It’s been a while since I’ve last posted and that’s for multiple reasons. Of course it was Christmas and New Year’s, but over break I was busy in Tucson, Ariz. working my a** off (if I may be frank) at The New York Times Student Journalism Institute.
The program was about two intensive weeks of video training and reporting. The story I worked on was about teen methamphetamine use in Arizona. The basics: Arizona is number one in the nation when it comes to high school kids who use meth, according to a survey performed by the Center for Disease Control.
You can watch the video here.
Talena Brown was 13 years old when she took her first hit of methamphetamine.
It took me three weeks to find a subject. But when I finally found her, she was perfect. I don’t mean that from a journalistic standpoint– like I had a checklist to mark off when looking for my subject. Talena Brown was talkative; she was open about her addiction. We bonded instantly.
Talena took her first hit of “G” when she was 13 years old. She didn’t know it was meth. For six months, Talena smoked one of the most addictive drugs on the streets and didn’t know it. By the time she found out what she was doing to her body, it was too late. She was hooked.
Talena is now 17 years old– and she’s been sober for nearly two years.
At her lowest point, Talena was smoking an “8-ball,” equal to three-and-a-half grams of meth, each day for free.
