to meth use - usually psychosis. Don't know if that would be useful to you or not. I will pull my story together and email it to you soon. Thanks. Penelope, April 22, 2005

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Doug, Without the overwhelming time and effort that you have put into this site, many more users and their families would still be suffering. Thank you for the professionalism and your expertise in this field. You are a great asset to our community and to any student who has the honour of learning from you. Sincerely, Angelle Thibodeau (soon to be super counselor!) Chilliwack, BC, Canada, Apr 21, 2005

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Hi, I work as an addictions counsellor in British Columbia and I am compiling research on various treatment philoshophies with crystal meth. I am wondering if you have any research on drug targeting with met. We've set up a day treatment program for meth users who want to stop using meth but indicate that they wish to continue using pot and alcohol. While I recognize the ideal of abstienence from all substances, I am wondering if you've heard any information on this form of treatment. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Love the site. Bob Hughes, Kamloops, B.C. Canada, Jan 24, 2005

Hello Bob, Thanks for your email. I relocated last year from Edmonton to Vancouver and am now the Addictions Worker Program Instructor at CDI College in Abbotsford, BC. As such, I have not had a lot of time to work on the website lately, and have a lot of up dating to do!

Now, to answer your question about users trying to get off Meth and still smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol. While this is not the ideal, it is often quite effective to help break the behavioral habits associated with using Meth. The first step from a harm reduction approach is to stop the most harmful drug first - that being Meth. Once these behavioral patterns have been changed, drug paraphernalia gotten rid of, and the person has dissociated with their former Meth using buddies & dealers; then the addict together with their counselor can look at their other addictions or coping methods. I my opinion marijuana is just as much or more of an exit drug as a gateway drug. Hope this helps. Doug Pamenter CrystalRecovery.com

Hi Doug, If you are the founder and operator of this website, we owe you a great deal of acknowledgement and debt. I firmly believe it is the best site to deal with meth for both the user and the helper. I would love to know the story of its origins and would love to contribute information/resources. I have spoken to my executive director regarding a financial contribution. And thanks for the prompt reply. We are presenting at a conference next month on the results of our pilot project and appreciate the response. Loved the 'exit' term and will give due credit. Cheers, Bob Hughes, Phoenix Center, Kamloops, B.C.

Hi Bob, If I can be of further assistance in any way to your conference or counseling efforts, please let me know. Thanks for your interest in my story - it is attached. Doug

Hello Mr. Doug, My apologies for not getting back to you. Things have been happening fast and furious here...we've just completed our second pilot meth kickers with promising results. Too early to call the approach a sucess but it is interesting to note that we did not loose anybody along the way. Also, a great deal of interest in the approach from the media as well. Our program was just featured on the Fifth Estate and recently did an interview for the Province. Loved your comment re: pot potentially being an exit drug. Gave your name to Matt Ramsay The Province, who knew about you. Credit is definitley due for all your insight and devotion to the cause. Really hoping your getting the acknowledgement you are due. Would love to connect with you regarding your philoshophy and discuss any potential for collaboration. If you'd like some information on Meth Kickers, please let me know. Thanks again, Bob Hughes The Phoenix Center. March 31st, 2005

Hi Bob, Yes, I would love any information you have on your Meth Kickers program, and hopefully permission to adapt and blend your information with my own. Also, I am curious about the basics, such as: Who your clients are, age, gender, severity of use, etc? How long your program is? The process that you put them through - anything. Thanks, Doug

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Hello. First of all, love your deeply sincere and caring website. I am a clinical social worker living in St. Albert, Alberta - Canada. We are facing the fight of our lives trying to save our children from Crystal Meth addiction. This is a very affluent community and parents are asking for help. They are asking for the right to sing their children into mandatory treatment centres. These children are minors, but the belief is that if they do not want treatment, they cannot be mandated. The community is torn and I was asked by the local MLA (City councellor) to look into this deeper. I would like to know your take on this. Reading your website has driven me to seek further drug counselling training and to become involved in this fight. Thank you for all you do! I would like to know where to mail a donation for your website, as I do not have pay pal and like to work without credit cards. Thanks. Lisette McArthur, MSW, RSW, St. Albert, AB, Canada, Mar 06, 2005

