BEFORE AFTER
Posted on 11/09/2004 4:55:03 AM PST by PoliticalInsider
Her drug-ravaged face stares out from billboards worldwide.
Enormous weight loss shows a boney, sunken face with ghost-like features.
Ratty hair, rotten teeth and a vacant expression spell out a dire warning.
Downstate grandmother Penny Wood said she often regrets allowing authorities to publicize her mugshot -- even though her permission spared her a lengthy stay in prison. But she regrets discovering methamphetamine even more.
"This drug is evil," she wrote in an e-mail to law enforcement officers.
Wood was caught manufacturing the highly addictive and destructive drug, which almost killed her. It is a drug that is being made all over rural parts of Illinois.
Methamphetamine, also known as "ice" or "crystal," is snorted, injected or smoked. A small dose can lead to a two-day high, making it more cost-effective than other drugs like cocaine, authorities say.
Though not widespread in Chicago, police fear the illegal drug could become an epidemic if street gangs here decide to sell it.
Wood, 42, was caught making methamphetamine at her home in central Illinois. To dodge 30 years in jail, she agreed to an unusual plea bargain.
She said two of her mugshots could be shown to the public. The first from 1998 shows her as a healthy looking 36-year-old. Her 2002 shot tells a different story, showing the horrifying effects of the drug on the central nervous system.
This week, police in London made her their poster child.
At her home in Pekin, about 170 miles southwest of Chicago, Penny sat down to tell her story to the Sun-Times.
First she showed a framed photograph of herself aged 31 with her first grandchild, Dustin. Her carefully applied makeup disguises the hard life she was living.
'I started drinking at 11'
"I hung out with an older crowd and started drinking when I was just 11," Wood said. "At 12, I ran away from home with my stepfather's brother, George, who was 17.
"He provided the pot, beer and Jack Daniels that kept us giggling as we spent every day and night dodging the law.
"Running the streets, smoking pot and drinking was pretty much all we did every single day. It was fun. At 13, I was pregnant, and the schools didn't want to know me then. Our first baby, Amy, was born when I was 14 and we found a place of our own. We lived on welfare and handouts from George's parents."
Wood gave birth to another child before she married at 16. She was pregnant for the wedding, but the baby only lived 17 days. Two more pregnancies followed.
"I was only 20 but I had given birth five times," she said. "My husband used to beat me and sometimes take off with my welfare check and leave us with no food.
"From 18 on, I smoked pot every day and tried LSD a few times. My favorite drink was Southern Comfort and Mountain Dew. I would give the children their breakfast, see them off to school and smoke pot. Most evenings I would go to bars, play pool and hustle for drinks and money."
In 1998 she went with a boyfriend to see friends in Missouri and visited an isolated farm.
Penny had never heard of methamphetamine but discovered that her hosts cooked it up in industrial quantities. Unaware of its addictive quality, she tried. She didn't go home for a year.
'Our whole lives were meth'
"They told me if I tried it I would lose weight and stay awake for a long time so I could party even more," she said. "It was like I was walking on clouds. Nothing bothered me and nobody could get into my world."
Sex with her boyfriend was "awesome" on the drug, she said, but she soon needed to do more to get high. She began helping to manufacture and sell the drug, using a horse trough to mix large quantities.
"It was an incredibly easy way to make money," Wood said. "For an investment of $40 for the ingredients, you could make $3,000 worth of dope."
Wood smoked, snorted and ate the drug to get high.
"Between highs I just slept," she said. "At my worst, I would go to bed with a line ready to snort when I opened my eyes, a light bulb made as a pipe to smoke it, a piece to eat and a Budweiser for breakfast.
"Our whole lives were making, dealing and using meth."
'I am the butt of jokes'
Wood returned home for her mother's funeral and was arrested for possessing a marijuana pipe and fined $75.
Four years later when Wood was caught manufacturing methamphetamine and agreed to let her photographs be used, she was assured that her name would not be used. But that didn't mean much in Pekin -- population 33,000.
As she sat in her living room festooned with plastic flowers, ornaments and the paraphernalia of a recovering addict -- Bible, framed prayers -- Wood insisted: "Some days I think prison would have been a lot easier.
"I was hoping to get a job, but everyone knows my past and they won't give me a chance," she said. "My disabilities because of the years I did meth include a chronic cough, so waitressing is out of the question. My lungs are so damaged that I have difficulty walking up a flight of stairs."
Tending bar is out because of the risk of falling back into addiction. Janitorial jobs in schools or nursing homes are out because of her conviction.
"I thought people would want to employ me because I've acknowledged my past and I've changed, but it's totally the opposite," she said. "I don't go out much any more because people whisper about me and point fingers.
"I am the butt of jokes on radio and even when I go to my probation office -- where my picture is on the wall -- people snicker. At 42, I have to face up to the fact that being a poster girl has not improved my life at all. The notoriety has been very damaging and if I could change that I would."
Her first grandchild, Dustin, now 12, poses with her for pictures. She hardly resembles the woman holding him as a baby.
"I've paid for my mistakes," she said. "I have 10 grandkids, and I don't want them to suffer. Other kids tease them about what I've done. I didn't expect this level of public humiliation."
'Disfiguration is extreme'
After police in London wrote asking to use her picture, she replied spelling out all her disabilities.
Hello. I wanted to thank you for asking permission to use my photo as so many don't. This drug is evil. There is no other way to describe it.
