Experimenting Gone Bad
Corey’s first foray into drugs was innocent. He was 13 years old and simply wanted to try Marijuana. The movie Half Baked was popular at the time and he didn’t think any harm could come out of it. “I actually really enjoyed it,” Corey said. “For a few years, that was all I did—smoking weed and drinking at parties.”
It wasn’t until the end of high school that drugs became a problem. Cory started doing Cocaine and Hallucinogenics. “It was frightening and colorful all at the same time,” Corey said.
When he was 19, Corey tried Heroin for the first time. It was similar to when he tried Marijuana. It was just something he hadn’t tried before. “By the time I got to this point I had tried all these things (drugs) and nothing had got that bad. It was pretty easy to assume that if I had been misled about the dangers of these other things, Heroin might not be that bad,” Corey said.
Seeking Help for Heroin Addiction
After about six months of doing Heroin, Corey started noticing that he wasn’t the same person as before. “I experienced withdrawals going a day without Heroin. Around that time some bad things started happening. I started stealing things from my family,” Corey said.
Around that time, he asked his family for help. His family suggested that he go to treatment. At the time, Corey only thought he had to go through detox in order for it to work. However, people around him suggested that he go through 30-day inpatient.
Unfortunately, there was a gap of time between his time in detox and the inpatient treatment. During that span he got high and wasn’t prepared to start treatment. Following that situation, he was in and out of jail and treatment.
However, about five years ago, for some reason he decided enough was enough. He went to treatment and starting working the program. He ended up relapsing, but it was the first experience he had staying sober and watching his life improve because of it.
Coming Through the Fire and Into Peace
During that span he had also met a lot of good friends. After he relapsed, he wound up homeless. A friend of his came and picked him up to let him sleep on the couch for the night. The friend happened to work for a recovery center himself.
While on the couch, Corey’s friend talked to his boss and the boss arranged to pay for Corey to get treatment at one of the new facilities in Tucson, AZ. Corey was originally hesitant. “It was a weird feeling. One the one hand it was a great way to get sober. On the other hand, everything was screaming not to go,” Corey said.
He overcame his tensions and decided to go. After finishing treatment, he went to a sober living facility. The owner of the facility hired him as a house manager, which helped since he hadn’t held a job for a long time up to that point.
As Corey progresses through recovery he has a lot to feel grateful for. “I have a house. I don’t go hungry,” Corey said. “I have a lot of friends who care about me and I care about them. When I was high, I had a hard time empathizing with people.”
“I don’t have a hard time sleeping. When I was high I stayed up thinking about all the lies I told and all the lies I had to keep up,” Corey said. Now, Corey enjoys peaceful sleep.
“Despite the problems I have in my life, I’m okay with my life,” Corey said. “There is a way out. No one is a lost cause. You are not alone and you are not un-loved.”