Hello Lisette, First of all, I apologize for my delay in getting back to you. I moved from Alberta to BC last year in part to how I was treated at my former job with the Alberta government for running the CrystalRecovery.com website. In short my boss said that "people" would recognize my name and know where I worked and he did not want to have the government look bad. So, for years after I started the CR site, I was not allowed to have my name on it. I do not believe that any elected representatives were behind my treatment, only mid-level managers - who wished to cover up their own failure to respond to the meth crisis in a timely manner. For a long time there was NOTHING available from AADAC about meth, and the response I received from them was that meth was just amphetamines that can and went in the sixties and are going to come and go again... In the end, AADAC and the health dept responded - along politically correct lines - my site was deemed to radical to acknowledge or support - and I was pressured to quit or be removed from my position as an Addictions Counselor. Thus, I find it really interesting that an MLA is asking you to look into the matter more fully. I wish you all the luck in the world, and am will try to respond more timely to any further emails. I still have some great contacts in AB, if you are interested... I do not mean to be bitter, about my former situation, but I did take a lot of abuse for my efforts to help my own teen clients - when no one else would even acknowledge that there was a problem. I am now teaching an Addictions Worker Program with a private college in BC, and am happily married with a new family, and new life. Regards, Doug Pamenter

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Hi Doug, My name is Angela Marshall, I too have a vested interest in the methamphetamine problem, I am an addictions therapist in Mission BC, I work with youth. I am so impressed with your website, I have used it many times as a resource, it is fantastic! In fact it is on my reference page on the handout I will be districuting on the 28th. I am presenting on Feb 28th in Mission if you are there please introduce yourself, I would love to meet you. Our community has a crystal meth task force, so our panel is made up of effected parents and recovering meth users. I am also in the process of writing a book on methamphetamine, it's still in the preliminary stages of looking for an agent...it's a painfully slow process. Anyway, would love to hear from you. Angela Marshall, February 25th, 2005

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Hello. My name is Quinn Callicott and I am the chair of the 2005 Los Angeles Crystal Meth Convention. It will be held in April of 2005 here in West Hollywood. I wanted to know if it would be possible to get our event listed on your website to get the word out on the street. We also have a pdf file of the registration form available. Let me know if this is doable. I can answer any questions you may have and give you more detailed information about the weekend as well. Thanks, Quinn Callicott, Chair, CMA LA 2005. Quinn Callicott, West Hollywood, CA, USA, Jan 16, 2005

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Just visited your site and am VERY impressed! My name is: Colin Bramfitt, Executive Director,Foundation for Alcohol and Drug education(FADE), 9 Anzac Street, Auckland, New Zealand. Website:www.fade.org.nz <http://www.fade.org.nz>

I am keen to make contact because crystal methamphetamine(known in NZ as mainly 'P' or 'Burn') has really taken hold since 2001. FADE has produced a well-received brochure called "Breaking The Ice" which is promoted on the home page of our website.(www.fade.org.nz <http://www.fade.org.nz> ). The NZ police are using this as their information source for their front-line officers. I am happy to send you copies of this resource if you send me a mailing address. Also keen to know if there are any up-coming Conferences that give focus to this drug specifically. FADE's core business is traditionally high schools but we are working increasingly in workplace environments. Again any Conferences that focus on workplaces would be interesting for us to know about. Look forward to hearing from you. Kia ora Colin Bramfitt, Auckland, New Zealand, Sep 11, 2003

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Hello, I am writing a book on methamphetamine. I was wondering if I could get permission to publish some of the photos at your site. Thanks, Errol Yudko, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Sep 26, 2003

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My original Plea for website reviewers was sent out on February 14th, 2003.

Hello Professionals,

I have sent out a number of emails to various addictions researchers across Canada, looking for help with verifying the accuracy of the information on our website - CrystalRecovery.com most of the current info. has come out of California.

From what I can tell, smoking Crystal Meth is about as bad for you as "sniffing glue" or "huffing gas". Plus, a very high percentage of the youth that I deal with seem to be switching to Crystal Meth as their drug of choice.

I feel a bit like I am standing on a beach looking at a Tusnami Wave approaching. Thus, I am looking for anyone who can verify that Crsytal Meth is doing serious damage to users, or who can tell me that I am over-reacting and that I can relax a bit. I sincerely hope that it is the latter, but am afraid that such is not the case.

Again, if you can help directly or indirectly, I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks,

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Feb 16th, 2003

Best of luck with your very important work!

Carol Strike

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Feb 17th, 2003

I would suggest that you may be over-reacting. It is true that long-term repeated use of methamphetamine can cause structural damage to the brain. However, most young people who try this drug do not go on to become long-term repeated users. Also the changes in the youth you are seeing may not represent changes in overall use patterns (your program may just be attracting more youth using methamphetamine). I suggest you check the data on the SAMHSA website (www.samhsa.gov then click on data & statistics) to see the trends in methamphetamine use in your area and across the US.

