Dealing to dirty drug | Stuff.co.nz

Dealing to dirty drug Stuff.co.nz

Christina Stroud says addiction to methamphetamine, commonly known as P, is the biggest social catastrophe of this generation, and people are unaware of the magnitude of the problem.

In two highly readable and pragmatic books launched last week, she shakes readers out of their lethargy with a programme beginning in Rodney to “recover our society” which she believes can only happen when we all take responsibility.

Rodney was chosen because it is most typical of a New Zealand middle class society and largely glosses over the fact that the district is one of New Zealand’s leading areas for methamphetamine production and is well known by police for the number of P labs tucked away in rural areas.

The books are hard hitting and critical of government efforts through the Community Alcohol and Drug Services to only deal with P addicts “when they are ready to come forward voluntarily for help”.

“This drug has broken all the rules. People using it lose all their inhibitions and reason and logic leave them. You can’t expect them to make the logical decision about stopping. They cannot – you must intervene,” she writes in her book.

It offers “practical solutions for addicts and those affected by their actions”.

This North Harbour businesswomen is in her mid-50s with grown-up children who have never been addicted.

They have made it clear they would rather their mother get on with her own life than take on the meth mountain.

Christina warns that methamphetamine addicts will directly affect everyone in New Zealand sooner than they think.

You Are More Than This Will Ever Be – Methamphetamine: The Dirty Drug is targeted at users. Those affected give anecdotal accounts of the effects of the drug and practical knowledge of what it is and how it works in the first section.

The second section gives a step-by-step guideline on how addicts can rid themselves of what she calls the filthy drug.

The third section details how family members and friends can become coaches to help addicts beat the curse.

The second book New Zealand’s Burning – Ten Things a Parent MUST Know About the Dirty Drug Methamphetamine sets out to arm helpers with knowledge of the drug and is illustrated with graphic examples of what P can do to a victim in a short time and where and how to get help. Burn is the street name of methamphetamine.

Ad Feedback You Are More Than This Will Ever Be retails for $29.95. New Zealand’s Burning costs $20.95 with proceeds from both going to the True Potential Trust to fund school tours next year. Information, visit www.christinastroud.com.

Field of Dreams haven from P

Christina Stroud is determined to stop New Zealand’s methamphetamine epidemic in its tracks.

She is also striving to establish a place in Rodney where people can go for help and information. She calls it the Field of Dreams and says it could provide temporary emergency accommodation.

All her efforts are “designed to inform people about the drug’s evils and to help rescue people from its clutches before it’s too late”.

So how did Christina become involved in this fight?

Her work as a professional performance coach, “helping make chief executives and sales people super executives and sales people”, meant some of those she got to know approached her about people they knew who were involved with “this dirty drug”.

“I had so many calls I knew I had to do something about it,” she says.

“I knew something had come into the community that was changing the face of it,” Christina says.

“People who heard about me started knocking on my door.”

She says many had a sense of helplessness, not knowing much about the drug and what to do while seeing people they knew and loved change for the worse physically, emotionally and morally.

It was a shock, says Christina.

She believes too little too late is being done to combat the insidious drug, so took the fight on herself.

People don’t have to wait until a person has hit rock bottom with the drug, she says. So largely at her own cost Christina has produced the books and is campaigning to get people to help one another.

She believes the drug is behind many crimes, family abuse and violence. Homes and properties used for making methamphetamine have been contaminated, and in some cases damaged through lab explosions and fires.

She believes if people are armed with the right knowledge it can be stopped.

Christina has plans for Hope of a Nation school tours and other campaigns to educate people.

She says P is not just a youth drug but widespread across society.