Drug and alcohol addiction and abuse. Recognition. Prevention. Treatment
20/20 Parenting. Recognizing and mitigating early vulnerabilities and risk factors.
Letters to Kerry
Stories of Victory, Struggle, Tragedy, & Workplace Concerns
May 20, 2005:
Another story for young crystal meth experimenters or young people who are curious about it... -K
Hi my name is Bryan. I hope this story may help others to understand what being addicted to meth is like. I got addicted to meth in 1997. I used off and on until 2004. Most of 2003 to 2004 was continuous use. I became the biggest dealer in the town I live in. I did it to support my own habit.
I saw people who owned their own homes and lost everything they had in an 8-month time period. Sure I had money and power at that time, but I did get beaten up twice really bad because of jealousy. Having my hands duct-taped behind me, and 2 guys beating on me, is not very much fun. What I’m trying to say is that the life is part of the addiction. Sure you can quit the drug but the life and the people are hard to get away from.
I spent 3 months in treatment in 2001 [then I got] even harder into the scene; I figure I failed it because I did it for all the wrong reasons. I should have done it for myself. Quitting cold turkey isn’t always the safest way either, treatment did teach me a lot. It took me to the root of my addiction. They helped bring out suppressed memories of sexual abuse from when I was 4 yrs old.
It will be a year at the end of May since I became clean. The way I did it was to stay away from anybody that I used to be around.
Getting treatment helps, I recommend it to anyone. Just remember when the treatment is done you have to totally leave anyone who is into any kind of drugs behind. It doesn’t take long to relapse if you are around the same people.
I am very lucky to have support from my parents. My 6 yr old son needs me as well. I basically raised him from birth. His mother is a crack addict and isn’t in his life at all. I now also have support from my new girlfriend, which I would have never met if I were still in that kind of life.
I just want people to know that there are terrible things that happen and people that you get to know won’t think twice about betraying you to get the drug. I have had friends killed because of stupid things like a snowmobile that got stolen; my friend had his head blown off because of it. I knew another guy who got beaten to death because of a stolen laptop. I have gotten my life back now and I am not giving it up for anyone or any drug.
I hope that this story will help, especially the younger people who are just experimenting. Meth is very addicting, and you may feel like you are on top of the world when you’re on it but you can fall down really hard and it’s very hard to get back up. Its not just you that you hurt it’s the people closest to you that get hurt also.
Thank you for reading this,
Bryan
