A Victim's Dad Sends Thanks

David Lorenz is one of my favorite people. I just wish I'd had a chance to meet his son, Steven. David tells Steven's story on my film True Stories of Ecstasy and Ketamine -- and he tells it so powerfully that I'm sure he's saved many lives.

Today, David sent me this email that really lifted my spirits:

My Dearest Beth ,

Just thought I'd tell you One thing ... all the gold in the world isn't anything compared to the love that we might save . The pain I and many others go through can be cauterized in time , But what you do for us is to STOP THE BLEEDING.

You give us a chance to SAVE others as if it were the ones we have lost. As we beg other kids to HEAR US, you are there holding or hands, catching our tears and spreading our words. We may not save them all , and one is just not good enough , BUT MANY WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO THINK IT OVER, MANY WILL LEARN THAT IT IS NOT WORTH IT!! And we have only you to thank for it !!!!!!

Yes we lost something very special, but found something along the way -- YOU!!!!!!!

MADD Take Note

Driving on drugs can be just as dangerous as driving on alcohol. Note this from the Belfast Telegraph:

[Calls for tougher driving-on-drugs laws] came after a motorist who had taken ecstasy was imprisoned yesterday after he crashed, killing his passenger.

Christopher Greer (27), from Ahoghill, was sentenced to four and a half years for causing death and grievous bodily injury and driving while unfit.

His 24-year-old passenger, Ray Agnew, from Ballymena, died after Greer's car rocketed across the Ballykeel roundabout outside Ballymena on November 1, 2003, sending the car flying through the air.

A woman passenger was seriously injured.

Recent PSNI figures show 12 drivers died in the province last year while on drugs.

The number of drug drivers is soaring; a total of 136 offenders were detected in 2004, up 82 from 2003.

If any MADD chapters want to work with Voice of the Victims to build awareness of the need for tougher laws, please email me at voiceofthevictims-at-gmail.com.

Meth Deaths Climb in Vancouver

According to The Province newspaper in Vancouver, the number of British Columbians dying with methamphetamine in their systems has more than doubled in the past year. Toxicology tests show that 33 people died with the drug in their systems in 2004, 15 in 2003, nine in 2002, five in 2001 and three in 2000. Of the 33 deaths last year, 29 were men and four women.

Drug production is up, too. In 2003, police took apart 11 meth labs and two ecstasy producers; in 2004, they took down 19 meth and five ecstasy labs.

A Powerful Story of Drug-Assisted Rape

There is a powerful true crime story of drug-assisted rape in this Sunday's The People newspaper in England. Here's an excerpt:

My body stopped feeling numb and the pain set in. My back and elbows were carpet burnt and every muscle ached. When I finally saw my mum, Donna, 43, at 9am, I just sobbed while she held me.

Then the hell began. The examiner confirmed that I'd been raped. I couldn't remember anything, but the night still haunted me.

Read the whole article here. Some of the punctuation marks are weird, though.

Protect Your Drink, Protect Yourself

From England, a New Date Rape Protection Device

Spikeys makes colorful caps you can put in a bottletop to make it harder for someone to slip GHB or Ketamine into your drink. A good idea!

It's just a shame how it came to be invented -- a gentleman named Ray Lockett created it after his daughter's drink was spiked.

Another Life Foolishly Destroyed

Meth destroys lives, all kinds of lives. Here's the story from the Omaha World Herald of a 50-year-old woman who got caught up in methamphetamine dealing, and probably use, and it led to her death.

A tiny plastic bag was found in the stomach of a 50-year-old Ohio woman who died after Council Bluffs police arrested her on suspicion of methamphetamine possession, the county attorney said Monday.

Claudia M. Crippin died Friday. The 1-by-1-inch greenish-blue bag was found Saturday during an autopsy performed by the Douglas County Coroner's Office.

Officials say they don't know what, if anything, was in the bag. They are awaiting toxicology results before announcing the cause of death.

The tests take about two weeks.

"Assuming there were drugs in the bag," Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber said, "if stomach acids eat through (it), it releases (the drugs) just like you swallowed it without a bag."

