A Second Chance: How I Reclaimed My Life from Meth

I was born in Santa Clarita, California, and have lived in California all of my life. Except for one period of time, it has been a very good life. The exception was between 17 and 19 years of age when I was addicted to methamphetamine.

I had a good life as a child and teenager. I had a great family, did well in school and in fact was a tutor in school as well as a cheerleader. Some of my most pleasant moments were family vacations to places like Newport Beach in California and Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.

At 17 years of age, I was dating a boy whose friend who introduced us to meth. I became addicted very rapidly and started hanging out with others doing drugs. I had no experience with the drug scene before this, and at the time it just seemed fun and the things that cool kids did.

However, the result of doing meth was that I stopped studying for tests, stopped cheerleading and pulled away from my family and those that loved me.

One day, my parents found a pipe in one of my sweatshirts and discovered that I was doing drugs. I thought that they would dislike me because of this, but in fact they never stopped loving me or wanting to help. When one of my friends came over to the house and tried to break into my car to get a battery charger, my father had had enough and made a deal with me. If I agreed to go to a drug rehab program, he would not have my friend charged for breaking into the car.

My father did a lot of research online and found Narconon Arrowhead. He knew when he started looking for a program that he wanted me to do one in another State, away from where I was doing drugs. Narconon Arrowhead was in a State park in Oklahoma, by a beautiful lake and isolated from big cities and areas with a lot of drugs, and there were many stories of people successfully getting off drugs there.

I agreed to go to Narconon and it was definitely the right decision. When I first arrived at the center, I felt that I was only doing this because I had no choice, but very soon I realized that it was what I needed, and I made a second decision ― that I would really apply myself to doing the program and getting everything I could out of it.

The staff were very nice and competent and did not put me down or make me feel that they were judging me.

The sauna portion of the program was great. I felt clean of drugs and my mind was much clearer. My former abilities as a student came back, and I was able to use that to do the rest of the program to the utmost.

One of the best moments was when my family came to visit me at Narconon and saw how well I was doing, and I could see that they were very proud of me.

And even though this was 20 years ago, I still remember my graduation date.

“Since doing the program, I have married and have a son who is 6 years old. I am pregnant with a second child, a daughter, who will arrive any day! I have my own career and my relationship with my family is great.”

Since doing the program, I have married and have a son who is 6 years old. I am pregnant with a second child, a daughter, who will arrive any day! I have my own career and my relationship with my family is great.

To others who are using drugs and struggling with addiction, I would say the following:

Look at what you have lost or could lose from using drugs, and look at what you can gain back if you handle the addiction. When you think you have lost everything, there is a way to get it back, like I did at Narconon.

M.C., Narconon Graduate