Jan. 04, 2006 - Issue #533: Best of 2005

Sudden death

Local bands join the fight against methamphetamines with Death to Meth fundraiser

When Wesley Haineault was first offered some meth at a rave to keep his energy up, he had no idea what he was in for. “It won’t mess you up,” he was told. “It’ll help you stay awake.” The part about staying awake was true enough, but the other part proved regrettably false. This was the beginning of a month-long meth bender during the course of which he says he slept only a total of 72 hours.

Now, having recovered from a five-year addiction, Wesley will be volunteering with the upcoming Death to Meth benefit show. Neglecting the mug of coffee in front of him, the 24-year-old rapper talks about the way his lifestyle led him to becoming a dealer and then a user of meth. “I went through about 17 different foster homes between the ages of six and 10,” he explains. “I went through a lot of abuse, physical and psychological. I had a lot of anger issues and I wasn’t getting along at school.”

After being kicked out of a youth emergency shelter for fighting, he was homeless, and dealing drugs was his only means to survive. “I was easily adapted into that kind of world,” he says. “Going through several different foster homes I was able to adapt to different lifestyles, and the drugs came natural when you’re on the streets.”

Looking back on the history of his addiction, Wesley credits iHuman, a drop-in centre for youth with drug addictions, for providing the means to his recovery. iHuman’s mandate is to help youth become involved in creative projects that include theatre, painting and music, and when Wesley began to use the centre’s studio to record his rap, it grew to be not only a creative outlet, but also a means to overcome his addiction. Whether or not his music career takes off, Wesley intends to continue working with iHuman in helping his peers overcome their drug habits.

Aside from the artistic endeavours, it’s probably Youth Director Wallis Kendal’s “no-bullshit” approach that makes iHuman so effective. Wallis realizes that recovering from a meth addiction is a slow and arduous process. “This is not a program where we reshape a person in six weeks,” he explains. “Realistically, it takes much longer than that.” He also describes iHuman’s willingness to overstep the boundaries of political correctness. “Many other organizations will phone police if you’ve done something that’s illegal. There’s no trust created that way. At iHuman we will not phone the police on you. Also, we do not censor work. It’s important to start with your own voice.”

When local music promoter Dave Noel decided to stage a benefit concert, he knew his first choice of non-profit organization had to be iHuman. Over the last six years, meth has emerged as one of the foremost causes of drug addiction in Edmonton. Due to a shortage of population surveys on the subject, it is hard to say exactly what percentage of young people are affected by this drug, but Dave Noel is very much aware of meth’s pervasive presence due to first-hand experience. “I came very close to becoming a meth user,” he recalls.

The Death to Meth benefit will feature local bands such as Michael Rault and the Mixed Signals, Uncle Outrage, and the Blame-Its. According to Dave, the Blame-Its are especially suited to this show since they grew up in Hinton, one of the most meth-ridden towns in Alberta. Blame-Its drummer Chrispy Jerkin agrees. “We’ve been around that stuff,” he says. “We’ve done anti-meth shows in Hinton, so we are looking forward to doing one in Edmonton.”

According to a report by Dr. Cameron Wild for the University of Alberta’s Addiction and Mental Health Research Lab, among Edmonton-area youth attending AADAC programs, amphetamines are reported by 12.3 per cent of clients as their drug of concern, second only to cannabis. Of course, many more cases go unreported. One of the main problems with obtaining information on the actual extent of meth use is the lack of cooperation between different institutions such as health care and social services.

“It’s not a criminal issue; it is a health issue,” Wallis states. “And the health system is in really bad shape for this kind of situation.” The use of meth can cause not only mental health problems such as depression or psychosis, but also long-term physical problems such as “meth mouth,” a condition in which the teeth are burned away due to prolonged meth use. Currently there is no dental help for the youth at iHuman, but Wallis remains hopeful that Death to Meth will raise some portion of the funds needed to maintain iHuman, and perhaps more importantly, attract some badly needed attention to this cause. V

Death to Meth iHuman Benefit
Featuring the Blame-Its, Uncle Outrage, The City Streets, Michael Rault and the Mixed Signals • Queen Alex Hall • Sat, Jan 7 (5 pm) • all ages

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