Ecstasy Bust Close to Home

Garden Grove is just 20 miles or so from our home, so when 10,000 Ecstasy pills are found there in a routine traffic stop, it gets my attention. From the OC Register:

A driver was stopped shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday for making an unsafe lane change near Brookhurst Street and Chapman Avenue, police said. The officer obtained permission to search the vehicle and discovered three shipping boxes that contained a total of 10 plastic bags, each containing 1,000 ecstasy pills.

Crystal Meth Ravaging Gays

Methamphetamine use in the gay community is soaring, and many are linking meth use to a recent increase in AIDS among gays after many years of decline. From the Philadelphia Daily News:

"Ice [methadrine] has ravaged the gay community," Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Hogan recently told a federal judge, at another ice dealer's sentencing hearing.

"It is a vicious cycle," the prosecutor added. "Medical studies show that ice drops inhibitions, increases sexual arousal for a period of days.

"In the gay community, that then has resulted in an increase in AIDS... And then, the people who have AIDS and who are HIV positive become fatigued and turn to ice once again to relieve those symptoms.

"So, it has totally ravaged the gay community in Philadelphia and across the United States. And it is now moving out into the straight community," Hogan told the judge.

Arkansas Passes Anti-Meth Bill

When Oklahoma passed a law restricting cold-pill sales in an effort to slow methamphetamine production (some cold medicines contain key elements of meth), illegal meth manufacturers simply moved to Arkansas. Now Arkansas has passed a similar bill (courtesy Arkansas Democrat-Gazette):

The House passed SB109 by Sen. Percy Malone, D-Arkadelphia, which would require that ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or phenylpropanolamine, drugs that can help contend with a runny nose but also are ingredients in methamphetamine, be kept behind a pharmacist's counter.

The goal is to curtail access to the drugs and cut down on methamphetamine production. Supporters of the measure, which is part of Attorney General Mike Beebe's legislative package, said a similar law in Oklahoma has been successful in curbing the number of methamphetamine labs that have been discovered.

Rep. Horace Hardwick, R-Bentonville, said a measure of the law's success in Oklahoma could be found in the increased number of methamphetaminerelated arrests in Arkansas.

"When Oklahoma passed the bill, we saw an increase in meth manufacturing in Northwest Arkansas," Hardwick said in support of the bill. "It's a great bill, we appreciate it, will help not only our generation but our children and their children."

North Carolina is considering a similar bill.

Ecstasy Smuggling Ruins Two Lives

This story is all over the English press. It's sad, but remember, these two guys were intent on putting thousands of lives at risk all in the name of money.

A Man accused of duping a friend into smuggling drugs into Japan killed himself by placing his head in front of an oncoming train, an inquest heard yesterday. The body of James Prunier, 42, of Stroud, Gloucestershire, was found near Gloucester station on August 17 last year.

His travelling companion in Japan, Nick Baker, 33, also from Stroud, was jailed for 14 years, for drugs offences he claims he did not commit, in June 2003.

Baker maintains he was tricked by Prunier after more than 40,000 ecstasy tablets and nearly a kilo of cocaine were found in a suitcase he was carrying at Tokyo's Narita airport.

Strange Justice In GHB Death

A man awaiting trial for murdering a handicapped man with GHB died after being subdued with a Taser gun. The Chicago Tribune picks up the story:

Taser victim tied to slaying;
Ex-con awaited trial in '01 death

By Russell Working, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter David Heinzmann contributed to this report.

A man who died after Chicago police subdued him with a Taser stun gun was a former Chicago bond trader and ex-con who was facing charges in the death of a mentally handicapped man, authorities reported Friday.

Ronald Alan Hasse, 54, of Cedar Lake, Ind., was accused of burying the body of Michael Denvit, 25, a Merrillville, Ind., dishwasher, at Hasse's parents' farm in Cedar Lake in June 2001 after the younger man died at Hasse's home, the Lake County sheriff's office said.

Hasse died Thursday after police used a stun gun on him. Police say he attempted to bite an officer's arm on the 26th floor of a Lakeview apartment building. ...

Police found drugs at the apartment, Sgt. Robert Cargie said Friday.

