"Guilty pleasures at a young age seemed like innocent fun, as long as my parents didn't know. It started with cigarettes with friends, at the age of 12, not knowing how to inhale and being laughed at until my friends taught me how to inhale properly. Then came the alcohol, stealing some at night and replacing what I stole with water. A friend told me we could get high by spraying axe into a sock and huffing it. Next came weed, always smelling it in my home and at one point finding some. I crushed a can, poked holes in it and put the bud on top without even breaking it up.

My youth was full of daily delinquency. At 15 I found myself in a mental hospital, that same month I was involved in a car accident as a passenger. The driver introduced me to huffing Dust Off. We were huffing the can on the way to my house, and both passed out. We hit a tree going 60mph, I wasn't wearing a seatbelt, I was badly injured. That was the day I learned I was allergic to Morphine. Recovery took a few months and of course during those months I was taking a lot of prescription pain medicine. As soon as my cast came off and I was able to hang out with friends, I was then introduced to Meth.

Over the next few years I did meth occasionally, drank often, smoked every day, and also took a lot of ecstasy. Fast forward to 18, cut back on my drinking, quit smoking cigarettes, just smoked weed. Life was good. Fast forward again to 24, this is where I feel my addiction truly began, as I was then introduced to Roxies. It was love at first sight, couldn't get enough. Blew through my last settlement check from my car wreck and spent 80% on roxies. Ended up quitting a good job and found myself in horrible withdrawals. As soon as I recovered, I dumped my boyfriend and moved out. I found myself with an old friend, that first night I got high on meth, the next day came Heroin. For the next six years I was using meth and heroin every single day, we were selling to keep up with our habit, we were shoplifting regularly from every store within a 40 mile radius. Late night trips to Fulton Industrial, riding with a car full of people shooting up while we are on the interstate. Now throughout my addiction, I never once used a needle , I simply smoked and snorted. So I was not typically as high as everyone else. Which made me the responsible one; However, it made me feel like an outcast to be surrounded by all my friends shooting up and I just have my straw.

I experienced my first overdose situation January of 2016. My boyfriend overdosed in my car, he did a shot and tensed up, hands going to his face with tight fists. It was terrifying. We carried him into the living room, called 911, and I proceeded to do CPR just as they directed me too. He survived, and that was the day we started dating. He overdosed a total of 10 times throughout our 6 year relationship. We experienced homelessness, living in the woods, living with people. Living with people that acted insane, having "friends" attempt to burn the house down with me and him in it just because we ran out of drugs to provide and so they thought it would be a great idea to attempt an insurance claim on a house fire. Turning the stove on, placing oven mitts, boxes of macaroni on top, setting the oven to max temp and opening the door. The walls were burning, if it wasn't for a friend who came knocking at the door because the people specifically told him not to go to the house which he found odd, so he came right away. We weren't going to leave our room when they all left and so we didn't know the house was burning as we couldn't smell the smoke or anything.

I caught my first felony while being homeless. By the end of it I had accumulated 12 felonies in 5 different counties, I took the cops on a high speed chase. I was in and out of jail every few months and finally went to prison for 1 year. Going to prison ended my relationship with him, but it wasn't the end of us seeing each other in a sense. We linked up one month after my release from prison. I looked and felt so healthy, until I started using with him. We were staying in different hotels for a month, getting more high each day. The drugs were eating my nose, I had picked at my entire body, I looked horrific. We caught a new felony by the end of the month, the worst charge yet. Luckily we both ended up in Accountability court. Each in a different program. It has changed my life, I have remained sober, driven, responsible, and ever so productive. I just graduated a few weeks ago and now I am enrolled in college. He was about to graduate but unfortunately got kicked out and sent to RSAT. I hope he gets out and finds peace and stays clean. Throughout those six years, I dealt with more than just his overdoses, there were about 30 different situations that I had to personally handle. I handled them calmly and promptly. Nobody died on my watch, but unfortunately friends were dropping dead elsewhere. Because they were alone, or the people they were with just left them to die. I've lost count of the friends that have died, the number is high. Our county has such a high rate of heroin users, and heroin overdoses, yet we do not have a rehab. Surrounding counties do, but we do not. That needs to change."