Briefly about my addiction and recovery

I first tried crack in 1986. I shortly became addicted and for the the next four years I smoked it heavily. I spent thousands of dollars on it and sold most of my possessions to buy more crack. During my addiction I got physically beaten a few times, almost got arrested more than once, and trashed three cars. I begged people for hits, manipulated and used strangers and friends for my crack. My life was a mess. I tried stopping but found to my surprise after several failed attempts, that I couldn’t stop.Well one day I was watching TV and a commercial came on about getting help for addictions. It gave a phone number and I called and it was Cocaine Anonymous. It told me about meetings in my area so I decided to try a few out. I remember my first meeting I thought everybody hated me and was laughing at me. But when the meeting ended several people came up to me and shook my hand and introduced themselves and asked me my name. I will never forget the warmth and caring at my first meeting. It’s what kept me coming back. Anyway, I didn’t really get clean after that, I used for another year. But a seed had been planted in my mind. I knew there was help. I knew there was hope. Anyway, eventually I started going to meetings regularly in1990. After about 3 months I almost relapsed one night but I woke up the next morning and my obsession and compulsion to use had been lifted overnight and has never come back. I now have 24 years clean and sober. No drugs and no alcohol. I don’t know if anybody wants to join AA, CA, or NA, but they are free and thousands of clean alcoholics and addicts prove that they work. Don’t give up hope, you can win the battle against drugs. You may experience a little setback but the thing to do is don’t give up. Jump back on that horse and stop doing drugs NOW. “Tomorrow is the beginning of the first day of the rest of your life”. Make the most of it. I wish you all good luck. :slight_smile:

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