Denvit's death was the subject of a February 2004 Tribune story after Hasse's sister, Julie, told officials her brother may have been involved.

The case began in June 2001, when Hasse and a friend--Jeffrey Allen Haugh of Knoxville, Tenn.--allegedly invited the gregarious Denvit home from a Merrillville bar and gave him GHB, known as a date-rape drug, detectives said he later admitted. Hasse insisted that Denvit died after he voluntarily used the drug, but the victim's parents doubted this story.

Deputies suspected Hasse slipped the drug to Denvit then panicked when he died. But investigators could not come up with evidence after the body had decomposed for two years in a grave at the farm of Hasse's father, said Mike Higgins, spokesman for the Lake County sheriff's office.

Amazing. This guy kills someone and buries the body ... pretty bad stuff ... but it doesn't occur to him that he needs to change his ways. As it says above, drugs were found in Hasse's apartment.

Nolte GHB Story on Court TV

If you want to see GHB in action, click here.

Nick Nolte's arrest for being under the influence of GHB was the subject of a Court TV Hollywood Justice segment last night. His fall into GHB use isn't at all surprising. Consider this:

1. He has an addictive personality, as evidenced by a number of bouts with alcohol problems.
2. He cleans up, going to the other extreme (another characteristic of addictive personality) by becoming hugely concerned about his health.
3. I'm speculating now, but possibly as a result of his health fixation, someone recommended GHB as a sleep aid or workout aid. He might have even checked out a couple Web sites, finding reassuring information about the drug.
4. In no time, he was hooked by the highly addictive drug.

The same story has played out again and again.

I really want to warn people about the dangers of GHB, and have two heart-breaking stories already on tape. But for me to complete my next film, I need your support by purchasing True Stories of Ecstasy and Ketamine. Proceeds will go towards True Stories of GHB, DXM and Alcohol.

Drug-Assisted Rape Up Down Under

Australia's North Shore Times reports that incidents of drink-spiking and drug assisted rape are growing in the region. Says the report:

A recent report, Preventing Drug and Alcohol Assisted Sexual Assault, released by the NSW Attorney General's Department has found that at least one in five cases of sexual assault reported to NSW Health was facilitated by the victim being given drugs and/or alcohol without their knowledge.

The report noted that the majority of drug and alcohol assisted sexual assaults are premeditated.

Perpetrators carefully select victims, location and drugs used.

In the majority of sexual assault cases, the victim is known to the perpetrator.

The report says the most commonly used drug in these attacks is ketamine.

Ketamine #1 Drug in Taiwan

According to the BBC, more Ketamine was siezed in Taiwan last year than any other drug. This doesn't surprise me, even though we hear relatively little about the drug here. My husband and I were just talking about Ketamine the other night, and we both thought it was likely its use in the US would start to increase.

Used primarily as an animal tranquilizer, Ketamine is used for drug-assisted rape, and as a high of choice for people who like "lows" instead of "highs." Many are not aware that the euphoric state they crave is really their body approaching a coma -- and as was the case in Erin's story on my film, a little too much can push you into a coma, brain injury, even death.

This Is What Keeps Me Going

Star Isford, who helps tell the story of her sister Cathy in True Stories of Ecstasy & Ketamine, received this email after being profiled recently in the OC Register:

Hi Star, my name is Shay Covington. I am a freshman at El Toro High School. I became aware of Cathy when my dad bought "Voice of the Victims" online. I have a cousin that is currently enrolled at Foothill. My dad bought the DVD to educate and inform my brother and I about the risks involving designer drugs like Ecstasy and Special K.

My dad tells about the DVD and Cathy's story to as many people as he can. We have been to the "Voice of the Victims" website and even signed the guestbook. After reading your article in the Orange County Register (wednesday. feb. 2, 2005 edition) we visited CathleenRose.org. Like the DVD, it was a very touching and emotional experience for both my dad and I. By reading the article, I found out that you recently spoke at a church in Rancho Santa Margarita. My family attends the Crystal Cathederal in Garden Grove. If ever you are going to speak at that church, or any church in the future within Orange County, (we live in lake forest), please send me an e-mail at least 2 weeks in advance just so my dad has time to ask for that day off so he can take my brother and I to hear you and hopefully meet and talk you. While visiting CathleenRose.org, I learned how to get to Cathy in Santa Ana. I plan on having my dad take me to give her fresh flowers. Thank you for your time.

