Drug Addiction Stories & Info

My name is Joe and I want to share my story with you. Looking for a job is hard when you are a drug addict, especially if you have a record. It can be done but still, it is hard and it is stressful. People are getting jobs and I am sitting here trying but the minute I tell them I did time for dealing and using, I get excuses and sometimes even a blunt “No thanks”.   Sometimes, I feel like I am still in jail. 

I guess if I had any advice to give someone who is on drugs it would be to get clean now, especially if you do not have a record because once you get one, it is gonna be hell trying to get a job. My mom gripes that I need one but she does not understand how hard it is to try to get one after the stupid stuff I have done.

About the third or fourth time someone tells you no or you feel a change in their attitude towards you, then you just do not feel like trying again, you know? But I am about to get evicted and I know my mom and dad do not really want me moving back in.

Sure, if I had it to do over again, I would do it differently. But what is more important, the fact that I am honest on my applications or the fact that I made a mistake in the past? Are you telling me that no one else made a mistake, that everyone else is perfect?

So what did I end up having to do? I ended up having to lie. I got a job at a fast food restaurant because when it asked on the application if had ever been convicted of a felony, I marked no. I cook burgers and fries now for a living but hey, at least it is something, you know? I am thirty years old and dealing with teenagers and when I see them messing up, I take them aside and try to explain to them that one of these days they will regret the stupid stuff they are doing but they just laugh, look on me like some old geezer (at 30!) and call me Holy Joe behind my back. Yeah, I have heard them do it.

Trust me, if you do not have a record, go get clean before you end up with something that is going to follow you around the rest of your life. If just one of you kids listens, I will know I did something right and made a difference in at least one person’s life to the good instead of all the damn negative stuff I did over the years. Call me Holy Joe, call me whatever, just think that maybe, this old geezer does know what he is talking about.  You do not want to live the rest of your life in a prison without bars.

Apparently Samantha had decided that she needed to go to the rest room, and had excused herself.  She walked from the garden where they had been sitting and past the pool when she either slipped or stumbled into the pool and drowned.  Paramedics who arrived less than five minutes later pronounced her dead on the scene.

At the mention of the word ‘cops’, the party crowd dispersed, including Tobias and his friend who had brought along the Crystal Meth to get the real party started.   The only people who remained were a few of the crowd who had actually not been using Crystal Meth or drinking and were able to explain to the police whose home it was, who had given the party, and exactly what happened.  Tobias and his friend were arrested about two hours later, when they were found in a local park.  Both Tobias and his friend were in possession of Crystal Meth and are facing jail time.  Ironically, six months earlier, Tobias was also guaranteed a scholarship to the school of his choice, until he tried Crystal Meth for the first time and everything started spiraling downward.

Samantha’s family was expecting her at around midnight, and when she didn’t arrive by 12:30, they tried her cell phone.  She had always been punctual and never missed a curfew.  When she didn’t answer the phone they became worried, and ten minutes later their worst fears were confirmed. Two police officers arrived at their doorstep to tell them that their daughter, who was supposed to graduate in two days, had died when she’d fallen into a swimming pool and drowned after smoking Crystal Meth.

Even now, as her parents and family prepares for her funeral, they still don’t understand why Samantha would have made the choice to smoke Crystal Meth when she’d always been against drugs of any type.  She was a wonderful child, never gave her parents any trouble, made excellent grades and was loved by all, but yet one wrong choice altered her mind and she ultimately paid the price and was robbed of her future.

As for Tobias, he is in jail and is facing charges for more than drug possession.  At this moment he’s going through withdrawal from the Crystal Meth and his family is hoping that the courts will allow him to get into a rehabilitation facility.  Once he’s clean, he’s going to have to live with his choices and the ultimate consequences of those choices for the rest of his life, while Samantha’s family try to pick up the pieces and find a way to move forward without the girl they all loved so much.