I Am Not Exaggerating When I Say that Narconon Saved My Life

My name is Matt and I graduates from the Narconon program in December of 2006. The story of my life does not differe much from other addicts. I began experimenting with weed at the age of 11 and was using hard drugs, such as cocaine and meth, by the time I was 16; by my early twenties I had embraced the entire drug lifestyle. I was selling, stealing, fighting and it seemed like nothing fell outside of my own ethical boundaries. Sometimes I would disappear from my house for days on end without as much as a phone call letting my parents know I was alive. As my druga ddiction grew I began to question whether this experimental stage in my life was turning into something else, so I decided to pick up and move. Things went well in the biginning, I had been clean for ab out four months, and then I began gravitating towar the same types of people I had left behind in my home town. Although I did not realize it at the time, I was just continuing down the same destructive path as before.

I was now 22 and I started using at full speed. Even though I was the type of person who would do any drug, cocaine was my drug of choice. After about six months I was completely back into my old habits, only now I was living on my own and had no parents around to keep me in check. I was snorting cocaine every day and was using meth a couple of times a week. Putting all of those drugs up your nose takes its toll and finally one of my so-called friends talked me into smoking crack. I had always said that I would never be stupid enough to do anything like crack or heroin, but there I was justifying using it for the sake of saving my nose. The thought of just quitting never entered my mind. So it went, and the downward spiral of my life sped up at an alarming rate over the next year. one day I found jail release papers in my pants pocket and I was unable to remember the events which they cited. sitting, reading the list of charges it was as if I was just then becoming aware of them, but still did not care about the consequences awaiting me in court. The only thing that did matter to me was keeping my supply of durgs up and scheming on ways to achieve my goal. Toward the end I reached a point of apathy, where I didn't care if I died or got locked up in jail. It didn't matter to me I just wanted this vicious cycle to end. Finally, my parents arranged for me to go to Narconon. They drove to my house one night, threw some clothes ina garbage bag for me and brought me to the center.

After a couple of days sobering up and catching up on sleep I was motivated enought to get through the program. Right off the bat things didn't seem to be going as smoothly as I had expected. I reacted as any normal drug addict would; I flipped out and wanted to leave. Instead of allowing me to quit one of the staff members pulled me off to the side and calmed me down. he explained to me that most of the students react this way and that it would get easier as time went on. Normally I would have not even givent this guy a chance to talk, but just knowing that he had gone through the program himself gave him credibility. so I took his advice, which was a big deal for me because trust is hard to come by in the drug world, as time went on things did get easier. I began to adjust to the daily schedule and my emotional swings began to subside. I finished the program in four and a half months. The average time it takes for someone to finish the program is about three months and some change, so I had seen quite a few fellow students come and go before it was my turn to graduate.

Before entering the program I would have felt like I was being treated unfairly or that I had someone been cheated into staying there longer, but I was seeing things differently. I felt that I had more to get out of the program and was glad that the staff didn't let me off easily. I had wanted to get clean for the last few years of my addiction, but did not know how to do it. Narconon taught me to take control of my life and how to avoid the negative situations in which I constantly found myself. I learned that staying sober required an entire lifestyle change and I felt confident that I was prepared to make that change. I am not exaggerating when I ay that Narconon saved my life because there were only two other paths my life could have taken; jail or death.

I keep my certificate of completion on the wall above my bed. It serves as a reminder of where I have been and how much I have changed; I have only been clean for a little more than two years. That time in my life seems worlds away. Following my graduation I immediately applied to the local community college. I never thought I was very bright when it came to school, but something had changed. Getting through the Narconon program takes a lot of work and the schoolwork I was getting seemed to pale in comparison. I have earned an Associate's Degree and am currently at a four-year university working on a Bechelor's in Marketing.

When I tell people about my past they always give me the same reaction, at first they always think that I am joking, but after they realize I'm not they say that they can't see me doing those kinds of things. When I look back on my past I can barely believe it myself. My personality has done a complete 180, I cannot even recognize the person that I used to be. I don't even know. Having cimpassion for others actually makes me happy. I know that these little things will probably not make up for the horrible things that I have done in my past, but I can't look at it that way. All of my past negative actions have already been committed and there is nothing I can do about it now. The only thing that I can do is concentrate on what I do today. I can go on forever about how my life has changed, but I think I have gotten my point across.

Narconon has given me a second chance and I cannot thank the staff and fellow students who helped me get through at tough time enough. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for getting me into the program and pushing me to finish, without their support I do not think I would have been able to turn my life around.