The Dangers of Meth

Methodphitimene Kills the Mind and the Innocent... 

          The manufacturing of the illegal drug Methodphitimene has become one of the most serious environmental and health problems in the cities and counties in the state of Washington. It has been reported that Pierce County is a Mecca for Meth-labs, however, it you go to Spokane they’ll tell you that they are now the Mecca for this powerful drug. In Southern Pierce County last year a one year old girl was burned over her entire little body when a Meth lab that her mother was helping build blew up. The mother is now in prison, and the child, who eventually recovered from her burns is being raised by the grandmother.

          In June of this year a two year old girl from Spokane was tortured and beaten to death by the babysitter’s Methodphitmene user boyfriend. A few days later in Spokane a 4 year old boy who had been taken from his parents because they were heavy Meth users and placed in the care of relatives was beaten to death while in their care. A young 20 year old male in Des Moines Washington obtained chemicals burns on one of his arms from a Meth-lab that he was helping to build. He didn’t want to get care at a hospital because he would most likely be arrested for manufacturing Meth. So, instead of getting treatment he wrapped duck tape around the wound on his arm. The chemicals were so highly toxic that the man was DOA with the medics arrived to treat him.    

          The most commonly used Meth recipe used today is the Nazi formula. The Nazis used to get high on this drug during their campaign to killed millions of Jews. This drug is so highly addictive just using it one or two times can hooked a person. The drug is a speed and it can keep a person going for days at a time without sleep. During long periods of the absence of sleep causes irritation and paranoia in a person. When you have a person who is in this condition and they’re driving around on our highways under the influence of Meth then you have a person who is a driving time bomb. You most likely have seen a Meth user one time or another driving like a madman in and out of traffic at high speed on the Interstate. What ever you do, do not confront someone with that type of behavior. They could be a Meth user who is a walking or driving time bomb. A heavy Meth user can destroy their teeth, their skin, and degenerate their organs within six months. Today, Methodphitimene has become the choose of drugs, because it is cheap to make and the high is very high.

 

Death shouldn't mean loss of friends...

A Mother’s Pain.

          A year ago our daughter was raped and stabbed to death. Words cannot express our horror and pain. It
was bad enough to lose our daughter, but it seems we also lost our friends. Friends we had known for years didn’t
call or come to see us. We were shunned as though we had some kind of terrible disease -- and just when we
needed their friendship most. Now, when we run into former friends, they act embarrassed and say, “We would
have called or come over, but we didn’t know what to say”.

          At Violent Crime Victim Services monthly peer support group members often say their friends have dropped them. All people really have do when a friends of theirs has been hit with a traumatic experience such as homicide is to say, “I have heard the news, and I am sorry.” Or come over and say it in person – and I don’t know how you feel, but I am praying for you. Some suggestions on not what to say, “I know how you feel, they are in a better place, you have other children or it was God’s will.” Do not try and come up with a cliche`, life has more meaning then a cliche`. We can not fix some ones grief, but a phone call once in a while to just say hi will go a long ways in giving meaning to a grieving person.

 

Letter from the Director...

           In recent weeks, we have been reading in the newspaper, that the crime rate has fallen across the country. For the most part, judges in the state of Washington are giving convicted felonies the higher sentencing range and when possible they’re giving exceptional sentences. Washington State’s, “Three Strikes Your Out” law, is taking the worst of the worst career criminals off the streets. Some experts say, because the economy is good is a contributing factor of a lower crime rate. I believe that these and other reasons could be some rationale why there seams to be a lower crime rate.

          However, let us not fall into a fault since of security because of these recent statistics. In just the last two months, our office has received 14 requests for services to families that have had a loved one murdered. One family, who lives in Spanaway, had a loved one murdered in Florida; others had a love one or friend murdered in Aberdeen, Olympia, Shelton, Spanaway, Tacoma, and Federal Way. I think it would be hard pressed to tell these 14 families that the crime rate is down. What society is seeing lately, are more horrific slayings and the proliferation of school shootings of students and teachers. Statistics are one thing and reality is another thing when it comes to crime in our country. At VCVS, we only go by reality because statistics can contradict themselves. The reality is that we have too many families experiencing the pain of having a loved one murdered.

           We can continue to Band-Aid the crime problem in this country by making a myriad of laws and expand our prisons. However, until we address the problems of producing a generation of anti-social behavior in certain people in our society, we can expect an insurgence of violent crime in the U.S.

Lew Cox...

Executive Director