Back in the spring of 1972, I was 14 years old. I had already been smoking pot and drinking alcohol for a year. After I dropped out of high school, I started hanging out with my sister and her friends, all a few years older than myself. one of them, I'll call Mike, was only 4 years older than me.(He couldn't go to the bar either) I don't know why, but I looked up to him, and thought he was really cool. I knew they were all doing heroin, and wanted to try it, but my sister said NO WAY!

Well they all went to the bar one night, except Mike and I, and I got my wish. Mike turned me on to heroin, for the first time. Boy, I'll tell you, I had never felt so good in my life, I didn't even care about the needle, I felt like I was "Big Time" I guess. Even though I threw up all night, (Mike told me that was normal for the first time) in between trips to the bathroom, I felt great! Little did I know, that step would change my life towards the negative forever.

Unfortunately, all I wanted from that time on, was heroin. I have spent the last 27 years fighting the opiate cravings, this is something I will never win. Fortunately I can keep my cravings under control with MMT, and I know I will need methadone for the rest of my life. I and my family are both OK with this, just as long as I try not to use heroin.

Because of severe osteoarthritis, I can not work any more. I'm on SSI and I stay home and love and support my family, and they give me all the love and support I need. And this is all I need, I don't need or want drugs any more, so it's easy to stay out of trouble.

You may ask what happened to Mike? Well he's still around and he still uses heroin. I have to wonder if Mike ever thinks about the people he started on heroin, I know I wasn't the only one! My God, I was only 14 years old, what was he thinking? Well, it was my choice, too. I know a few people and family members that still use heroin, and some of them say, about me, " that methadone is going to kill him someday". Oh well, the last seven years on MMT have been the best years of my life, and I wouldn't change it for anything.