A Face Of Hope

A constant cat and mouse chase, practically a full time job doing anything that was necessary to obtain my drug of choice: heroin.

Growing up on Staten Island I had many goals and dreams and came from a good family. Eventually I started to look for something more and ended up hanging around with the wrong crowd of people. I started out innocently smoking pot and drinking on the weekend, and slowly progressed over the years until I stumbled upon opiates. Everything about opiates felt right, until it lead me down a very dark path. Shortly after experimenting with opiate pills I found myself shooting heroin and living a miserable life. No family, no friends, no motivation or drive to do anything except for chasing the high. It was not until I was twenty four that I realized I needed to do something that would help me get my life back. I started detoxing which was miserable. To detox from heroin is one of the most painful things in the entire world. When you begin to withdraw you cannot sit still, you cannot eat, you cannot sleep, your joints ache, and your digestive system goes crazy. It honestly feels like you want to crawl out of your skin. This is what a heroin addict in active addiction wakes up to. This is considered normal when you are addicted to opiates. Eventually I entered a long term treatment program and at a year and a half clean I can say that it was the best decision I ever made in my life. For the first time in my life I have real friends and an actual relationship with my family. I can finally say that I am truly living my life without being held prisoner to addiction. Dynamite Youth center has truly helped me start a new happy and healthy life that I thought I would never see again.