- Alcohol
- Drugs
Hello everybody. My name is Patrick, I’m 23 years old and this is my story.
I was born in Clearwater, Florida on August 10, 1990. When I was five, I lost my dad to alcohol. He washed up on the Ohio River. I was too young to understand. I also lost touch with my sister, as she stayed with my grandmother in Florida, while my mom and I moved to Rhode Island. By the age of 17 I had 10 felonies due to drugs and alcohol. I was smoking every day and drinking a gallon of vodka.
August 10, 2011 was my 21st birthday. By this time my addiction was really bad. I drank a gallon of vodka, before we left the house to celebrate. We went to the bar, where I was drinking pitcher after pitcher of beer along with at least 15 shots. Strangers, friends and family were feeding me shots of anything and everything.
After we left the bar and went home, I was still drinking. I passed out and went into a coma. I woke up two days later in the hospital with straps on my legs and arms. I thought I was done with drugs and alcohol. I was wrong. I could not do it by myself. I went into another coma a month later, but this time the coma lasted a week. I stopped smoking pot but kept drinking alcohol. I didn’t think I would ever stop.
I was reunited with my sister, and that is when I started with Spice, and it got really bad. Instead of working I was hustling money to support my Spice habit. One day I got enough money to get about 40 bags of Spice. I was already on probation for shoplifting, because I wanted everything, and, if I could not get it by paying for it, I was going to steal it. I was pulled over for doing an illegal turn, and the police searched my phone and car. They found the 40 bags of spice and 1,000 dollars cash. They let me go and said they were going to send it in to the lab, and, if it came back as anything, they would serve warrants on us. A week later they were at my house to take me to jail. I did thirty days, before I went to drug court. Because I was already on probation, I had to go to jail. I signed a 60-day wavier and did 30 days in detainment.
After 60 days of being in jail. I started drug court. I went a month without drugs and alcohol, but then it started all over again. I started smoking Spice and drinking. I failed my first drug screen and did 24 hours in jail. A week later I failed a drug screen for meth and did six days. I was released on a Monday and went to drug court on that Tuesday. They told me I also failed a lab test for alcohol. I had to go to jail for 14 days, and they told me that, once I got out, I would have to start drug court again. If I failed another screen, I would go to prison or rehab.
I told them I could not do this on my own. I was going to get out of jail, and I was going to drink and smoke again. I told them I would love it, if they would send me to rehab. They said, “Thank you for being honest with yourself and with us.” While I was doing my 14 days, they found a rehab program for me. Fifteen days later I was in a program.
That program has allowed for the best change I have made in my life. I have been there for 90 days, and it feels good to be sober. I am doing things I thought I would never be able to do because of drugs and getting high. Rehab has changed my life, and I am going to keep going. Thank you so much for letting me tell my story. It has been great telling you guys, and I hope it helps someone in recovery.