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Drug War
The family of 18-year-old meth addiction victim vows to do all they can to fight plagues of drug and alcohol abuse
Matt Mullarkey-Toner
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Jimmie Moyer was 18 when he committed suicide.
After a long battle with methamphetamine addiction, he came to his family asking for help in his own personal war against the drug. His family sent him to a recovery facility out-of-state to separate him for the drug dealers and users that he knew.
Six days into that recovery program, he took his life.
Moyer’s story is hardly an anomaly. Studies vary, but they show that suicide and suicide attempts are extremely common among young methamphetamine users. In one
What is unusual is what happened after his death: his family came together and decided to do something to stop the devastating effects of drug addiction.
Then they started the Jimmie Moyer Foundation, a group with the primary goal of stopping substance abuse through fundraisers and education programs at
On Saturday, the foundation will hold its second annual Walk for Prevention starting at 9 a.m. at
“Every day you are going to hurt when you lose someone,” said Tim Owens, Jimmie Moyer’s brother-in-law. “We don’t want anyone to hurt like we did.”
ALL-AMERICAN KID
By all accounts, Jimmie Moyer was a typical American kid. He played sports, his family took vacations together, there was nothing – nothing at least immediately visible – to suggest that he was at risk for drug addiction.
But around the time he was 12 years old, Owens said, Jimmie began to smoke pot. Over an extended period of time, his drug of choice changed to methamphetamine and his usage soared, to the point where he was using significant amounts per day.
That rapid transformation is common among meth users. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, methamphetamine, which can be taken by snorting, smoking, injecting through needles or orally, is a highly-addictive drug so accessible that it can be created in home laboratories using ingredients found in cold medicines.
Its effects are intense. It directly targets the central nervous system, including the brain. And while the drug can produce euphoric feelings and enhanced wakefulness, it can also cause athetosis (writhing, jerky or flailing movements), irritability, insomnia, confusion, tremors, anxiety, aggression, hyperthermia and convulsions.
The hyperthermia and convulsions can lead to death.
Continued meth abuse can lead to hallucinations, paranoia, repetitive behavior patterns and formication or delusions of parasites on the skin. And it can lead to homicidal or suicidal thoughts – as it did for Jimmie Moyer on March 29, 2005.
In a video posted on the foundation’s website, Jimmie Moyer’s father, Jim, said his family didn’t know until near the end that his son had a problem with methamphetamine.
Eventually, though, Jimmie came to his family for help. Family members flew him to
“The main thing was that we wanted to get him out of the city so that he didn’t have any access to the drug from his usual sources,” Owens said.
Owens, who has known the family since he was in grade school and married Jimmie’s sister, Jennifer, said Jimmie began journaling before he died and had written an entry about starting a ministry to help with teens with drug abuse.
Those journal entries helped give the inspiration to create the Jimmie Moyer Foundation, Owens said, who helps the foundation with media and other public outreach.
TIERS OF TRUTH
The death hit Jimmie’s father, Jim, on multiple levels.
He had to decide whether to keep his job as director of the faith-based Teen Challenge Facility in
“I thought about leaving,” Jim said. “I just wanted to hide, to just escape.”
Jim said he decided to keep his position because of something God said to him through a homeless man one morning while he was jogging in
“He was wrapped up in a sleeping bag, he had long hair sticking out, all you could really see was his nose and eyes and he said ‘keep running for us brother’,” said Jim, whose job entails helping men of all ages recover from substance addiction.
Teen Challenge does this through a structured day beginning at 6 a.m. and consisting of chores, classes, prayer and community service in the downtown
This includes helping participants find and prepare for jobs.
While at the
Jim said that helping others is uplifting, but serves as a reminder that his family lost a son that couldn’t be helped.
“It’s very nice to see people make it, but at the same time it hurts so much,” he said.
Having someone in his family that had a meth addiction, Jim said, has made us “very sensitive and highly effective.”
‘CHALLENGE’ AHEAD
Jim’s work at Teen Challenge helps people, one at a time. He hopes his work through the Jimmie Moyer Foundation will reach large numbers of people – through media ads, public speaking engagements and events like the Walk for Prevention.
Organizers hope the walk will attract a wide range of people including teachers, social workers, law enforcement personnel, church members, those affected by drugs and anyone else interested in showing support of their anti-drug efforts.
Their message is simple: Stand. Fight. Live. – Stand against drug abuse; fight for the cause by getting involved and live a drug-free life.
Aside from the family, about 20 volunteers make up the Jimmie Moyer foundation.
Owens said that the goal for the organization is to have the “kids stand up for the kids”.
According to Owens, they expected about 25 people to show up for the inaugural walk last year. Instead, 1,000 came that day.
Owens said that the organization hopes that the walk will become a national movement.
The Walk for Prevention features other organizations such as Life Challenge Ministries, Teen Challenge, S.A.D.,
It also will feature hip-hop artist Lan-C and the Shadow Mountain Cheer Squad.
The money raised from the event will go toward drug prevention education, which Owens said needs to be able to connect with kids.
“We want to create presentations that are actually culturally relevant and contemporary for kids,” Owens said.
Owens plans to do this through utilizing multimedia programs and working closely with schools around the
BEYOND THE GATES
In his office at Teen Challenge, Jim Moyer has a large cabinet that holds pictures of Jimmie and awards he won. The images are of a happy young man posing in football pads, a soccer trophy and a football trophy.
Outside Jim’s office, the center teems with participants trying to find happiness again – or perhaps for the first time.
Many are recovering from meth addiction.
People, Jim said, don’t recognize the massive scope of the meth pandemic, especially the public.
“Even for those of us in the business (of prevention and rehabilitation), it is much bigger than what we are exposed to,” Jim said.
Robert Gore, 56, graduated from the Teen Challenge program and now works as a staff member. He said meth was his drug of choice before rehabilitation.
“It’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” Gore said of the Teen Challenge program. “It keeps me real busy.”
Gore said that he had been doing drugs since he was 15 and had been homeless and selling drugs for 13 years before a specialist put him in the program.
“I knew this change wouldn’t come easily,” Gore said.
Many of the battles with addiction are uphill, and the temptation to give in is strong.
John Pickavance, 23, has been in the program for 10 days. He was into drugs like meth. He said the experience has been amazing and it has strengthened his relationship with God.
“I have no money, a closet full of clothes and God,” Pickavance said. “It’s wonderful.”
Pickavance said the program has been difficult. He said he was close to leaving a week into the program. He even had his suitcase packed.
But he stopped on his way out of the gate, he said, when he thought, “there’s nothing outside of these gates except insanity for me.”
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Erin
posted 9/21/07 @ 6:59 AM MST
As a by-product of my job, I read hundreds of articles concerning addiction and recovery every week. So let me begin by saying this is one of the most balanced, professional and intelligent pieces I've read in a long, long time. (Continued…)
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