Meth Workshop in Silver Lake Tuesday
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Craig Brosman-
Former drug dealer and meth addict Ryan Yarian was the emcee for the night. Yarian introduced himself and speaker Kelsey Long; Mike Maxson, executive director of the Serenity House; Tabitha Gabbard, former meth addict and Silver Lake resident; and a Syracuse police officer.
The Syracuse police officer spoke first. He talked about many facets of meth and how it affects the community as well as the user.
“Everything to make meth can fit into a small duffle bag,” he said. “Meth can be found anywhere; traffic stop, home visitation, fire explosion, school or home.”
Each batch of meth can be made with five ingredients and a 20-ounce pop bottle. You mix the ingredients into the pop bottle and put a hose out of the top of the bottle in order for it to breath. Over the course of an hour the cook needs to burp or roll the bottle to release the chemical gases from inside the bottle. After it is finished burping, the cook is left with methamphetamine.
“There is no other reason in the world to have a pop bottle with a hose out of the top of it than to manufacture meth,” he said. “If you see a pop bottle with a hose out of it, call law enforcement immediately and do not touch it.”
In order to inform the audience of how addictive and terrible meth is, the Syracuse officer told the crowd a short story.
“Recently, we have had heroin come into the area and meth users have been using heroin to take a rest from meth,” he said. “You know it’s bad when you have meth users taking another drug to get off meth.”
He brought up a slide on his PowerPoint presentation with a headline from an Indianapolis paper that read, “If There Is A Devil Out There, This Is It.”
Yarian followed up the officer’s speech with a quick note about how easy it is to manufacture meth.
“All I need to manufacture meth is a cold pack, lithium battery, Drano crystals, pseudoephedrine and camp fuel,” Yarian said. “I can stop by CVS and ACE and have all the ingredients I need to make meth in an hour.”
Maxson spent the majority of his time talking about how recovery works for meth addicts.
“I couldn’t figure out with all the publicity how we could educate them and they could still get involved with this drug,” Maxson said. “Berkeley University of all places is working to figure it out.”
Maxson went on to compare a natural sexual experience to the use of meth.
“In a natural sexual experience the body increases the production of Dopamine by 300 percent. When someone uses crack cocaine the body produces 600 percent of Dopamine, but when someone uses meth the body produces 1,200 percent of its normal Dopamine production.”
Inside the human brain there is a chemical called Gaba that regulates the amount of Dopamine released and equalizes the chemical production in the brain.
“Meth shuts down the Gaba production in the brain and increases the Dopamine,” Maxson said.
“Many people have said that you cannot recover from meth use,” Maxson said. “That is wrong. The earlier we can get to you and get you into recovery the better the recovery rate is. The brain has to be rebalanced and restored, because the drug changes the chemical makeup of the brain.”
Long, 23, Warsaw, took the floor to tell her story about how meth took over her life and how she became involved with it.
“I took my first hit of meth when I was 16 years old,” Long sad. “The first time I took a hit, I was hooked.”
Long went on to tell the audience that she did not come from a bad family, her family loved her, but the drug took control of her life.
“I called the police on myself multiple times thinking there were people on my roof,” Long said. “When I started using meth I didn’t care anymore. I would wait until my family fell asleep, then I would go to their house dressed in black and rob them blind.”
Long then went through a 12-step program at the Rose Home, Syracuse, and is still recovering today.
“There are some days all I can think about is meth and drugs, it is difficult,” Long said. “Recovery has been a blessing, but it is difficult.”
Gabbard grew up in Silver Lake, but she grew up in a home that wasn’t so nice or loving.
“My mom was a drug addict. I turned to drugs early on. I started using cocaine when I was 11,” Gabbard said. “I was strung out on cocaine at 12. I went around robbing places, and when I was released from girls school at 18 I came home to find the situation I had been removed from was the same.”
When Gabbard was in her early 20s she was introduced to meth.
“I started using recreationally, just on the weekends and when it was around,” Gabbard said. “I found it hard to keep a job. I used more when life got harder. It took about two weeks from when I started injecting, before I lost everything that meant anything to me.”
Gabbard said that being arrested was the best thing that could have happened to her.
“Thank the Lord that I lost my children when I was arrested,” Gabbard said. “I injected meth every two to four hours depending on how high I wanted to be. My kids witnessed me overdosing multiple times. I was in jail for almost three months, then I worked a recovery program with Mike Maxson.”
Since being arrested, Gabbard has been clean for two years and has gained custody of her children again.
“I have been given a second chance at life. I am a productive member of society,” she said.
Gabbard runs a support group and credits the recovery program for being clean.
“Support has been on of the biggest things that have kept me clean,” Gabbard said. “It takes a team, not just one of two people but a team to tell you that they are willing to help you.”
