Suncoast Rehabilitation Centers Plea To A Judge Has One Man Paying It Forward
By: Derek A. Queener
“I told my parents they should just accept the fact that I was going to prison and nothing was going to change that…”
A successful mortgage broker seeks help for his back trouble and finds himself in legal trouble. A.J. was a 21 year old up and comer in the real estate business when a back injury sent him to the waiting room of a South Florida pain management clinic. With nothing more than a description of his pain and a quick exam, he was prescribed high doses of oxycontin and xanex. Within 2 months he was “doctor shopping” and selling pills to feed his addiction.
Florida received the unwanted dishonor of leading the country in prescription pain pill distribution at over 500 million in 2009, coinciding with A.J.’s downward spiral from being a broker to just being broke. He was not the only one so quickly addicted to “oxy’s”, in 2009 the list included 56 Florida government employees, 14 school employees and even two grandmothers. With a pain management clinic opening every 3 days in several Florida counties between August and November of 2009, having several doctors writing several prescriptions, turned honest people into addicts and criminals.
A.J. was fired from his job after an obvious decline in his performance prompted his employer to administer a “random” drug test; a drug test he failed miserably. Along with the prescribed drugs, A.J. also tested positive for cocaine and ecstasy, drugs he stated he never used until becoming addicted to the pain meds. Soon after his dismissal, the lack of a paycheck and the inability to hold down a job sent him into the world of drug trafficking. He began paying others to fake injury in order to get even more prescriptions filled, to have more pills to take and sell.
He was arrested the 1st time for D.U.I. with possession of oxycontin and methamphetamines and the spiral continued. A.J. was placed on felony probation until his 2nd arrest for almost the exact same charges just a few months later. He entered a 12 step program at a cost of $14,000 to his parents and actually had left the program upon completion with prescriptions for the same drugs he was in treatment to overcome.
The “doctor shopping” and pain management clinic cycle continued with several overdoses and even appearing at his 24 month drug court judicial review, “high out of his mind”. This violation of the court order to remain drug-free landed him in a department of corrections 18 month inpatient rehabilitation. He eventually left this 12 step program as well, a decision that would cause a warrant to be issued and another arrest imminent.
This arrest occurred at his parents’ home. With prison a certainty for A.J., he recalls the good-byes as very difficult. He remained in county jail for 4 months awaiting his sentence to prison which would exceed a year. During this time his mother called the Suncoast Rehabilitation Center in Florida. After hearing A.J.’s story told by a mother running out of hope, a Suncoast staff member agreed to speak to the judge for a chance her son be allowed to enter the program at S.R.C. With reluctance the judge agreed, ruling that if A.J. failed he would be sentenced to 2 years in prison, instead of the previous year and a day.
A.J. began his program in November of 2009, with no idea what to expect. He did know he needed help for his addiction before an eventual 3rd overdose killed him.
The program at S.R.C. was unlike any other I had been to, people wanted to be there ”and so did I,” he stated. ”The sauna phase of the program made me feel like a kid again. I had a clear mind for the first time in a long time.”
“This program made me take responsibility for everything that happened, it made me look at my decisions, my choices and taught me to how to deal with life on life’s terms “. “ I feel emotions now and the one I feel the most is happiness”.
I asked A.J. to sum up how he felt about himself and the treatment he received at Suncoast Rehabilitation Center if he could. He did not hesitate in the least and stated…
“ I feel as if I am one of the luckiest people on the planet that I was able to come here and get a 2nd chance at life, that I have my family back, this is something I thought I would never get.”
This interview was done one year to the day after A.J.’s successful completion at Suncoast Rehabilitation Center. Thanks A.J.
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