Tweak, Nic Sheff’s haunting, at times compelling tale, recounts his addiction to various drugs, including meth, and his attempts at “conquering” recovery in his early 20s. His story opens on the streets of Malibu with Nic standing on a street corner, drunk on vodka, high on prescription drugs and trying to score meth - all after 18 months of sobriety, and yet another relapse. “The morning of my relapse, I had no idea I was actually going to do it,” he writes, but he’s back on that corner, blowing his chance yet again.The story continues with years of meth and heroin binges, burglarizing his father’s house, countless bd relationships with one girlfriend overdosing, sleeping and shooting up in his car, dealing drugs and finally going back into detox. This book is a heartbreaking and harrowing portrait of what it was like for Nic to constantly repeat the cycle of his addiction, all the while believing that he would always be able to quit and put his life back together when he had had enough. Nic spares no detail in telling the reader what happened every time he took another hit, and through countless flashbacks to his past, he paints an honest picture of his family, his friends and of himself.

Ultimately, this book exemplifies youth and addiction at its most honest and raw, and Nic’s tales conveys a message of urgency and hope in recovery while pulling no punches for young readers who want to know it all.

Small, portable meth labs pose a new threat to communities in the fight against this devastating drug.

The highly-addictive, stimulant methamphetamine can be made from household ingredients — including over-the-counter cold medications containing pseudoephedrine. After the 2005 Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act restricted over-the-counter sales of pseudoephedrine, the number of labs in the United States dropped nearly 80 percent.But even with these limitations, some cooks have found ways around the law with a new one-pot method, threatening the progress that communities have made in the fight against meth. In the first three months of 2009, the Tulsa Police Department discovered almost 60 labs, compared to 41 in all of 2008. At a community summit to address the one-pot crisis last month, Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor warned that if the situation doesn’t improve, “the cost of responding to meth-related fires and incidents will start breaking police and fire department budgets in these already-difficult economic times.”

According to a Partnership survey of 20 U.S. law enforcement agencies, the one-pot method takes less time, leaves less mess and is just as strong and addictive as the meth that is imported or produced in bigger meth labs. With ingredients small enough to fit inside a backpack, this new method eliminates the ammonia odor, the usual tell-tale signal that a meth lab is present.

“The meth cooks are using this method because it is quicker and less traceable,” explains Detective Andrew Munsterman with the Warrensburg (Mo.) Police Department. “It is extremely dangerous and very popular now, because of the crackdown of traditional meth labs by law enforcement.”

Often made in a vehicle or motel room, the one-pot method involves mixing pseudoephedrine and ammonium nitrate in a plastic two-liter soda bottle. Once the meth is extracted, the waste materials are often disposed by flushing them down the toilet or dumping them roadside. The one-pot method which produces low quantities and low quality meth is usually produced for personal use.

“This is the most common method in our community, and unfortunately we see plenty of this,” says Officer Grant Melton with the Louisville Metro Police Department. “This method is just as dangerous, as a meth lab, and there are always unknown chemicals involved and this always causes a hazard to the everyday citizen. If you come across a discarded container used to produce meth, contact your local police department about your concerns.”

The Partnership has launched a new addition to its award-winning community outreach program, Meth360®, to help curb use of the highly addictive illicit drug methamphetamine in the Hispanic community.

A través del Cristal Meth (Through Crystal Meth) brings together law enforcement officers, substance abuse prevention and treatment professionals to co-deliver meth awareness presentations to parents and concerned citizens. The presentation educates Spanish-speaking parents about the devastating effects of meth, emphasizing the need to communicate with teens about the dangers.

Methamphetamine abuse is a growing concern in the Hispanic community. Research shows that almost half of Hispanic teens don’t see great risk in trying methamphetamine once or twice, and 1 in 3 Hispanic teens report having friends who have used meth.