I hope this helps,

David C. Marsh MD CCSAM
Clinical Director, Addiction Medicine
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Family and Community Medicine
University of Toronto

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Feb 17th, 2003

A paragraph from an ARF publication compares cocaine and amphetamines: From a biochemical perspective, cocaine and the amphetamines have different mechanisms of action. Cocaine increases the concentrations of neurotransmitters (incl. dopamine, seratonin, and norepinephrine) available to transmit nerve impulses by inhibiting their reuptake into neurons. Amphetamines, by contrast, cause the release of neurotransmitters from their storage sites in the neurons, as well as inhibiting their reuptake. Becuase the overall impact of their mechanisms is the same, however, cocaine and amphetamine use result in similar basic clinical symtoms and behavioural problems. One important difference, however, is that cocaine's effects dissipate much more rapidly than those of the amphetamines. Cocaine's effects may last less than an hour, compared with several hours for those of amphetamine and methamphetamine (crystal meth is just a smokable methamphetamine). Another significant difference is that amphetamines do share cocaine's local anesthetic properties.

Steve Rivers

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February 17th, 2003

Dear Sir:

Your web site looks to be quite interesting. I would be pleased to have a look at its contents and to make the same request of others with specific expertise to comment from a pharmacological angle, since there is quite a bit of text that it will take time to do it justice. You might want to track down a copy of Drugs and Drug Abuse: A Reference Text to compare notes with. You can find it to order at:
http://www.camh.net/publications/reference.html,
but perhaps, you can locate it in a nearby library.
Good luck.

Gerry Cooper, EdD
Unit Manager, North Region
Communications, Education and Community Health,
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Sudbury, ON

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19 Feb 2003

Thanks for your note,

You are not alone in your concerns. In Vancouver local downtown physicians, mental health workers and drop in centres are seeing a lot of meth associated problems and the RCMP have found more than 58% ecstacy-like substances contain MA. We put on a meth summit in November 2002 to assess the degree of the problem and discovered info was mainly anecdotal with few valid information sources available.

The summit was a great way to get 120+ folks from all perspectives together and start talking. The report is now on the CCSA web page:
http://www.ccsa.ca/ccendu/Reports/2003Reports.asp

We have a number of initiatives which have come out of the summit. The professional education group have been presenting to physicians etc.

We are hoping to get standardised information collected from referral services and drop-ins etc. and ERs are looking to collect MA associated visits.

A questionnaire is being administered in some BC schools, the treatment and prevention group has met once, we meet again March 4th and then break up into other task groups.

Looking at info around problems and treatment the TIPS is a good source.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1999) Treatment for Stimulant Use Disorders. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 33. Available for download or order at:
http://www.samhsa.gov/centers/csat2002/publications.html

I have asked the folks I am working with if they have any comments re: your web page and will give you their feedback. Also I know some were planning to make a video so I have asked clarification as to where that is at. i.e. if we use your web page, maybe we can share a video too. This is such a good opportunity to work together.

We are also hoping to submit a proposal for funding to initiate a program-for clients with psychosis as we have little to offer here and is puting an incredible strain on the youth centres who are very accomodating but these clients can be very disruptive and hard to manage and the hospitals don't wish to take them either.

Anyway that should give you some food for thought. In summary. We are seeing a problem here and it appears the effects of MA are long term. Though we don't have exact #'s and they may not be huge it is causing an incredible strain on the limited resources we have. We have a very dynamic group and hope to come up with best treatment practice recommendations and prevention strategies.

Jane Buxton MBBS, MHSc, FRCPC
Communicable Disease Consultant Vancouver Coastal Health Authority
Communicable Disease Control
Vancouver, BC

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Feb 19th, 2003

It is interesting you comparing the problem to a Tsunami. I think many of us who are looking after those affected by this drug have thought of it in much the same way. We have all posed the question of whether this is a 'passing phase' or an epidemic? The attachment is an article from the November issue of the Journal of Addictive Diseases, written by Richard Rawson, who has done a lot of work in this area including the TIPS manual Jane has referred to. I find this article really good at pointing out why we think this is not something that will soon go away. I haven't been doing this for very long but my impression is that we could also be wrong. As I mentioned to Jane in a previous email, D. and I are still doing the video. We are also currently working on ways to address the MA roblem in our city and would love to collaborate on some things if possible.

Thanks, Ian Martin, MD, CCFP

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March 28th, 2003

Dear Sir,

As per our interesting discussion this morning, I would like to thank you for directing our attention to the below-mentioned website. I found much of the section that I looked at, entitled "Crystal Meth - Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP)", to be in keeping with the modern approach to substance abuse treatment from a social learning perspective.

The best of luck with your very important work, and thanks again for your contact.

Regards,

Edward Hansen

Dr. Edward Hansen
A/Senior Research Manager
Addictions Research Centre, Research Branch
Correctional Service of Canada

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