- Drugs
My name is Anthony and I’m a drug addict. My addiction started years before I ever picked up my first substance. Growing up I always felt like I didn’t fit in, socially awkward, an outsider. I started smoking pot and drinking in high school. It wasn’t till my early 20’s that my addiction started gaining steam. I had a good job that I enjoyed very much. After an accident at work and a back injury I ended up on pain pills.This slowly evolved into a substantial IV heroin and crack addiction.
As time went on my addiction got worse. I found myself living in a roach infested section 8 housing with my girlfriend and her three kids. At this point I had lost everything. Friends, family, job were all gone. My girlfriend and I resorted to stealing to survive. My girlfriend got arrested and I found myself all alone with my addiction.
After a plethora of bad decisions I found myself in jail (again) facing gun and drug charges. Somehow the charges were dropped and I called a rehab 200 miles away because all the programs in my area were broken. Only later would I realize that I was the one that was broken. Not to mention the local detox knew me by first name and turned me away claiming that they couldn’t help me.
So this rehab comes and picks me up and takes me out of my comfort zone for a 28 day program. I completed the program with every intention of coming home and using. Once my mother stopped enabling me I realized I had nowhere to go. I then found myself in an all men’s 90 day program. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment but something changed when I was laying in a dorm with 50 other guys, staring at the ceiling each night. What was supposed to be 90 days turned into 5 months because at day 90 I wasn’t ready. That program in upstate New York gave me my life back. I left that program and went to a halfway house in Florida. After some time I moved near family in Tampa.
I can now say I’m getting better one day at a time. I have a great job, an apartment on the beach and attend meetings regularly. I was so angry for so long at things out of my control. I can proudly say that I’m clean 28 months and genuinely happy. The best things in life are worth fighting for. You are worth it.