A través del Cristal Meth is designed to help the Hispanic community take action against this threat. The program has been specifically tailored to reflect the needs of the Spanish-speaking community in the U.S., providing tools and resources to help parents protect their children and loved ones from this dangerous drug.

The program also combines personal stories of Hispanic teens and adults in recovery from meth addiction with testimonials from their parents, highlighting the real-life, devastating impact of meth on families and lives.

For more information about A través del Cristal Meth or to download free presentation materials, visit www.drugfree.org/meth360, sign up and click on Resources and Downloads.

Drugs pose dangers well beyond the harm they cause to those who use them. With Earth Day on April 22, the Partnership is shedding light on the ways illicit drugs can impact our environment.

Did You Know?

• Manufacturing one pound of methamphetamine creates five pounds of toxic waste. Chemical byproducts from meth are found in parks and forests and can linger in soil and groundwater for years, posing immediate and long-term environmental health risks. The number of meth labs has been decreasing since 2005, but meth cooks are finding new ways to produce this dangerous drug in smaller mobile labs. The chemicals are highly toxic, and waste dumped into streams, rivers, fields, backyards and sewage systems can contaminate water resources for humans and animals.

• Coca plants, the source of cocaine, are grown in the rainforests of Colombia. Nearly 500,000 acres of Colombian natural forest are destroyed every year, mainly due to the plantation of coca plants, and the primary cause of air pollution in the Colombian jungle is the burning of forest to make way for coca plants. The production of two pounds of coca paste generates 1,300 pounds of trash and contaminates 200 gallons of water. Consequently, for every one gram of cocaine consumed, 43 square feet of Columbian rain forest is destroyed.

• Approximately 60 percent of outdoor marijuana cultivation in the United States takes place on America’s public lands where growers are less likely to be discovered because of their remote location. This comes at a high cost to the environment: for every acre of forest where marijuana is grown, 10 acres are damaged by fertilizers and other toxic chemicals. (In 2007 alone, an estimated 756,000 pounds of illegal pesticides and fertilizers were used to grow marijuana; In other words, for every 11.5 marijuana plants grown, it’s estimated that 1.5 pounds of illegal pesticides and fertilizers are used.) Between 2007 and 2008, 700 marijuana growing sites were found in California’s national forests and parks. These sites are riddled with dead deer and bears, victims of poison growers use to keep animals away.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America today announced the findings from the 2008 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS), which revealed remarkable, sustained declines in several drugs of abuse - notably methamphetamine (meth) - over the past several years.

According to the study, teen meth use has experienced a steep three-year drop, with past-month use down to 3 percent of teens - a significant 25 percent decline versus 2005. Teen attitudes about meth use corroborate this drop - 83 percent of teens see great risk in using meth regularly, about 85 percent see great risk in “getting hooked on meth” and more than half of teens, (54 percent) see trying meth once or twice as very risky.

Additionally, the study revealed the first major increase in the number of teens who reported “learning a lot” about the risks of drugs from their parents. The study shows that 37 percent of teens reported learning a lot about the risks of drugs from their parents, a significant 16 percent increase from the previous year and the first major increase since the inception of the study.

The study also indicates a strong correlation between increased teen exposure to anti-drug messages on television and a decreased likelihood of trying drugs over the past ten years. Four out of ten teens (41 percent) agreed that anti-drug messages made them more aware of the risks of using drugs and less likely to try drugs (42 percent).

“The strong declines in illegal use of meth and other drugs of abuse combined with the news that teens are learning a lot about drugs and alcohol at home emphasizes the power and influence of parents,” said Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the Partnership. “It also underscores the continued need for strong anti-drug messages and drug-education programs to stop teens from trying meth and other drugs of abuse.”

The 20th annual national study of 6,518 teens in grades 7-12 is nationally projectable with a +/- 1.6 percent margin of error. PATS Teens 2008 was conducted in private, public and parochial schools for the Partnership by the Roper Public Affairs Division of GfK Custom Research. For more information and the full PATS Teens Report visit www.drugfree.org.