Several years ago, I had lunch with my old friend, Lynn. She had always been the type of person who never tried to hide anything. She was incredibly open about her life. Lynn was a drug addict for over 18 years. She started using drugs as a teenager when she was 14 years old. During her school years, Lynn usually would buy her drugs from friends and classmates. These drugs were prescription medications that her friends and classmates stole to sell for money. You see, she did not use illegal street drugs. For the longest time, Lynn never thought she had a drug problem. Because in her mind … she was not a drug addict! Lynn’s choice of prescription drugs at that time was codeine and valium.

As the years went by and Lynn got older, she eventually started buying Xanax and Oxycodone from the streets most of the time. Eventually, Lynn would lose everything, including her husband, children, job, and home, due to her drug problems. Lynn’s drug problems created a lot of legal problems for her. She used it heavily every day, and her drug habit had gotten out of control. She used every game possible to get these drugs. You name it, and she did it. Stealing money and jewelry, sold her body for sex, and did anything else she could to steal from family, friends, co-workers, or anybody just to sell for money. Shoplifting to sell items for money, writing bad checks on a banking account in her husband’s name, and hers.

Lynn did not have a problem stealing blank checks and forging them from other people’s banking accounts, including her stepfather, mother, and grandparents. It was all about having the money to get her drugs. Lynn had suffered from depression for many years, starting as a child. Lynn never understood why her biological father left shortly after she turned four. It was believed that Lynn’s drug addiction was related to her depression. She had a tough time accepting the fact that even later in life, as a teenager, her father still wanted nothing to do with her. Because of her drug addiction, Lynn’s stepfather and mother filed ECOs on her multiple times within 18 years.

“An ECO is an Emergency Custody Order for adults who are incapable of making an informed decision for themselves.” Sometimes this is necessary to save a life when the addiction becomes bad. Lynn’s drug addiction had become worse after her husband left. Lynn’s ex-husband received full custody of their children. He had also gotten a court order barring Lynn from seeing the children until she could get clean. Unfortunately, Lynn blamed her stepfather and mother for many things. Lynn had a big attitude problem with her stepfather throughout the time of her drug addiction. Mainly because Lynn often thought he kept her mother from helping her.

Lynn believed for a long time that her parents had given up on her. What hurt the most was the fact that Lynn believed her own “flesh and blood,” her mother, had given up on her! But their home was always open for Lynn to have a place to stay, clothes to wear if needed, food to eat, and medical care as well. They made this known to her several times throughout the years. It took Lynn years to understand that her parents did not give up on her. I certainly can state, “her parents,” because Lynn had just turned 6 years old when her stepfather married her mother. Lynn’s stepfather was the only real father figure who was there when she was growing up.

During the years of Lynn’s drug addiction, they had tried many times to talk to her about the medications she was taking. But it did no good. She always stated to them, “I do not have a drug problem. My medications are prescribed by my doctors for me.” Lynn went from one doctor to the next doctor. She would even go out-of-state to different medical facilities for appointments seeking these (2) drugs: Xanax and Oxycodone. If not by prescription from doctors or hospital ER visits, then on the streets. As stated before, prescription drugs like Xanax and Oxycodone are sold on the streets and the cost of these drugs on the streets will depend on where you lived.

Lynn’s parents continued to talk to her about seeking help for her drug problem through the years. Lynn stated that during that time she would often become enraged, angry, and violent, and she would tell them to shut up! Doing some of her most violent moments, Lynn’s parents had no choice but to call the police when she was staying at their home. Primarily due to Lynn becoming so violent that she started breaking things. Nothing did any good! Lynn would not listen to them. After several years of attempting to talk to Lynn and many trips to the hospital ER for a drug overdose, they were finally worn down. They decided it was time to step aside and see if someone else could help her.

What they did was step back and allow an outsider to step forward to help Lynn when she was at her lowest point in life on her last trip to the ER. Finally, at the age of thirty-two, this completely helped to save her life. Lynn was able during the past 20 years of her life to mend many fences. She got her life back together by getting clean. Lynn got educated in both illegal and prescription drug abuse. She became a motivated speaker on substance abuse. She repaired the damaged relationships with her mother, stepfather, and grown children. Unfortunately, her grandparents died before Lynn got the chance to be effective in her life.

It is one regret that has always weighed heavily in Lynn’s heart. During one of the worst times in Lynn’s life, she had stolen money from her grandparents as well as some of her grandmother’s valuable jewelry and pawned those items for money to buy Xanax and Oxycodone on the streets. As I write today, I have often thought of my friend, Lynn. Lynn, when not using drugs and spaced out, was genuinely a very likable and funny person. Lynn loved to tell jokes. She certainly could make you laugh. Lynn died from liver cancer several years ago less than 4 months after her birthday. She was only 53 years old. Cancer had already spread to her bones the last time I saw her.

I knew it would be only a matter of a few months before cancer would take her life. Unfortunately, the repeated years of drug abuse had finally taken their toll on her liver. There are few people aware that even prescription drug abuse, as well as illegal street drugs, can lead to liver, kidney, and pancreatic damage. It can also cause damage to other parts of your body. Sadly, when the damage is done to a person’s body by years of repeated drug abuse, it usually has gotten to the point that it is not reversible. Most drug addicts find out way too late about the damage the history of drug abuse has done to their bodies. By this time, most of them are at a point in their life where they do not care.

And as Lynn once stated to me. “I am very thankful that for the last 20 years of my life, I had an incredibly special person (my mentor) who came into my life. She helped to keep me out of prison and change my life. She saved me when no one else could. Lynn was grateful to have had the chance to help others with substance abuse over the years. She said that “they were lost souls like me, and I helped to guide them to a better place in their lives.” Unfortunately, not everyone that Lynn encountered throughout the years was able to be saved. I honestly believe Lynn was at peace with herself when she died. As stated before, Lynn often spoke about how very thankful she was that the damage her drug addiction caused to her relationships with family and friends had been mended.

Throughout the last 20 years of her life, Lynn has been able to see all three of her children go to college, get married, and have children of their own. Lynn once told me that she counted her blessings every day to have gotten the chance to be part of their lives. Throughout Lynn’s life, she has made many friends. I hope that those who knew Lynn will always remember all the good that she had done. In Lynn’s own words, “For it is not what I was but what I became at the end of my life that mattered.”

♥ Fly high, my friend!

Conclusion:

♦♦Anyone interested in learning the dangers of misusing Xanax or Oxycodone, as well as other controlled prescription drugs and illegal street drugs, should check out the websites listed under my reference section. If you need help, seek out resources that can provide the information you need to get back on the road to recovery before it is too late.

References:

1. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/street-drugs-risks

2. National Institute on Drug Abuse https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/treatment-recovery

3. American Addiction Centers. https://americanaddictioncenters.org/

4. CAMH. https://www.camh.ca/en/health-info/guides-and-publications/straight-talk-oxycodone

5. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline