It started out anywhere from $120 to $300 a week on cocaine. Near the end, I was at about $200 a day. It took two and a half years before I really pushed everybody in my life away from me. Not because I wanted to, but because I didn’t want them to see how I’d become addicted to cocaine and how I was using every single day.

I was working late nights, typically as a finishing carpenter. It was either by myself or with one other person in a house or an entire condo unit with no safety guys around. I’d be high on coke, working with saws and at a very fast pace. It was dangerous; I could have easily chopped off a hand. You’d have a bad week when you were using every day and it showed. Jobs were done a little more sloppy. If I wasn’t on cocaine, I’d always make sure the work was done 100% to the best of quality. If I was using, I’d leave loose ends and have to come back to fix it up.

I was making good money. I had a newer Jeep Cherokee, I was living in a high-rise condo just off 17th Avenue, right in the busy part. I had two heated underground parking stalls, a gym in my building, tennis courts. It was really nice. I was renting it for $1,200 a month, living with my sister at the time. She had just moved to Calgary and being the older brother, I didn’t want her living by herself in Calgary so I decided to support her. We lived together for six months. She knew I was using a little bit but I was pretty good at hiding it.

Then I started getting in deeper.

The lowest point I got to was the last part of 2005 and early 2006 when I was involved in organized crime. My family had always been legitimate, 100% hard-working people and here it was easier for me to make money the shady way through illegal business than it was to put on my tool belt. It was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.

I was hardly even working construction anymore. I was literally immersed in cocaine and that’s the way I wanted it. I was very manipulative, hiding all of this from my family and friends. I wasn’t sleeping much. By then I was also taking OxyContin and Valium and watching my back all the time. My friends became people with criminal backgrounds; they were on trial or awaiting sentencing and typically being watched by the police. I worried about being associated with them but I could get the best uncut cocaine. I could do it all day and all night.

In January 2006, I knew I was ready to get off drugs. I felt free even before I stopped using because I knew I was ready to stop. It’s a feeling inside that only a person who’s been addicted can feel. I made the decision on a cold winter day with cocaine in my pocket. I was on Crowchild Trail driving toward downtown when I called my father. I said, “Dad will you please keep this conversation between me and you? I don’t want to worry mom but I am using quite often and I need help.” And that was pretty much that. It lasted about 10 minutes. I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. My father had always been there for me my entire life. He’s the type of guy who can handle anything. He would give me anything I ask for regardless if it’s the heart right out of his chest.

My father did end up talking to my mom about it. She called me back two weeks later and told me she found a program called Narconon in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, a 100% natural bio-physical treatment centre. The program was there, paid for, and waiting for me. She had a flight on standby. I told her no, I’m not leaving yet. I was scared for my sister because of what I was wrapped up with. I didn’t want to leave her alone. So I decided to stay for an extra month.

I spent that last month alone, thinking, using drugs until there was just nothing left of me. You get to a point where you’ve been up for a couple of days, spending money on gambling and alcohol and cocaine, not paying bills. You can’t go much lower. My next step was going to be in jail or the grave.

I got to Narconon on April Fool’s Day, 2006, and graduated the program July 6, 2006. Narconon offered me a job as an ethics officer. My training took five, six months. Now I’m a certified chemical dependency counsellor and a certified alcohol dependency counsellor. I’ve had cocaine in my hands since graduating. I was searching a student’s bag and came across it. No one else was around. I could have easily put it in my pocket. I have drugs in my office 150 days out of the year and I’m not tempted at all.

Fifty per cent of our target at Narconon comes from Western Canada. There’s a lot of tradesmen from Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. They’re people just like me. I’d say between 15% and 20% of the people in this program are tradesmen, be it mechanics, electricians, welders, plumbers.

I do miss the work. I wouldn’t go back to working for anybody but I would definitely use my knowledge and skills to buy and sell real estate. I’ll probably buy a house here within the next few months. Then I can fix it up and either make some money or do it for my own sense of pride. U

Need help? Scott Burgess recommends canadarehab.ca, an educational and rehab placement website. Or call them at 1-800-419-7941.

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