I started smoking marijuana and cigarettes at 13. By the time I was 15 I was using opiates and continued all the way until 22. My brother passed away in Afghanistan and I replaced opiates with meth and that’s when things really went downhill. I got my first charge right before I turned 22; I had two possession charges and I went on the run. I moved to Lewiston from Cottonwood and lived with my dad until he kicked me out. I got arrested, was transported to Payette where my grandparents bailed me out and I lived with them in Meridian for two and a half months. I moved back to Lewiston and was on probation. I was still using, kept getting probation violations, I was couch hopping, and then I was given an ultimatum by my probation officer: 30-day inpatient treatment or serve my 5-year sentence. I chose inpatient treatment, got out, enrolled in ChangePoint. I was clean for six months and doing really well. I ended up relapsing, I started using IV heavily, completely burned all bridges, my parents wanted nothing to do with me, completely homeless, didn’t have anything, in and out of jail. Got arrested in October of 2017 and sat in jail for three months. I was then accepted into Drug Court Treatment Program and I have been clean ever since. I graduate in March 2020.
