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In common with an number of other online cautions aimed at teens, I am Meth took the form of an ode penned by (or about) an adolescent who paid the ultimate price -- death -- for falling victim to the societal ill being decried. In this genre, it is not seen as enough for the story told in rhyme to be horrific or for the ill that is its subject to present an actual and potentially life-ending danger to young people -- its central figure and/or author must die to truly drive home the finger-waving. Other examples of such poems: Teen girl who disobeyed her parents and sneaked off to a party died in a two-car accident caused by her drunk, stoned date that claimed not only his life but that of her parents, and another teen girl killed in a different automobile accident brought about by her drunken boyfriend. Methamphetamine, the subject of I am Meth, poses a real danger to teens and others. It is a powerfully addictive stimulant that dramatically affects the central nervous system. This illegal drug is sold as a crystal-like powdered substance that sometimes is vended in large rock-like chunks. It can be swallowed, injected, breathed in (snorted), or smoked. The drug causes in the user increased activity, decreased appetite, and a general sense of well-being. Its effects can last 6 to 8 hours. Meth addiction is a growing problem in the U.S. and Canada. As the poem says, the drug is addictive and quickly takes over the lives of its users. (To gain a better idea of how swiftly it can ravage a person, examine the comparison of then and now photographs presented by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. In this case, a picture -- or rather, a pair of them-- is worth a thousand words.) Different adolescents have at times claimed to be the poem's author. One was Amanda Canaday of Barriere, a community 45 minutes north of Kamloops, British Columbia. In 2005, Ms. Canaday, who was then 16 years old, read it at a community meeting about methamphetamine, claiming she was the piece's writer. This was her version: An earlier version of the poem that surfaced in an Alabama newspaper in 2003 ascribed the item to a local teenager, who asked not to be identified by name and who wrote about what I’ve been told is his experience with crystal meth and the devastating impact it has had on his life, as well as, the lives of his friends and family. This is the unnamed Alabama teen's version: Samantha Reynolds of LeFlore County, Oklahoma -- not a teen but an adult woman -- also claimed to have written this piece in 2000. At the time Ms. Crystal Meth was set down, Ms. Reynolds' daughter was in the 7th grade. Neither the author nor her daughter have even used meth, let alone died of an overdose. Says Samantha Reynolds of the reaction she's received from readers of her poem: Here is the first version of Reynolds' Ms. Crystal Meth, as published by the The Heavener Ledger in September 2000:
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