KCI The Anti_Meth Site

Advice for a meth addict facing prison

luve piphany	Advice for a meth addict facing prison Something that hasn't been discussed here lately is how a meth addict who has been broken and busted and put in their place by the powers that be, FEELS. So, the dirty deeds have been done, the pain all dispensed, the dope's all gone and the addict is looking at prison. What do they feel? What wisdom could be passed on to the broken and fearful soul that was woken up from the nightmare. No sympathy here-empathy please. All judgment aside, the blame game is dead, the anger put away, hope for the understanding that what will be will be. I don't believe in my heart for one second that prison is the place for meth addicts, but what is-IS. Reality is sinking in, the fighting it is done and surrender is here. gotta love em wherever they're at...but I can only trust God to put the messages here, because I've asked. I believe there are messages of wisdom, strength and experience to help the one towards using prison time to begin recovery. You addicts know the fear and you know the remedy. I know there are the few, the proud, (NOT THE MARINES) the....recovering meth addicts who did use prison time to begin recovery. Prison Fellowship gives very real and kind preparation tips, the seasoned addicts tell a bit of their war stories (but they are still addicts-not great wisdom coming from them), and I give the words I hear in my heart from my God, but I know there is more. More support for the hurting and shamed child broken by meth from those who have also been broken and have rebuilt, healed, come out into the light. I am seeing the acceptance mixed with a face full of fear. The ears and heart are opening.
Replies...
danimal 55	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison NA.org click on H&I [hospitals and institutions] Locked up beats the hell out of covered up!
vctry7	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison Sometimes prison is the better alternative. If you have someone that is dying, refuses rehab, and is a danger to themselves and others, it is the best option. IMO Here is something you might be interested in: www.legis.nd.gov/assembly.../79288.pdf Came back to add: Luvepiphany, I don't know if there is anything to say to make someone that is going to prison feel better, especially someone coming off of meth. My sis-in-law is facing prison again (she has been twice). She said she would kill herself is she had to go back. My husband tried to tell her if she would just go and not run she would only serve a year. He tried to tell her she breezed through the first two times, she would be okay this time, too. He tried to tell her it would be a chance to start over and to get healthy again. He even tried to tell her that maybe she would be able to help the other young girls (first timers) in there that are scared to death. Nothing he said to her mattered. She is determined to avoid prison at all costs to herself and everyone else. All he could do was tell her he loved her and would pray for her. I think that was the best thing he could've said. My husband has been to prison. He said he knew there was nothing he could say to her that would make her feel better about going, but he tried. I think you have a lot of love in your heart to be trying.
hussie dors	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison I feel that the meth addict who has ended up in prison...has hit there rock bottom... perhaps not by choice .They are about as low as you can get... so the only way now is up... In my opinion this is the addicts chance for a new start...whether they continue with there recovery when they get out of prison...well your guess is as good as mine. But i firmly believe that this is a chance in a lifetime for them. It has been taken out of there hands...and perhaps put into Gods hands...What they do with that is up to them. We can only hope for the best.
Allnite long1	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison Not much can be said, when your in custody waiting to be sentenced! But once you're sentenced and on your way, all you can think about is, "OK my long journey has just begun" Once there you either adapt to your surroundings and get with the program or your going to be in a long sad haul! You learn to do the time, and not let the time do you !!
luve piphany	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison Wow vctry, that was a fascinating site-I never knew they had already developed my idea...I do wish meth prisons were in all the states. I will have to do some more research on this somehow. If you know of more links, I'm all eyes. I will say it again, "All judgment aside-looking into the face filled with acceptance and fear" There is not much left of the wanting to run and hide or manipulate the system or find another way out for this addict. This is not about me right now. This request for wisdom is for the addict still suffering who is lost. Yes, the NA meetings are there-time is short and this isn't about trying to start his program for him, or tell him what he already has accepted...it's just a request for experience, strength and hope. There aren't pre-prison support groups around here that I know of...at least no one has offered any meeting lists...
chris gonz	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison I don't think meth manufacturers ought to be on the same list as sex offenders. I just don't believe the two belong in the same category. (Comment to the above link) I also believe dealers and addicts should be held accountable for their actions. They were bold enough to live in the drug world... prison is a part of that world. Sorry not to be more sympathetic... I've been to prison for my actions too. I learned a lot from my experience. The biggest lesson... I don't EVER want to go back!!!
