REAL STORIES

Age: 32
Gender: Male

It all started when I was a teenager. I always wanted to be the popular kid. My senior year in high school I was the captain of the football team. I made a goal after football season as a junior that I was going to train hard to be the best next football season. I trained every day in the gym lifting weights, conditioning, always telling myself I was going to be the best. Well, my senior year came and there I was, captain of the football team. My coach was interviewed by the newspaper and said that defense would be the key to victory. He said he had a strong safety who had the same style as Ronnie Lott. During the football season, the eighth game, I was injured. The doctor said my football career was over. That if I got hit a certain way I could risk being paralyzed from the neck down. My parents didn't want to take that chance and wouldn't sign the player's release. All my training was for nothing; I was mad and hurt. I didn't know what to do. That's when it started.

I slowly got into drinking and hanging out with the wrong people who I thought were cool. Then in the summer of 1995 I was introduced to a drug called ice. The feeling was so unreal it was like being on top of the world. I continued to use ice and spending my whole paycheck to buy the drug. I would stay up for days, not sleeping, hardly eating, hiding from my family because I didn't want them to find out. Then I quit my job because all I wanted was to get high. During that same year I met my soon to be wife. She was a pretty, smart, awesome person. She was always there for me even when she found out I was using drugs. She always gave me a chance to change. I used to threaten her telling her if she left me I'd kill myself or would hurt her. In 1999 I checked into a drug treatment center in Honolulu for six months. I returned home to my wife and two-year old daughter. I got a job in the labor union working in construction. Not long after I relapsed. I was using my paycheck to buy ice again, lying to my wife, not coming home for days. All I wanted to do was get high. I tried again and relapsed two more times. Finally my wife and daughter left. When I finally hit bottom, I had lost everything. I realized in order to see my daughter again I had to get clean.

Today I live a clean and sober life focusing on the important things in my life. I get to see my daughter every day; the smile on her face makes me stronger every day. She says I'm the best dad. I'm involved in her school activities and sports. I'm so proud of her.

Ice is a horrible drug. It kills, steals, destroys, makes you lie. It's the Devil.

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