Not only the outer disfiguration is extreme, the effects it has on your insides are worse.
Young (old) people need to know that maybe for a minute you'll be skinny and full of energy, but the long term effects are . . . I have no word to describe, but here is my story for young people to consider. It takes everything I have to walk a flight of stairs. My lungs are destroyed.
I have no control over my bladder -- I pee my pants all the time. I can't take a bowel movement without a laxative. . . .
And all this is just the beginning. . . . I want no pity, I just want those young people and old to know what this stuff does to your insides as well as the outward appearance.
Sincerely Penny S. Wood
Stewart Umholtz, the Tazewell County state's attorney who offered her the plea bargain, said he has received e-mails from all over the world seeking permission to use Wood's photograph.
"We felt the poster campaign would help her in her rehabilitation, and we agreed not to use her name," Umholtz said. "But it got out after people approached her to find out more."
'Nothing to show for it'
Today, Wood faces a 9 p.m. curfew, required community service, daily visits by law enforcement officers, random urine tests, the threat of prison time if she strays and occasional raids by police. A few weeks ago, a drug enforcement team with machine guns surrounded her house, burst in, searched her house and found nothing.
Her daughter, Iva, served 2-1/2 years in prison for methamphetamine-related crimes. Her son, Timmy, is behind bars for manufacturing meth, a craft Wood said he learned from her.
"After all that has happened, I still hope that by cooperating something good will happen," Wood said. "Between us we have nothing to show for it.
"I was overwhelmed when I heard from the British police. I want people to know that it ends in destruction, jail or death."
BEFORE AFTER
Meth is a really bad drug... been around since the 1930's.
Unfortunately it has become a blue collar working drug... at least around here it is...
Just ask them.
I concur. Meth is absolutely no good for you.
Drugs are bad but handouts confiscated from the taxpayers make it all possible for these losers to live on drugs, never worry about working, and reproduce like cockroaches. I wonder how many of her children or grandchildren will ever work for a living.
I once worked in a factory in Wilmington De., at night and some of these guys would be shooting this stuff up in the bathrooom; that was 20 years ago. Here in the South, it has become a big problem; people start cooking it up, something goes wrong, and they blow the house up. Remember the old 'speed kills' adage; it hasn't changed, has it?...
....sad and tragic story...the most this woman can do for herself and society, is to go from school to school...elementary, high school and college and tell her story.....this is what happens....when your whole life is nothing but one....big....party.......
On the two before/after pics; could that be before/after make-up removal just as well?
Heheh, j/k.
It was a pretty big part of my life (not nearly as much as it was in hers!) for several years then one night 11 years ago I met JESUS and he set me free!!! My life is so good now and I can't even begin to put into words how grateful I am to be a Blood bought Child of Almighty GOD!!! There's nothing he can't do!
I'm glad you got yourself cleaned up. I hope God continues to bless your life.
Reminds me of the demons in the movie from Dusk till Dawn.
The article states it is afraid the drug will become epedimic....it already has long ago.
We just had our Summit in our community and the community is working hard to drive it out of here. It became a cooker haven just in the last few years. The cooks come here because no prison time, probation then they cook some more. Well the community has had enough and they are aware of tell tell signs of labs and we are closing them down. Of course the houses used are unlivable due to the hazardous chemical residue.
I think I saw her picture our local Meth Summit group is using it to promote ending the problem here.
Meth from the 1930's up untill the 70's was a whole different product then the poison the fly by nights are producing now.
This crap they make now is no where near a pharmacutical product it once was. Now it is cold tablets,battery acid, liqued fertilizer and other wonderful poisons.
I knew dozens of people who went through the same process:
Even after I stopped selling it (for reasons I can't remember), I could not stop shooting it into my veins. I hated it, and I loved it. But, I could not imagine life without it.
Then, in the summer of 1985, I accepted Jesus and He set me free. All I had to do was ask, and before I finished my prayer, the chains fell off and I have not had one nanosecond of temptation to ever go back.
Congrads you escaped death.
Sometimes if I go out shopping at night now, used to be ok, someone will pass me and I feel evil present and look up sure enough a tweeker has walked by.
I chose to be a single mom 25yrs ago because dad started using. We had no contact for 10yrs then he cleaned up and now he is back in with his original wife, attending church, and has been clean for 15yrs. He is also came see his son a few years ago and made amends. Thanking me for leaving the state to be rid of him as others around him weren't so lucky. One of his old doper girlfriends is still using homeless and a street walker.
I hate that he made the choice of meth over family but thank God he cleaned up and is living a good life now. I had so much love in my heart for him then he chose to do meth.
My advice to anyone who has a loved one doing this drug of the devil is shut them out of your life and make it clear why. If they clean up and I mean at least two years, you will know by the company they keep then and only then they can reunite family ties.
GOD IS SO GOOD ALL THE TIME!!! What an awesome testimony! I, thank God, never was totally strung out on it but it was always my party drug of choice and I partied allot! Like you, in an instant The Lord Jesus set me free and there is no looking back!!! PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!!!
Meth ravaged San Diego when I lived there in the mid to late 80's. I watched a good friend completely destroy himself, but the most pitiful thing I ever saw was a 14 YO pregnant girl emerge from behind a dumpster and offer a BJ for $10.00 to me and my friends one night when we were walking down the street. She needed money so she could go score. That event was life changing.
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