Drug Addiction Stories

How did you end up living on the streets?
A few days before I turned 16 years old, I ran away from home and started staying with street kids. Before that on weekends I would go downtown and, while pretending to stay at a friend’s place, I was with street kids, staying at shelters or wherever – so I was already familiar with the street. I know it sounds strange because I was not homeless, but this is what happened.

At the time I saw this as a form of “freedom;” I did not want restrictions or a curfew, having to tell my parents where I

The truth is that I was already hanging out with junkies before I went to Vancouver. I knew I would do needles so while I was still in Montreal...

was all the time, or whatever. I also thought that “trash” looked good, not actual trash that you throw out but the mix of styles, the look of falling apart. I also liked the punk style a lot, the bright colors, the “resist and refuse” attitude, the “I do what I want” attitude, rebel and whatnot. On the street you don’t really exist, you are off the “grid” or off the “radar.”

So how did you get into the “drug culture”?
The drugs started with PCP as it was easily available. I would be asked “Do you want some?” and I would answer “yes” because I felt I couldn’t say no. It was peer pressure in a way; it was like “I don’t know these people so I have to impress them.” They were doing it and so did I. After that I took whatever was around and ended up liking it, the dead feeling that you got from drugs. All the pain would go away, any physical pain I had in me, mental pain and so on. I didn’t think my life was fun, or so it seemed.

All the people I was hanging out with were alcoholics, although they wouldn’t typically consider that a problem, and pot smokers – no chemicals and definitely no needles. Sometimes it was chemicals, and this was usually acid (LSD ) or PCP.

I was curious: since I was doing drugs now I wanted to try heroin. But there was absolutely no way you could do it with them. So I didn’t even mention it. I heard that in Vancouver there was a street called Hastings and you could just get it easily, so I hitchhiked to Vancouver with some “friends” (they weren’t really). We got stuck in Calgary on the way and I stayed there for about three weeks (my so-called friend did not want to continue), where I started doing mushrooms a lot. I really liked them so I took them too much and although I would not overdose to the point of going to the hospital, I would have a bad trip almost every time. Or I would take alcohol or whatever was available – there was not something specific I was going after.

It took about three weeks before I found someone else to go with – you need someone because there are rules to hitchhiking: It’s best to have a guy and a girl, never a guy and a guy or a girl or guy alone, because it is too dangerous or suspicious. That’s what you learn – a guy and girl just look like they’re going somewhere.

So I found a suitable individual and when we got to Vancouver, we parted ways. Then I met up with a friend that I knew from Montreal and stayed for about two months in the city or maybe more, I don’t really remember. I did whatever drugs were available as something to do: When you are on the streets you are either panhandling to get money to eat or doing drugs. What else is there to do living like that?

Tell us how you escalated to using heroin…
When I arrived in Vancouver I started looking for heroin but it was more of a covert search. I knew it was something not to be proud of. The majority of individuals think that heroin is not a good thing, it’s a dangerous drug, no one actually wants to do it, you don’t go after it, you don’t ask, etc.  So I didn’t because I knew that people would just talk me out of it.

I met up with friends, got to know the area somewhat – the shelters and the good areas to sleep, like churches which don’t kick you off their land if you sleep on their front porch, I go to know good panhandling spots and so on. I would tell all kinds of stories just to get money. The goal was $20 and I got bored easily, so I would spend a couple of hours on average panhandling. (It was easier in Calgary: one guy gave me $160, I got free pizza to eat, etc.)

After two weeks when I arrived in Vancouver, I was hanging out with this guy and some friends, and one day they started smoking some powder in a light bulb. I was fairly intelligent and so I knew that this was heroin but I pretended I didn’t know. This was because I didn’t want them to know that I really wanted to take the drug as they may have taken it away from me. So they went “Here, you want some?” and I said “Yeah, sure… what is this?” This was my introduction to heroin.

I was only smoking it, which was called “chasing the dragon,” while I was there. However, when I returned to Montreal I started shooting drugs for the first time. It was cocaine and it was free, so I took it (it was already in the needle which was not very bright). Then I decided – as I was already using needles already – I might as well start shooting heroin.

