Drug Addiction Stories & Info

I remember the first time I met Amber.  She was going through withdrawals and not even aware of where she was.  The police had called me in to see what I could do as I was known at the jail to be able to help in these situations.

Amber had been brought to the jail immediately after losing her two day old son to the foster care system; he was born with an addiction to cocaine thanks to his mother’s constant use of it during pregnancy.  When Amber realized what had happened, she told me she wanted to kill herself.

We got her into a drug addiction rehab.  We worked with her and monitored her suicidal inclinations around the clock.  When we did let her out of our sight for any given reason, it was with her being in a protected, padded room.

That was six years ago.  Today, Amber is one of the greatest pleasures I have in going to work every day as a substance abuse counselor.  She helps those going through withdrawal by letting them know her story.  She does not downplay her responsibility in her drug use or how it affected her son.  She is painfully honest in her story.  She tells how losing her son was the turning point in her life and helped her get off drugs.  She has been clean for six years now.

Her son?  Well, that wonderful little boy just started first grade and is the apple of his mother’s eye.  I think he saved his mother just as we helped her save her relationship with him by testifying that she was and is truly a recovered drug addict.  She has never been in trouble again and the light in her eyes comes from her pride in that young boy.  He is her high in life and I am privileged to be a witness to it.  I am a counselor because of people like Amber.  She makes my job the greatest one in the world.