[
THE SCOOP] lifestyles
One Man’s Story
How former Vermont lacrosse player Mike Devlin beat addiction
T
he drugs made him feel like a man.
Mike Devlin was in his senior year of college in Vermont, and what began as a dependence on painkillers — an introduction made via sports
injuries — had spiraled deeper: Cocaine.
Heroin. Other opiates.
“I stopped playing lacrosse, and I
started to lose my identity and sense of purpose,” said Devlin, 24, who now lives in Dallas. “What made me feel like a man, and what made me feel needed, was this new identity: I’m a college student, I’m taking three classes, I’m working two jobs and on the side I’m selling drugs.”
Devlin is a house manager at the Gaston House, a sober living community for men where he received care after completing rehab. He also has reconnected with lacrosse as a coach and administrator for Sentry Lacrosse, a Dallas-based club program with several youth and travel teams.
18 LACROSSE MAGAZINE September 2013>>
How old were you when you began using drugs? I started experimenting with alcohol and drugs before high school. I played lacrosse my whole life, and during high school, I underwent a couple surgeries. I was prescribed painkillers, and once I started taking those, I realized I didn’t need anything else.
When I got to college, I underwent another surgery and decided to stop playing lacrosse. Addiction is a progressive illness, and it was progressing. Right before my junior year of college, I spent my first summer away from home, and I kind of just lost hope in everything. I fell into the world of addiction and drugs altogether. That year, I found a sense of desperation and wanted to get help. I left school and came to an outpatient program in New York. At that point, it was the pills that were a problem for me, so I went back to school thinking, “Oh, I can still smoke pot, I can still drink, I can still do cocaine.”
Eventually all those things weren’t doing it for me, so I reverted back to what I know works for me. I went back to the pills, which started progressing into heroin. The big thing for me was speed balling — doing cocaine and opiates together. That’s what made me feel comfortable, made me feel on top of the world.
When did you hit rock bottom and realize you needed help?
Around Christmas 2010, I had two jobs and was selling drugs, and I still wasn’t making enough money to afford my habit. So I was robbing my friends, robbing the people I was selling drugs to, and I found myself in a really bad spot. I went home at Christmas and some of this stuff started to come to light between me and my family. I told myself again and again, “I’m gonna go back to school, and I’m going to clean up. It’s gonna be OK.” As addicts, we believe ourselves. I wanted to get clean, and I really believed that I was going to.
I went back to school, and about a week later I was robbing everybody I could. I ended up in a Motel 6. I had spent all the money I had left on drugs and I polished off everything, hoping I wasn’t going to wake up. Later, when I turned on my phone, I saw text messages from people who were worried about me, and I had a text
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©MITCHEL GRAY
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68