Like a lot of young people, I was looking for acceptance from my peers when I began my addiction journey. I was thirteen years old and met some boys that lived on my street. They taught me how to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and smoke marijuana all in the same week! By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I was an every-day pot smoker and binge drinker on the weekends. I also began experimenting with inhalants like “rush”, and hallucinogens like LSD and Psilocybin Mushrooms. By the time I graduated high school I began to experiment with powder cocaine, doing an “eight ball” every weekend. I always seemed to be searching for peace and contentment in the bigger and better high. It was during my junior year in college when I had the bright idea that if snorting cocaine made me feel good, smoking it had to feel even better. So I made the tragic mistake of trying crack cocaine.
After my third time using the drug, I had what they call the “shell hit” that rocked my world. I immediately quit drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana to focus all my time and money on crack cocaine. Somehow I managed to get through college and earn my degree. I then went to work to support my habit; but the wages I earned were never enough. So, I began lying, manipulating, even stealing to get funds to smoke crack on a daily basis. The funny thing about me becoming a “crack head” is I didn’t look the part. As a matter of fact, I often had trouble making a drug buy because the drug dealers thought I was an undercover law enforcement agent.
Most people think of crack users as poor, indigent people with no education and no hope for a future. Here I was – this well-mannered, well-dressed, well-educated young man that knew how to play the role of model citizen and model Christian. Yes, believe it or not, I began to faithfully attend church approximately the same time I began my life of drugs and alcohol. I know that sounds hypocritical – because it is. I went to church as a boy to please my parents and later on as an adult to please my wife. I went to church services three times a week and lived like hell the rest of the time. But as my life spiraled out of control God had a different plan for me...