Cindy West
The Gadsden Times

Marijuana can also addict

With drugs like OxyContin and crystal methamphetamine making headlines, people tend to see marijuana as relatively harmless.

Even if marijuana doesn't lead to harder drug use, it can grab the user in its own headlock of addiction.
Jack (not his real name) is a Cherokee County resident who will soon turn 34. He just celebrated 90 days of being clean after spending almost 20 years addicted to marijuana.

He smoked his first joint when he was 14, hanging out with a group of his friends. "Somebody had one and said, 'Here try it.' I was just trying to fit in," he said.

At first he smoked occasionally on weekends, and then he progressed to every morning before school, every evening after school and every weekend.
"After I got out of school and started working, it became an every-day, all-day-long thing," he said. "I don't know exactly how much money I spent, but I'm guessing it was about $200 a week." In addition to construction work, he financed his habit by selling drugs.

He said he was never fired from a job because of drug use. "I took a bunch of chances," he said. "If I'd been sober, I wouldn't have done some of the things I did on the job, took some of the risks I took."

Jack thought he was doing fine until he went through a drivers license check last September. The police officer knew Jack and knew his reputation. "He knew if he searched hard enough, he'd find something," Jack said. "He found a joint or two."
Slapped with a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge, Jack pleaded guilty. He was handed over to the Etowah County Court Referral Office.
Court referral offices are a result of the Mandatory Treatment Act of 1990. Everyone arrested for a drug- or alcohol-related offense is required to go through the program, Etowah County CRO Director Lenesha Freeman said.

"We do an evaluation and place them in DUI school or treatment, whichever level of care is needed," Freeman said.

Being arrested didn't change Jack's attitude about drug use, and he was not pleased at being sent to an outpatient drug rehabilitation program. "At the time I was ------ off pretty bad," he said. "I had hard feelings toward the police and the court referral office. When I first went to the CRO office, I told them that I'd do whatever I had to do to get through their program, but as soon as I was done, I was going to smoke me another joint."

In the rehab program, counselors asked the addicts to abstain from drugs and alcohol for 12 weeks. "They told us the main thing was being honest with yourself," Jack said. "That was something that was very hard for me. I guess I was unsure of giving clean a try."

He told the counselors he would be as honest as he could, and he gave the program a try.

"I quit for 12 weeks and got to noticing how things seemed to be better," he said. "I had more money in my pocket and had a better relationship with my kids."

The court had ordered him to attend 40 Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

"As I was listening I seen what other people were saying and how it related to my life, what I was doing and where I was going if I didn't stop," he said. "It opened my eyes to a better way.
"I still enjoy working, but I enjoy coming home more than I used to."

On May 8, Jack celebrated 90 days of being clean. "I'm about to turn 34 years old, and it's the longest I can remember since I was a kid not being high," he said.

Being clean doesn't mean that Jack doesn't still think about using drugs.

"Every day it will come to me, I wonder what it would be like to have a joint?" he said. "I still have bad days."

He gets through those days by going to 12-step meetings and talking to his sponsor. "It's having a person I can trust, I can talk to, I can tell my problems to and they tell me theirs and give me their opinion," he said.

He also knows where he would be had he not given up marijuana. "There's no doubt: institutions, jail or death," Jack said. "That's the only three options you've got if you don't stop using."

As a young father with children age 19 months to 8 years, he's glad to think he'll be around for their future.

"We're not promised tomorrow, but it is good to know that I'm trying to be clean," he said. "It's a day-by-day process. I try not to look too far ahead.
"I know I feel good about today. I hope I feel good about tomorrow when tomorrow gets here."