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Former drug dealer and meth addict Ryan Yarian was the emcee for the night. Yarian introduced himself and speaker Kelsey Long; Mike Maxson, executive director of the Serenity House; Tabitha Gabbard, former meth addict and Silver Lake resident; and a Syracuse police officer.
The Syracuse police officer spoke first. He talked about many facets of meth and how it affects the community as well as the user.
“Everything to make meth can fit into a small duffle bag,” he said. “Meth can be found anywhere; traffic stop, home visitation, fire explosion, school or home.”
Each batch of meth can be made with five ingredients and a 20-ounce pop bottle. You mix the ingredients into the pop bottle and put a hose out of the top of the bottle in order for it to breath. Over the course of an hour the cook needs to burp or roll the bottle to release the chemical gases from inside the bottle. After it is finished burping, the cook is left with methamphetamine.
“There is no other reason in the world to have a pop bottle with a hose out of the top of it than to manufacture meth,” he said. “If you see a pop bottle with a hose out of it, call law enforcement immediately and do not touch it.”
In order to inform the audience of how addictive and terrible meth is, the Syracuse officer told the crowd a short story.
“Recently, we have had heroin come into the area and meth users have been using heroin to take a rest from meth,” he said. “You know it’s bad when you have meth users taking another drug to get off meth.”
He brought up a slide on his PowerPoint presentation with a headline from an Indianapolis paper that read, “If There Is A Devil Out There, This Is It.”
Yarian followed up the officer’s speech with a quick note about how easy it is to manufacture meth.
“All I need to manufacture meth is a cold pack, lithium battery, Drano crystals, pseudoephedrine and camp fuel,” Yarian said. “I can stop by CVS and ACE and have all the ingredients I need to make meth in an hour.”
Maxson spent the majority of his time talking about how recovery works for meth addicts.
“I couldn’t figure out with all the publicity how we could educate them and they could still get involved with this drug,” Maxson said. “Berkeley University of all places is working to figure it out.”
Maxson went on to compare a natural sexual experience to the use of meth.
“In a natural sexual experience the body increases the production of Dopamine by 300 percent. When someone uses crack cocaine the body produces 600 percent of Dopamine, but when someone uses meth the body produces 1,200 percent of its normal Dopamine production.”
Inside the human brain there is a chemical called Gaba that regulates the amount of Dopamine released and equalizes the chemical production in the brain.
“Meth shuts down the Gaba production in the brain and increases the Dopamine,” Maxson said.
“Many people have said that you cannot recover from meth use,” Maxson said. “That is wrong. The earlier we can get to you and get you into recovery the better the recovery rate is. The brain has to be rebalanced and restored, because the drug changes the chemical makeup of the brain.”
Long, 23, Warsaw, took the floor to tell her story about how meth took over her life and how she became involved with it.
“I took my first hit of meth when I was 16 years old,” Long sad. “The first time I took a hit, I was hooked.”
Long went on to tell the audience that she did not come from a bad family, her family loved her, but the drug took control of her life.
“I called the police on myself multiple times thinking there were people on my roof,” Long said. “When I started using meth I didn’t care anymore. I would wait until my family fell asleep, then I would go to their house dressed in black and rob them blind.”
Long then went through a 12-step program at the Rose Home, Syracuse, and is still recovering today.
“There are some days all I can think about is meth and drugs, it is difficult,” Long said. “Recovery has been a blessing, but it is difficult.”
Gabbard grew up in Silver Lake, but she grew up in a home that wasn’t so nice or loving.
“My mom was a drug addict. I turned to drugs early on. I started using cocaine when I was 11,” Gabbard said. “I was strung out on cocaine at 12. I went around robbing places, and when I was released from girls school at 18 I came home to find the situation I had been removed from was the same.”
When Gabbard was in her early 20s she was introduced to meth.
“I started using recreationally, just on the weekends and when it was around,” Gabbard said. “I found it hard to keep a job. I used more when life got harder. It took about two weeks from when I started injecting, before I lost everything that meant anything to me.”
Gabbard said that being arrested was the best thing that could have happened to her.
“Thank the Lord that I lost my children when I was arrested,” Gabbard said. “I injected meth every two to four hours depending on how high I wanted to be. My kids witnessed me overdosing multiple times. I was in jail for almost three months, then I worked a recovery program with Mike Maxson.”
Since being arrested, Gabbard has been clean for two years and has gained custody of her children again.
“I have been given a second chance at life. I am a productive member of society,” she said.
Gabbard runs a support group and credits the recovery program for being clean.
“Support has been on of the biggest things that have kept me clean,” Gabbard said. “It takes a team, not just one of two people but a team to tell you that they are willing to help you.”
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