Students march to warn of meth's dangers

SANDPOINT — The horrors of methamphetamine were front and center at Thursday’s March Against Meth, giving attendees a gruesome look at the drug’s destructive powers.

The fourth annual march, sponsored and organized by Lake Pend Oreille High School students, was designed to lift the area’s meth epidemic out of the shadows and into public consciousness, according to organizers.

Because so little was known about it by community leaders and parents, meth use had been Sandpoint’s dirty little secret until the march came into existence, said LPO student Samantha Potter.

“I think people have started to pay attention,” she said. “(The event) shows people that even in a place like Sandpoint, meth is a problem.”

Potter, along with hundreds of fellow students, parents and community members, packed Sandpoint Community Hall to hear cautionary tales from recovering meth addicts and drug specialists.

The day’s keynote speaker, former meth addict Shelly Mitchell, shared her experience of losing everything to drug addiction.

A one-time cheerleader and student body president, Mitchell’s life began to spiral out of control when she started experimenting with meth during college. After several years of  hard-core drug use and numerous trips to jail, Mitchell found herself in the hospital, covered in third degree burns from a meth-fueled chemical fire.

Mitchell lost her four children to foster care, her freedom and the feeling in her hands as a result of the fire, but was able to slowly turn her life around and use her harrowing story to help keep kids off the drug.

“I’m here today to warn you about meth, and for those who have tried it, I’m here to show you where it can lead,” Mitchell said. “Remember that you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do. Don’t let one of those things be meth.”

For the second year in a row, addiction specialist Dr. Gary Hopkins used his years of experience in the field to tell students how quickly a recreational drug habit can lead to a debilitating dependency.

“This isn’t about being smart or stupid,” Hopkins said. “This is about addiction.”

Hopkins, a recovering addict himself, was able to use his unique experience on both sides of the issue to explain what he called the “chaotic lifestyle” of a meth user.

“The crazy things we do as addicts are just beyond description,” Hopkins said after playing a video of a real meth bust.

At the conclusion of the event, students held colorful signs warning against meth use as they marched up and down First Avenue.