"Mom: The Most Common Nickname of a Meth User in Utah"
Every morning in my neighborhood, the meth moms come out in force, with their babies and their toddlers and their strollers. At first glance they appear to be in their thirties or even forties, but, up close, their conversation is so shockingly inane it seems they cannot be out of their teens—child-women, pushing their strollers from the halfway house to the daycare center up the street, and then heading off to work or to their recovery program. These women’s lives, their maturity and their personalities have all been arrested by the drugs. Many of them have had children taken away and husbands and boyfriends who betrayed them, and many cannot hold down a job, so a large part of their program involves learning job skills. A friend who works at one of the halfway houses told me that most of them were introduced to drugs by their boyfriends, and once they leave the safety of the program many will go back to those boyfriends and eventually back to the drugs.
From time to time they come into the library and ask for help on assignments they’ve been given, usually research on addiction and recovery. Most of the books on drugs are for teens, but sometimes the women complain that they are too hard and too complicated, that they have too may words, so we give them the kid’s books, which are full of pictures of syringes and pills. Then (because the program requires them to account for all of their time) they ask to use our phone to call and check in with the halfway house.
Utah seems to think that the solution to meth addiction is a series of embarrassing and misleading ads featuring purses, diaper bags and minivans (“Another blatant sign of a meth user in Utah”). Utah does have some frightening female addiction/arrest statistics; I just wonder how effective it is to imply that every mother in the state is a meth user.
And every morning, there the meth moms are, on the sidewalk, at the bus stop, at the TRAX station, with their babies and strollers and diaper bags.
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June 2nd, 2008 at 9:50 am
Meth is an invasive drug that literally takes over your life, body & soul. It is, by far, the most addictive drug I have ever used, and I consider myself lucky to have broken free of it. Between the horrific “coming down” and overwhelming sense of euphoria while using, it creates a cycle of constant use. For two full years I was using, day after day, without a break, and if I hadn’t quit when I did, I would now, without a doubt, be dead. It’s very easy for me to understand why people get hooked, no matter who you are, and no matter what your station in life is.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 am
To be honest, I’m terrified of meth. It sounds exactly like the kind of drug I would get hooked on.
June 5th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Stay afraid, because you probably would.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I’m in 100% agreement with all you said Daisy. As familiar as I have been with an addiction to meth, never had I heard the label “Meth Mom” that is horrible. Another label cast upon people overcome by the devil himself by others that have never even experienced it. Amazing. Knock em down before they even have a chance to get up for the first time.
@sean….please don’t take offense, as I know (or at least I assume) that it’s not a word you came up with. It just really tugged at my heart and made me so thankful to have escaped before I could be catagorized yet again in life.
July 26th, 2008 at 1:12 am
You’re right, I didn’t come up with the term—but it is also one I probably shouldn’t use, especially since I don’t understand meth addiction.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I live next door to what is almost certainly a meth-mom. She is picked up by Suburban with dark windows as soon as her daughter is dropped off from school around 3. The daughter gets on her computer and starts playing a non-stop chain of yelling, angry-youth, pound-the-drums-into-the-floor “music.” Sometimes she “sings” along to rap music peppered with obscenities. I called the police once when some unknown male was in the daughter’s room “singing” to rap at the top of his voice at 4AM Sunday morning. Fortunately he obliged by continuing his presentation until the deputy arrived almost an hour later.
The Suburban sometimes returns to the house repeatedly throught the wee hours. Meth mom goes into the house; comes back to the Suburban etc. Dealing with the matter is complicated by the daughter who is about 15. I dare not approach her to request she turn down the volume. I’d surely end up in jail as a molester or harasser of some kind. Meth mom obviously uses her for cover. And it’s clear the daughter is headed right down the same path as meth mom, regardless if she has yet had her first dose of the substance.
December 10th, 2009 at 10:59 am
A previous poster expressed fear of getting hooked on meth if he were ever administered it. I think you have to start out wanting the drug to get addicted. The addict spends their life pursuing a repeat of that first experience. It never happens. If someone were forced the drug, they could easily escape it’s grip.