X says that she was around 11 years old when she started smoking pot. Generally hanging out with a crowd several years older than she, it wasn’t long before she got introduced to some harder drugs. By the time she was in high school she had been introduced to oxy by a boyfriend who was addicted to the pills. She asked him if she could try. Once she started using oxy, she says that she knew that this was going to control her life. She said that the first time she shot up, she knew that she was addicted. That is how powerful this substance became to her.
X addiction led her to several stints in prison. She was sentenced to over five years for embezzlement of money from a job to support her habit and her boyfriend, who introduced her to oxy. Describing herself as a “chronic relapser,” she said even when she was in jail, she was thinking of the drugs she would use upon release. Back and forth in and out of prison, she would come out stay clean for a while, but she would always end up using again.
Upon being asked, what has made this time different, she spoke with regret that her mother’s passing while she was incarcerated. She said that the loss of her mother, “made this time different.” She was not allowed to go to her mom’s funeral due to being in jail. She said that being around positive people and a positive environment made her see that she had to change. One of the individuals that she gave high accolades is Trudy Halstead, who is the Licensed Substance Abuse Counselor, supported by an allocation to the Pitt Community College Reentry Program from Opioid funds. She said that Trudy and the PCC Reentry Program “has been a godsend.”
She said that, for the first time in her life, she has held down a job for over a year and has been clean for two years. Even though she is currently on probation. She does have some plans for her future. She would like to ger her license back after having them revoked due to driving while impaired. She is also making strides to work through many of her legal issues that she got while actively using.