And here's Star's beautiful response:

Shay, thank you so much for writing me. It means so much to me and my family to know that Cathy's story is truly touching people like you and so many others. It was a devastating to loose my sister when we did. It took me so long to get back to my life. I mourned harder and longer than most people and through my mourning I made Cathy's website, learning as I went along. Honestly, Cathy's story brought Beth (The producer and creator of Voice of the Victims) and I together. We are now close friends and I work with her daily. From there I created their website and have been working with her, helping out in whatever ways that I can.

I would be honored to speak at the Crystal Cathedral, but I don't know who to contact and if they would be interested. I can only pray that God does help us to spread and help as many families as possible. If your Dad knows a contact there that I can call or if he could give my information to someone there, I would be thrilled to speak, I know Beth would also.

Voice of the Victims right now is really hurting. Beth worked so hard and actually took out a loan on their house to produce these movies ($200,000.00) and so far we have made about $20,000 of it back, after almost 2 years. She wants to make another video that covers the dangers of DXM (a drug found in Robitussin), GHB and Alcohol. It is just as touching as the first one and I have had the privilege of meeting a lot of these families. The only problem is that not a lot of people know about the first video, and with that I hate to say it but without selling the first one, there is no financial way to make the second.

I know these stories make a difference; I know Cathy made a difference to so many people. After Cathy died I tried to tell everyone I could about what happened, we went all over the news, we even went on VH1 a special called "Hooked on club drugs", but still no one was telling the story the way my family wanted them to, instead it was more like, "This poor girl did ecstasy and died, too bad! Now lets talk about this addict that is being forced into rehab…". They treated my sister like it was no big deal. I stopped fighting to get her story on TV because of it, next thing I know Beth got a hold of us and the rest was beautiful.

I want to see the stories on the video spread all over the country. I want everyone to see what can happen and the truth, the reality of the loss caused by these drugs. It hurts and everyone should know that it's reality and will happen.

God wants everyone on this earth to learn from each other and be there for one another. I feel that by sharing Cathy it helps my family and I to heal, feel stronger but above all it make a difference to those that watch it. They become part of our family and they can feel the pain that we have gone through. They feel what it is like to loose someone they love and can only imagine what their family would go through if it was their own death God could have chosen so many different ways to take Cathy home, why this mistake, why that night?

My Family and I believe it was because God wanted us to use her story to make a difference. I am glad that it has made a difference to you.

Tell your dad that by him buying the DVD and sharing it with everyone he can; he has made the Isford family very proud and happy. I know Cathy would have wanted this and I know God has moved me to do this.

Please have your family pray for Voice of the Victims. I know that it has made such a difference and I can only pray that it continues to grow, but God has the power to make it spread and reach more teens than we can ever imagine.

Thank you and God bless you.

Star Isford

Drug Marketers Hit Small Towns

As drugs saturate our cities, crafty drug marketers -- the term "dealers" doesn't even begin to describe the sophistication of their operations -- are seeking new markets in small towns. This from Edmonton, Canada:

Drug dealers looking for profitable new markets are increasingly targeting smaller communities around Edmonton, the RCMP warn.

"Drug traffickers are out there infiltrating our communities and now what we see evolving is a cycle of violence that I find quite disturbing," Supt. Brian McLeod said at a news conference.

As an example of the increased drug activity, RCMP are pointing to a seven-month undercover operation in Leduc that recently resulted in 35 people facing 88 drug-related charges. During the operation, officers seized cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamines, ketamine and marijuana worth a total of $68,000. Two handguns and $13,000 in cash were also seized. Many of those charged were younger than 25.

"This should obviously be a signal to the magnitude of the drug infiltration into that particular area of Leduc," McLeod said, adding that the operation will be a springboard to tackling the problem in other communities. ...

Increased activity in smaller communities is likely due in part to drug organizations wishing to expand their reach past the city limits, said University of Alberta criminologist Keith Spencer.

