There is no stereotypical user of methamphetamine. Meth abusers come from all classes and walks of life.
Life is now good for Debbie, a 49-year-old grandmother who works for the state. She's enrolled in college to earn a business degree. Her life now is a far cry from where she was 30 years ago.
"I thought looking good required that you had to be thin and doing dope. I did it daily, I did it daily," Debbie said.
She began abusing diet pills at 18 and by 21 she made the jump to meth.
"I wanted to see what it was like. Curiosity, it took me off running. It was my new best friend," she said.
She quit drugs in 1981. She was sober 15 months. But things went downhill after she married a man also in recovery.
"He was just as sick as I was. I was able to stay off the meth for 15 months, but within about three weeks after that, splitting up with my husband, who went back to the meth, I was back there doing it again, full steam," she said.
She spent the next 22 years living the fast life on speed.
If you think it's odd to see a woman addicted to meth, you may be surprised. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report found 45 percent of meth users are women. It's the one drug where women and men are almost evenly divided.
"I would try and do as much as I could and go and go and go. Stay up for six and seven days in a row with no sleep," she said.
She lost all of her teeth to the drugs.
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Meth user
Debbie spent more than two decades of her life on methamphetamine.
 
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The meth chemicals and poor hygiene caused them to rot, but the drug would take an even greater toll on Debbie. She soon lost her freedom.
"They pulled me over one night and asked, 'May we search your car?' And I didn't say, 'No.' I had had enough. The dope wasn't working, I wasn't getting high, the alcohol wasn't working, I didn't know what else to do," she said.
After being arrested, Debbie turned to Austin Recovery. After nearly 30 years of using meth, she was ready to stop.
"It really shook me up, it was almost unbelievable they were going to let me in. This was my last house on the block, so to speak. I didn't go down so far of being down under the bridge but I was close," she said.
Recovery hasn't been an easy process. But slowly, Debbie is adjusting to the life she's suppose to have.
"I go to my grandchild's baseball game, which is 'Ah, that feeling!' My daughter is pregnant with her second child, so she's actually got me going to the doctor with her. She wants me to be a part of her life," she said.
Debbie chose to make meth a part of her past. But not every user chooses to straighten up.
State law enforcement officers see countless meth addicts with no desire to change.
"We had a guy do it for 34 years, he ran out of veins to stick. He was shooting it directly into his neck, but his body was full of sores he was still trying to inject. The sores were still getting infected, but he didn't care," Joe Millhouse of the Texas Department of Public Safety's narcotics unit said.
Meth is one of the most addictive drugs available, experts said.
Debbie knows, but says life is much better without it.
"Today, I carry the message of hope. If I can do it, if I can kick that speed, come on, go with me because it only gets better," she said.
