Alcohol and drugs, however, were soon affecting his school work and relationships with his family. Harry describes feeling powerless and his life becoming unmanageable. He says there was not much information at the time about how to quit.
By the time Harry was celebrating his 14th birthday he was already in trouble with the police.
Born and raised in Medicine Hat, Harry thinks he was a happy kid but his dad drank and was abusive. There is a specific memory etched in his mind: At the age of 16 he had to pull his father off his mother during a fight and then wait for police to arrive.
In general, the public has no idea of the extent of the drug problem in our community, he said. Finding drugs on the street is easy, said Harry, who has also sold drugs. Someone approaches you and uses a “code language," which makes it sound so innocent in case it is a police set-up.
If you rat on someone you’d better watch out, said Harry, who used to carry a gun and says he’s been shot at and knows what it is like to have a gun held to his head.
Harry’s first addiction treatment program was in 2014. He had finished serving a jail sentence in Saskatchewan for assault. As
scary as jails may be, Harry says checking into the Henwood Treatment Centre in Edmonton took a lot of courage because he knew would have to open up about his life.
Sobriety lasted for eight-and-a-half months. It ended when he met up with someone from his drug days. He convinced himself he’d been doing so well that he deserved “a treat” — a little cocaine.
“I felt on top of the world. I felt like a cloud,” said Harry.
As it wore off he felt grumpy and wanted more. At one point he’d do three-and-a-half grams of cocaine at a time.
throw it all on the table,” said Harry. “It takes a lot of courage.”
After 28 days in what he calls “discomfort” in group sessions, he managed to maintain sobriety for nine months. His trigger was meeting up with people from his social circle again.
You have to be ready to spill your
guts — throw it all on the table. It
takes a lot of courage.
Later he came clean with his employer in the oil patch and then checked in for treatment in Calgary.
“You have to be ready to spill your guts —
“There are triggers everywhere,” said Harry.
Even while you are in jail it is possible to access drugs, he explained.
After a recent period in jail and two months house arrest, he checked into Medicine Hat Recovery Centre. Harry says doing so was not part of his conditions of release, it was his own decision and choice. He says the educational aspects of the program and the group therapy were really good.
“That’s where you succeed, the honesty,” said Harry.
Trying to stay away from life-long friends that do drugs, when they are your social
circle, is really hard, he said.
Harry would like parents to know that it starts in the home and parents need to be kinder and gentler.
“We use drugs and alcohol to hide our feelings, to hurt people, to destroy,” said Harry. “I destroyed so many years of my life.”
Harry is free of drugs and alcohol currently but says staying that way is a “never-ending battle."
Medicine Hat News agreed to not reveal the identity of the individual and Harry is not his real name. ❚
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