Leduc Mayor Greg Krischke said his town has seen an increase in car thefts, assaults and break-ins, crimes that usually increase alongside the drug trade. He says the town was taken by surprise when word broke about the seven-month drug sweep.

More Drug Rapes

There are slimeballs at work at the University of Kentucky:

UK STUDENTS WARNED AFTER 3 DATE RAPES REPORTED

The University of Kentucky has issued a warning to female students after three date rapes were reported to the Office of Student Affairs, according to campus-wide email. At least one student reported being raped after being given a date rape drug. No official reports have been filed with the UK Police, officials said. Date rape drugs include ecstasy, GHB and rohypnol.

Ecstasy can make someone sexually uninhibited, so you will see things like normally heterosexual people engaging in homosexual sex. In my film, I tell the story of Sara, who was murdered when a boy gave her Ecstasy in an effort to rape her. Ketamine is also a date rape drug.

Mom Investigating Son's GHB Death

Here's a sad story from the San Luis Obispo (CA) Tribune:

Reward offered in Poly death
Mother makes last-ditch effort to uncover new evidence
before statute of limitations expires

By David Sneed

The mother of a Cal Poly student who died nearly three years ago from a drug overdose is offering a $5,000 reward in a last-ditch effort to uncover evidence in the case before the statute of limitations expires.

Brian Gillis was found dead in his bed at Stenner Glen apartments April 4, 2002. A toxicology report showed the 19-year-old journalism student had a high level of the drug GHB in his system at the time of his death. GHB is known as liquid ecstasy because it produces euphoric and hallucinatory states.

Police and prosecutors investigating the case say Gillis' death was not a homicide, but there may be enough evidence for an involuntary manslaughter case, said Steven Brown, chief deputy district attorney. However, the statute of limitations for that crime will expire in April on the third anniversary of Gillis' death.

"This is just a step, one last time, to get people to come forward," Brown said.

No arrests have been made in the case. However, the Gillis family settled a civil lawsuit for $357,000 with various members of the fraternity Sigma Chi.

Gillis consumed the drug at a Sigma Chi party. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Canadian Leaders Attack "Crystal Death"

From the Canadian Press:

Pressure is mounting on the Saskatchewan government to launch an action plan to deal with crystal methamphetamine.

Hundreds of mayors and councillors attending the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association convention backed a resolution Tuesday calling for more detox beds and an improvement in education and enforcement.

"There's been many deaths I know of,'' said Prince Albert Mayor Jim Stiglitz, adding that a 21-year-old man he knows has suffered two heart attacks because of the drug.

"In a matter of months, that person in your house doesn't resemble (their old self). It's a stranger in your house. Crystal death is what I call it.''

Star and Cathy Isford Profiled!

I met Star Isford while interviewing for my film. The tragic story of her younger sister Cathy is told on True Stories of Ecstasy and Ketamine, mostly by Star and her dad. Cathy's story is so touching and impactful -- Star honors her sister by sharing the story with kids at risk and parents who are too often in denial.

Today's Orange County Register deservedly put Star on its front page in a wonderful story by Greg Hardesty, their most talented feature writer. Here's how it starts:

When Star Isford was 16, her drug-abusing mother stabbed her in the leg with a steak knife and forced her to drink Palmolive dish soap, which tore into her stomach like shards of glass.

"God assassinated her," Isford says of her mother's death from a tick bite a decade ago.

Over the years, Isford has used methamphetamine and other drugs, and has struggled with weight issues and relationships (she has four children with three fathers).

She has made some bad decisions. And her sister made a decision that cost her her life.

So when the 29-year-old talks to teens about making the right choices, she speaks with authority - but is careful not to ram her advice down their throats.

"I can't sit there and be the preachy mom - and I'm not there to rag on them," says Isford, her hair dyed blood red. "I'm not trying to convert or turn around kids completely.

"What I do is tell them the truth ... and let them make a decision."

Star and I agree so much on this, which is why we work so hard to get True Stories of Ecstasy & Ketamine into the hands of those who need it. Read the rest of Greg's wonderful story here.