Addict says God helped him quit methamphetamine

By GWEN ALBERS Western News Reporter

Methamphetamine stole 5 years of Matt Kahl's life.

Now Kahl's helping addicts like himself get back their lives.

Kahl is founder of Life After Meth Ministries in Libby. He and Georgina Woody with Overcomers/Re-creation Recovery Program in Libby have joined forces to offer support to addicts and families.

"Many people in Libby remember me as a severe meth addict," Kahl said. "I've done a lot wrong. However I am not that same person."

He credits God for helping him quit the highly addictive, easy-to-make drug.

"Words can't describe how unbelievable this drug is," Kahl said. "After I got off, I felt this desire to share what God had done (for me)."

His addiction began after he and his wife and their three children moved to Libby from Mansfield, Ohio, in 1999. He wanted to escape the big city.

"I wanted serenity and fell flat into hell," the 34-year-old said.

Before moving to Montana, Kahl never let his weekend drinking, pot smoking and cocaine use interfere with supporting his family. He'd heard of meth, but had never seen it.

Shortly after coming to Libby, Kahl said he "was somewhere he shouldn't have been trying to be someone he's not."

Kahl claims he mistook meth for cocaine.

"There was about a 2-inch line of what I thought was cocaine," he said. "I snorted it and got this God awful burning sensation. It was like squirting Tobasco sauce up my nose."

The high was unexplainable.

Unbelievable.

"From that first line I was absolutely hooked," Kahl said. "Within a short period of time, I was staying up four to six days a week. I would do it as often as I could find it."

Kahl stole for meth. He sold his wife's antiques for meth. He hooked up with a dealer and sold meth. Kahl also stole from his dealer.

"Nothing was safe," Kahl said. "If I thought I could get some dope out of it, it was gone."

Kahl rarely went home. During his wife's nine-month pregnancy with their fourth child, he saw her three times. He made it to the hospital for the birth of their youngest son.

After his wife came home from the hospital, she sent him to town for a prescription. Kahl didn't return for three days.

"My soul focus was the drug," he said.

When one of his sons broke his leg and needed surgery, Kahl didn't learn about it until three days later. When another son was taken to the hospital for a severed artery, it also took Kahl three days to hear about it.

He and other meth users wanted to quit.

"We all hated it and we all knew we wanted to quit, but we couldn't," Kahl said.

Then Kahl met some "Christian people" who knew he neglected his wife and children.

"They had no food, no firewood and (these people) would provide for my wife and kids," Kahl said.

They invited him to church.

"I was not looking for God; I was not looking to quit drugs," he said.

A conversation about his addiction with a 74-year-old crippled woman at the church changed Kahl's attitude.

"She looked at me and my heart shattered like glass," he said.

He credits God for helping him quit. April 16, 2004, was the last time he did meth. Now he wants to share with others what God did for him.

"I found out that the number of people who got off meth is a rarity," Kahl said.

Life After Meth Ministries meets weekly at Libby Assembly of God. Of the 55 who attend, some are meth addicts. Some know meth addicts.

A church gave him a van to do street ministry. Kahl parks along roadways and uses a sign to advertise how he can help.

"The power of God is absolutely incredible," he said. "It takes God to get off this stuff."

Kahl never thought he'd be an addict and feels sorry for what he did to his family.

"When I look at my wife and my kids, I think these people should hate me, but they don't," he said.

Anyone seeking information, can call 291-2287 or 293-6360.