Former 'meth mom' uses TV to warn others

By SYLVIA SLAUGHTER
Staff Writer

Published: Tuesday, 02/28/06

When people see Lyn Noland's new 30-second public service announcements airing on local TV stations, she has a single hope — a single hope that she will leave behind a heart-print.

A heart-print that will show viewers the murkiness of methamphetamine.

Noland is a recovering meth mom whose life was once consumed by the drug she first took and later cooked, a stimulant so addicting that it meant more to her than everything.

Everything except her children.

When she lost custody, she gained the determination to overcome her addiction.

Noland was profiled in The Tennessean last September. When she began making inspirational speeches encouraging other addicts to overcome their bondage to the drug, folks sat up and noticed.

The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference, funded by a grant from Gov. Phil Bredesen's office, chose Noland as one of its spokespeople in its yearlong Meth Destroys campaign.

The campaign features real-life Tennesseans such as 33-year-old Noland of Nashville, who grew up in a small West Tennessee town.

Noland was a popular, straight-A student in high school. But when she went to college at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, she became a party girl.

Alcohol was her first drug, cocaine her second, meth her third and last, the one that nearly ended her life.

As a recovering meth addict, Noland believes it's important for people to understand that anyone, from white-collar executives to young teens, can be caught in the drug's unrelenting tentacles.

!It's not easy to escape meth,! Noland said in the story last September. !Thank God, I loved my children more than my drug.!

Noland has been drug-free for more than 2½ years. She's regained custody of her children and works for TLC Housing, which helps recovering addicts find homes.

She's also a foster mother to a recovering meth-addicted teen who, like her, once counted down the seconds between cravings for the drug.

!The campaign is just so very, very important,! Noland says. !I'm just one person, a mom who was able to kick her habit and live to see her children begin to grow. If I help just one other meth mom, or any other addict for that matter, I believe that I will have done more with my life than I ever dreamed I could do.! •



ONLINE INFORMATION:

The Meth Destroys campaign, an effort to educate Tennesseans on the dangers of methamphetamine, also features billboards across the state aimed at encouraging more visits to the campaign's updated Web site, www.MethFreeTN.org. The site also offers anti-meth youth brochures, posters and an anti-meth activity guide for middle and high school teachers as well as an anti-meth education booklet.



If you suspect someone is cooking methamphetamine, you are urged to call the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-877-866-6384. If you suspect someone is using meth, you can talk with a responsible adult or call the Tennessee Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services Redline
at 1-800-889-9789.



• Methamphetamine treatment programs should last at least a year.
• As many as 90% of meth addicts who stop using will return to the drug, versus much lower rates for other drugs.
• After only two years on meth, an adult has depleted 40 years' worth of dopamine, the chemical needed to feel happiness.
• In 2005, law enforcement authorities seized 1,201 meth labs in Tennessee, down from 1,559 in 2004.
• Some chemicals you probably will find in meth include drain cleaner, engine starter fluid, hydrogen peroxide, farm fertilizer and battery acid.
• Meth addicts develop sores and scabs on their bodies. When meth users can't get a hit, some will pick the scabs and eat them just to get a taste of meth. Some users will even drink their own urine or the urine of other addicts to try to get high.
• Street names for meth include chalk, crank, fire, glass, ice, speed, tweak, uppers and yaba.

Source: www.MethFreeTn.org and other drug-related sites