Naiev Newly wed	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison *Quote:* Sometimes prison is the better alternative. If you have someone that is dying, refuses rehab, and is a danger to themselves and others, it is the best option. Took the words right out of my mouth. Again - someone very dear to me reminded me: "I often visit my husband in prison wishing I hadn't turned him in. But it's better than the alternative - visiting his gravesite wishing I had." Edited to add this site: Prison Talk - Drug & Alcohol Treatment & Rehabilitation This site is for those whose lives have been touched by addiction to drugs, alcohol or otherwise. For addicts and those who care about them. This site has helped me a lot as this sub forum is particularly for those whose addicts are in prison and what they experience
ZJeff	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison I was that addict. prison was the best thing that could have happened to me. I really think it was the only way I would have ever got clean. Everyone's bottom is different. Prison does seem pretty low, but I know many who do the time and go right back out. Very sad, but true. Jails, instructions, and....death.
sdm sanjose	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison One of my son's friends who lived with us for a while came to see me last month. He had finished his 2.5 years in prison (Arizona and Oklahoma). He was caught with a dirty UA for the umpteenth time because he was doing meth with my son and that is what put him in prison. I wrote to Don while he was in prison and he told me in his letters and again in person last month. You have a very good chance of not getting hurt if you respect others and do not join gangs. He said the hype on TV about the extreme violence is over dramatized at least in the two prisons he was in. He never had a real problem in 2.5 years. He also said that you have programs to improve yourself if you want them. Don is trained as a carpenter and received some education. When Don saw me he gave me a big hug. As we talked I could see that all traces of smirkness were gone and a very quite and sincere Don was evident. Don is going to Colorado where some of his family is to start a new life and will be away from all the triggers here in Southern Arizona. When his ride had arrived and he had to go he gave me another hug and would not let go with his fingers digging into my back. He was trembling a little and talking deep breaths. He is capable of good emotions and has a grateful attitude. I know this young man very well and the Don that came out of prison was a better Don than before he went in.
luve piphany	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison Thank you. Naieve, thank you for the website. I'm thankfully past the "thow em in and throw away the key" he ruined everything anger... I talked in my AlAnon meeting tonight on the 5th Tradition....we learn to have understanding and compassion for the alcoholic/addict and the families of alcoholics/addicts. Through this site and my meetings I have gained a huge amount of compassion and empathy for the addict-both recovering and using-in treatment, on the streets or in prison-just human beings all. With this compassion and empathy, I am healthier and more at peace. Stan, thank you so. I know you have been preparing for the possibility, inevitability and maybe hope that your son will be stopped if he can't stop himself. I understand and I get strength and hope from that understanding. Just the act of passing on your story of your son's friend is proof that there is a reason for some of your pain. I hope you know what I mean. I have been able to share some experience strength and hope from people here and NA meetings with my addict friend and I know that he is grateful underneath that scared hopeless curtain over his heart. You have been of Service. By the way, at the first NA meeting I went to 3 months ago, I was first greeted by and sat next to a guy who was in San Quentin in '69, kicked heroin in '72 and was an NA speaker in the hospitals& institutions program and without knowing a thing about me, proceeded to tell me his testimony and how much he got out of his service-how that kept him clean & sober. He believes there is a great need to support the addict still suffering especially in preparing to go to prison. I didn't get his number and he went across country on his motorcycle but I got his message and I know that meeting him was a God thing...
chris gonz	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison *Quote:* He believes there is a great need to support the addict still suffering especially in preparing to go to prison. Ok... I don't understand this part. How do you mean suffering??? I thought you meant still using. So, I'm not seeing how someone who is getting ready to go to prison needs support on staying clean. I mean drugs are WAY harder to get in prison. If you mean suffering, as in WHY we use.... finding ourselves and loving ourselves is a very long process. So, I mean when you break the law, every time, the addict KNOWS prison is a possibility. Or did they NOT know that??? I feel the people LEFT BEHIND when one does time do 'time' themselves. I know it was harder on my kids me being in prison than it was on me. They should have a program for that. Ok.. I'll wait till you clarify what you mean by suffering before I go further... or not, should you choose not to respond. I just don't understand who the 'help' is going out to. I know a lot of addicts who've done time and come out and stayed clean. One chairs meetings in prison. I also know some addicts who fall right back into old behaviors as soon as they're released.... recidivism. When an addict goes in, they're usually coming down.. hard. Then, yes... the reality of being locked up is hard and too-boot the addict is sick. Is that the preparation you're talking about??? Unless, he's turning himself in... I had to do that. That sucked, so maybe that's what you're talking about. An addict with some clean time and having to turn themselves in. Yes, that would be hard. The realization that your life is clean and facing the legal consequences of our actions. That's a rough reality check. I opted NOT to have my kids visit. I didn't want them seeing that type of living going on. I sent my kids to live with a friend that I completely trusted. I sold my material things so I could send them money, collect calls are expensive and is food and clothing. The worst thing for me was getting my freedom taken away. Not being able to routine at my pace or with my desires. The worst thing after leaving was having the 'title' of felon and trying to find meaningful employment. That and loosing my civil rights. I can get my rights reinstated with a huge chunk of change... I'll work on that after my youngest is 16. For employment, I've had to keep myself competitive in the market making my skills and past employments over-ride the convictions or be an independent contractor. A business license is affordable. Much luck and peace with your situation,
