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."
Welcome Home.
God Bless. I hate that devil drug.
As I posted I lost my sons father to it, luckily he cleaned up 15years sober and not even an occasional beer after work and back in good graces with the Lord.
Prayers answered, from what his mom told me over the years as we prayed he went as low as you did living in tool sheds shooting up.
He was the most handsome blonde haired, blue eyed butterscotch skinned man I ever laid eyes on.
LOL Now he is just a bald old fart.
But a sober one.
I know someone that's been using that SH*T for 20 years. No teeth, bad liver, bad kidneys....all at 40. I'm 45, people have confused this person for my 65 year old uncle!
What an amazing thread. I'm going to print out the whole thread and give it to my teenage children as a cautionary tale.
That's horrible and disturbing, but not surprising.
I lost count of the horror stories I saw. I remember one morning I sold a shot to a friend of mine, then went to the store to get some groceries.
When I returned, he was still trying to shoot it up. He was cursing and kept saying he couldn't find a vein. His arm was covered with blood. The rig (syringe) was blue with the blood he had pulled from his veins that had dried.
I grabbed the rig and threw it in the trash. He just sat there, dazed. Then, he fell asleep on my couch.
I think there is a fair debate about whether pot should be decriminalized or legalized. Meth is another matter entirely.
Ten grandkids at age 42, too. Two of her four surviving children are convicted criminals. Generations are ruined and lost because of this stupid "high."
He went to prison for manslaughter, did about 6 years. He got out on parole and tried to stay away from meth. But, he couldn't resist. Two years ago, he was caught breaking into some place to get the ingredients to make meth. He was busted and his parole was revoked.
Today, he is in state prison and will likely be there for at least two more years.
In Fort Lauderdale, FL it is rampant. Its easily obtainable and I have seen two good friends falling apart for a year now. I live in Miami and was planning to move there but decided against it. Its horrible. One friend is a constant pot smoker and doesnt know how to stop. He asks me for suggestions but I know no answers except to pray.
Wow. My family moved out of the Ft. Lauderdale area (Pompano Beach, specifically) when I was eight (early 80s). I know that a lot of drug dealers moved in shortly after we left--I wouldn't be surprised if there was more than just pot going around.
PRAISE GOD!!
I recently read an article in the Fort Worth Weekly, I believe, about Ice. It's a more potent form of the drug and even more addictive. God help anyone who tries this poison.
I tell my kids all about the folks who are hooked on this crap to try to warn them never to even give it a try because it is ferociously addictive! I'm going to keep that photo as a object lesson for them!
"But a sober one."
Same here, not bald though. I toyed with meth in the late 60's, nothing serious. Ironically, at the age of 50, I was diagnosed with ADHD and they wanted to give me Ritlin, I said, no thanks.
She just spent a year in prison and had a baby while in there, he was adopted by a very nice lady and fortunately was not born addicted. Being in the medical portion of the hospital really opened her eyes...she told me that people were dying all around her from the effects of long term drug use and associated diseases, such as AIDS. The last two years have been so hard on me, the first year not knowing where she was at, whether she would be found in a ditch somewhere dead, then dealing with the pregnancy, adoption and prison issues. I pray that she will be able to turn her life around, and eventually reunite with her children. It is going to be an uphill battle, but I think she is ready for it now, although she admits she is scared.
So proud of you to get your life together. GWB also credits Jesus for helping him overcome certain deamons. God Bless You.
Meant to say medical portion of the prison...duh...more coffeeeeee....
Without Jesus Christ, I would have remained a junky and would either be dead or in prison by now.
God can break her chains and set her free of meth forever. She is still very young and has her whole life ahead of her.
I wonder why the libertarians haven't found this thread yet? They always show up when people start to badmouth their favorite recreational drugs.
Well, I, for one, am grateful that this thread hasn't thus far descended into the predictable "war on drugs," "war on (some) drugs" "why drugs should/should not be legalized" "cheeseburgers are unhealthy, so maybe we should criminalize those, too" drivel that always seems to hijack any thread that has anything whatsoever to do with any drug, legal or not.
The points have been made hundreds of times on other threads and usually have little to nothing to do with the substance of the article.
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