The truth is that I was already hanging out with junkies before I went to Vancouver. I knew I would do needles so while I was still in Montreal, I would find free needles at needle drop-off places and practice taking blood out of me – just to get the feel of what it is like. I wanted to know how to do it right for when I started shooting drugs. I used needles for about five months in all and was taking heroin for about nine months in total.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A Teenager Confesses How Her Drug Dependence Drove Her Across The Continent In Search Of Heroin, And How Narconon Brought Her Back From The Brink Of Oblivion

For more than 40 years thousands of addicts have been given their life back through Narconon – people who had submitted to their addictions found new hope and a new life.  Indeed, that is how Narconon started four decades ago when an incarcerated heroin addict, William Benitez, decided that he had to try something new to save himself from his addiction as well as to help other similarly afflicted friends. He requested permission from Arizona state prison officials to start a drug rehabilitation program with 20 addict inmates, but was at first denied. Thankfully, he persisted because on February 19, 1966 he was finally granted permission and founded what he called Narconon, meaning NARCotics-NONe.

The program Mr. Benitez founded grew and, in 1971, the first Narconon center outside prison walls opened in Los Angeles. Today Narconon’s services are available at 39 drug rehabilitation and drug prevention centers in Canada, United States, Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, England, Russia, New Zealand and South Africa.  It is officially recognized in several countries as the most effective drug rehabilitation available and receives government funding in a number of nations. Narconon has an unsurpassed success rate, according to independent studies, with up to 72 percent of its graduates still off drugs after two years.

She started using drugs as a teenager and rapidly escalated from marijuana to heroin. Within two years she was emotionally dead, not caring about friends or family.

In this interview 26-year old Sabrina Andrews provides her personal testimonial of Narconon’s effectiveness.  She started using drugs as a teenager and rapidly escalated from marijuana to heroin.  Within two years she was emotionally dead, not caring about friends or family.  This is her story, one that gives hope to countless teens who suffer from addiction.  She did the program at Narconon Trois-Rivieres in Quebec, Canada.  And like William Benitez and many others she got her life back.

What were you doing before you did the Narconon drug addiction rehab?
That was 10 years ago: I was about 16 years old and living on the streets.  I ran away from home and was doing drugs.  I lived mostly in Montreal but moved around a lot including Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.  I lived like this for about two years.  Before that I was going to high school and living with my parents.

When where you first introduced to drugs?
In high school there were many students using drugs, including pot smokers.  I pot with them (I was hanging around older students) but idn’t like the “buzz” at all.  There was also alcohol use but that was not a big item for me.

My idol was the rock band Nirvana and Kurt Cobain (the lead singer) and he was doing heroin.  So to me that was really “cool,” or at least that’s what I thought then.  I admired him a lot and for some reason I adopted the idea that anything negative and destructive was really cool and if you looked horrible, well that was cool too.  In fact it was “aesthetic,” in my viewpoint at the time.  So that’s what I went after.

Were you attracted to drugs from the beginning?
Initially I didn’t want to do any drugs, as my father had already given the “the talk.”  I refused to do drugs mainly out of fear because he had his own drug history – although he was clean since my birth – and I knew that he would be able to spot it.  As there was no way to “get away with it,” I stayed away from drugs.

TO BE CONTINUED…

By March of 2007, Lydia was living a life she no longer recognized.  Her husband was never home, they argued over money, and if she didn’t get to it first, Peter would spend the majority of his dwindling paycheck on cocaine and liquor.   By July, Peter had moved out and Lydia struggled to pay the bills and raise David.  Peter didn’t stop by much anymore and when he did, he looked terrible.  She knew he was spending at least some of his nights in a homeless shelter.

How could life have taken such a turn?  Not even a year earlier she and Peter had been happier than they could have imagined.  Now, she never knew where he was and life was a struggle at best.  She decided she was going to have it out with Peter and try to get him to get some help.  She called a rehab center and talked to a professional about it first.  She felt she had to do something to put their lives back together.

When Peter did come over, she sat down with him and took his hand.  “I want you to get help,” she told him.  Over the next two hours, they talked, shouted, and cried.  They discussed everything.  At first, Peter was reluctant, but then he started to talk.  By the end of the evening, it was Peter who made the call to the rehab center and started asking questions.  The next morning he checked into rehab.

Several weeks later, thinking he had his addiction beaten, Peter checked out of rehab.  The first few days at home were great but then he started hanging around his old friends again, and within two weeks he was back on cocaine.  Sometimes, it happens that way.  If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.  Lydia didn’t wait to confront him this time.  Within a couple of days he was back at rehab.  This time he really applied himself and he worked hard to beat the addiction.  Through holistic healing, time, and treatment, helped Peter to become free of his drug addiction, but he knew it would be a lifelong decision not to use cocaine again.  It had to be for his sake and the sake of his family.  Now Peter is working his way back up the ladder at work, but they did let him come back.  He never believed he could be this happy again, after cocaine, but he was.  He and Lydia had their whole lives to look forward to now.