luve piphany	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison Oh my gosh, I just wrote for 15 minutes and somehow it all got erased-deleted-poof! Chris-I will write again later. nothing like heartfelt words being deleted-sucks Yes Chris, I mean the addict suffering-still using out on bail (by those special pals that want to keep em down) because they don't know how to stop but know they want to but in that contemplation stage and acceptance stage and crippled FEAR stage. I don't believe anyone got clean overnight and recovery is for life. The guy that knows he has to die unto himself with a messed up brain that can't quite figure out what the next step to take and no one is offering a hand-at least not one right in front of him except the user pals who are just as messed up and who knows God is with him but is still hearing the meth lies even when clean for a few days, that tell him maybe dying would be a better escape than living. A guy that doesn't have any ex convict success stories in his mind-just sees the ones who were there and are back out working on going in again-no experience strength and hope that he can live without meth and walk through the fires he built and build a new life. I could counsel till I'm blue in the face with all the success stories, but I haven't lived it and it's not my place. I don't believe it is fair to send any meth addict or person who exhibits brain damage and emotional deadness into a place with no hope of a light and only the understanding that life is over. Yes, I believe that God is watching him as well as me. There are no clear cut reasons as to why prison is a bottom for some and not for others but there is a lot of evidence that the whole system in punishing meth addicts is not what it could be and can be improved. For one, the secrecy of the disease and the stigma keeps many a meth addict isolated-I know many an addict who is sick and doesn't comprehend a whole lot of the world around them-and the world around them doesn't comprehend much of them. Disabled is what comes to mind-one word-disabled-doesn't matter what made them that way, they are still disabled and deserve help from those who are stronger-more able. We can let it be as it is-which is what I have to do to continue in my own recovery or if strong enough, we can reach out to the disabled. From what I have learned so far, there are many things that can be done to better the chances of an addict's success to work a program of recovery in prison. It takes great compassion and humility for someone who has been there to reach out in service and spread some of that wisdom-experience strength and hope. Thank you all for your thoughts-courage to have understanding and encouragement for the addict who is still suffering.
nine years clean	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison I've lived it, and survived it. However, I was clean 6 months by the time I got locked up. Did a year in the California State Penitentiary behind meth.
luve piphany	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison niner, I've taken in so much of what you have written and used it as a foundation of my understanding. I didn't know that you were 6 months clean before you went in but I think I sensed it as when you write of your time in, you have so much more of a positive sound to it and I bet things were probably a lot uglier 11 years ago (see, I know you're a tenner almost an elevener). You must have been kind of lonely in there compared to how many meth addicts are in prisons now. I wonder if in a way, it was a good thing that you were one of the first on your block to go to prison for meth shyt (I have read your story), as general society is pretty hardened these days on meth addicts since they seem to hurt a lot more people in more places. So, see, yours is a success story (at least to me) and I have passed on some of your strength and experience to my addict-I've watched it lessen his fear of walking through.
chris gonz	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison I hear you on feeling the addict is in the wrong place. My friend flipped out mentally... she burned her sister's house down trying to make a bird come into the living room that she swore was talking to her. She did 4 years in a mental hospital. She came back a very peaceful person. Maybe your friend can see if he fits into that capacity to do his time. Read James 5:13 and further down. Maybe that might give him some peace. He really needs to quit using before he surrenders himself... it would be much easier on him around friends than staff and inmates. Lots and lots of inmates are just trying to get their time done. If he gets involve in church and stuff that's positive, his time won't be so hard. We will be MUCH harder kicking behind bars. You have to request help, then wait for it. Sorry, there's just not mass sympathy for inmates... probably because the courts are literally flooded with drug cases. Much luck and peace in your situation.
nine years clean	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison *Quote:* You must have been kind of lonely in there compared to how many meth addicts are in prisons now Actually, most of the women I met were in there because of meth or heroin. And yes, most of them got clean when they started doing their time in jail or prison. That was hard to watch, because in them, I saw me. Many of the women I met told me that they weren't "arrested", they were "rescued"; they said because they knew if they weren't locked up, they'd probably be dead. Prison was hard for me because I'm not from the streets. It's a whole different world, with it's own language, and it's own set of rules. I stayed close to God the entire time, and He stayed close to me. I find it amazing that I survived it, to be honest.
luve piphany	Re: Advice for a meth addict facing prison Thanks Chris, another thing I can pass on-VERY important for him to hear these bits of wisdom from the been there and done that's (not that that's all you are. I suggested kindly a mental health evaluation right after his arrest knowing that someone with professional accreditation or clout needs to speak for him...I've watched some silly court sessions where an addict who was clearly out of their mind tried to speak for themselves standing next to their Pub defender....the judge had nothing else to do but sentence away...the family was probably so sick and tired and the pub defenders are so overworked and so off to prison without a tool in the toolbox. Lawyers used to be called counselors...now they have such complicated jobs that they don't seem to have much time to be counselors. This meth shyt is trying on everyone and I have a lot of empathy even for the guards in the jails who have to put up with the mental cases...