Methamphetamine, a derivative of amphetamine, is a powerful stimulant that affects the central nervous system. Amphetamine was originally intended for use in nasal decongestants and bronchial inhalers and has limited medical applications, including the treatment of narcolepsy, weight control, and attention deficit disorder. Methamphetamine can be smoked, snorted, orally ingested, or injected. It is accessible in many different forms and may be identified by color, which ranges from white or yellow to darker colors such as red or brown. Methamphetamine comes in a powder form that resembles granulated crystals and in a rock form known as "ice", which is preferred by those who smoke methamphetamine. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), users have been known to use cocaine, marijuana, morphine, and alcohol in combination with methamphetamine.

Sarnia police issued a missing person's report yesterday for a woman named Shelley Mathieu-Read, described as a 45-year-old drug addict missing since May.

Her disappearance is a another reminder that Sarnia has a large hard-drug subculture, one that's the subject of a two-part series concluding today in The Observer.

Most residents have little direct contact with drug addicts and thus assume the world of needle exchanges and crystal meth labs has little to do with their lives.

But as the special report by reporter Jack Poirier demonstrates, addiction and its human and financial cost is clawing at the very fabric of our community.

According to one leading expert, 40 per cent of all hospital admissions are in some way related to substance abuse, and hospital staff are ill-equipped to deal with it.

Incredibly, up to 75 per cent of all thefts and break-ins the crimes that leave victims feeling violated and vulnerable are fueled by drug needs, a Sarnia drug squad officer estimates. Indeed, break-in statistics rise and fall in lockstep with the arrest and detention of known addicts.

Sarnia's courts are filled with individuals whose mistakes turned on drug and alcohol abuse. Indeed, this newspaper would have little to report from the courthouse if addiction was somehow removed from the equation.

The special report on pages B4 and B5 today focuses on the personal battle of resident Jeff Christie to break free from crystal methamphetamine.

By telling his story and completing rehab, Mr. Christie hopes to leave a troubled life behind. We wish him the best.

But until Sarnia comes to grips with its addiction problem, stories like his will be all too familiar.