- Drugs
- Friends & Family
Submitted by: Susanne Johnson
Greg began drinking at age 14 and he loved every bit of it at the time. Women got prettier, he became more outgoing, people liked him more, and life was easier. At age 15, drugs entered his life. He first began using drugs because he was motivated to interact with women. While he was using, he felt like a hero with the girls. “It was all fun and games until you started facing the consequences,” Greg says.
Greg’s parents did not drink or use drugs, but his grandparents drank often and made moonshine. He believes addiction and alcoholism skipped one generation in his family and came strongly back at him.
One day, Greg had a pocket full of cash and found himself penniless within 24 hours. He was forced to face jail time and his life began to go downhill. He received his first possession charge of a controlled substance at age 28 that resulted in 18 months of probation.
He didn’t learn anything from that first negative experience and at age 32 he was again arrested, but this time with explosives, guns, drugs, pills, alcohol and other items. As drugs and his life got harder, his consequences got harder. He was walking in places where he didn’t know if he would get shot or make it out alive.
He was selling drugs. Money, women and life were looking great to him until he got busted again. Prison was awaiting him when got a final chance to visit a treatment center instead of serving time. He chose the treatment option. When he arrived there, he learned very quickly that the drugs and the alcohol were not the problem– HE was the problem.
“When I learned that I was the problem, I wanted to change” said Greg.
Greg entered treatment in 2013 and he has been sober since. He had a short encounter with a 12-step program in 2009– not to get clean and sober, but to sell stamps of attendance to those who needed them for court. The same 12-step group was shut down because of him shortly after.
In 2013 something happened and he finally had the willingness to change his situation. He attended the treatment center for seven months and worked as a peer mentor at the same facility for a year following. Today he works as a clinical associate at a facility that is linked to the center where he got sober. “I was happy to make $100 a week and be able to make amends to the people I’ve hurt in the past.” he states about his time as a peer mentor.
“This building is my second home. I love my brothers who get sober here,” he says. Greg attends 3-4 meetings at a 12-step fellowship a week and feels always better coming out. Greg adds, “Everybody should have the experience of a long-term program if he struggles with addiction. It makes all the difference. And anybody should work the 12 steps.”