Ending a painful addiction

By all appearances, Cody Wood, Corey Hart and Michael Boles are robust and healthy.

Not at all what they looked like strung out on methamphetamine.

The three are participating in a 10-month program at Teen Challenge of Mid-America in Cape Girardeau, the faith-based drug and alcohol recovery facility where they are learning how to overcome their addictions by putting their faith in Jesus Christ.

Their bright smiles matched their ebullient outlook for the future, due in large part, they say, to the support they have received at Teen Challenge.

While their good health and attitude reflect efforts at Teen Challenge, they agree the toll of years of the drug abuse and the painful recovery period are not apparent at first glance.

When not high on meth, all complained of joint, bone and tooth pain. The pain has gradually eased as they recover.

Hart said he relied on illegally obtained Vicodin and other painkillers to numb the agony in between highs. The 29-year-old from Dexter, Mo., recalled battling depression and fatigue as well. While incarcerated in Stoddard County Jail and awaiting transfer to the facility, he said, he just gritted his teeth as he battled withdrawal symptoms.

Hart was facing a seven-year prison sentence for possession of marijuana in 2006, but that was suspended in favor of five years of unsupervised probation. A condition of his probation was participation in the Teen Challenge program.

He said he began his meth career at the age of 15 and immediately became hooked.

"I loved it right away," he said. "I remember it like it was yesterday."

By age 16 he was shooting up. By the following year, Hart said, he spent the entire summer high on meth. He had already dropped out of high school, he said, but has subsequently obtained his GED.

Hart said he is anticipating completion of the Teen Challenge program and plans to get a job and be a father to his two young children.

Boles, 33, said he had abused drugs and alcohol for many years since the age of 13. But he wasn't introduced to methamphetamine until he was 28 years old.

By then he had already obtained at least six degrees from ITT in computer science, physics, electrical engineering design, architecture and others, and was employed in his family's tool and die business in McMinnville, Tenn.

He snorted the drug rather than freebasing or injecting intravenously, two other ways to ingest the drug, he said.

Meth use rotted many of his teeth, he said, resulting in extensive restoration visits with the dentist over several months to repair his smile.

But Boles said he was fortunate to get off easier than most people with meth habits. While using contributed to his divorce and estrangement from his two young children, he said he had an inheritance to fall back on that paid for his dental work and the mortgage on his home.

Boles has already visited his hometown during his rehabilitation, visiting family and his children and speaking to members of his church about his addiction and recovery.

"I've spoken before crowds of people before," he said, "But speaking in front of 110 people in a small town that I know was something completely different."

His pastor has asked him to consider helping others when he returns for good, he said.

Wood, 22, of Paragould, Ark., said he lost a lot of weight when he was using.

"I would go days without eating. I would try to eat, but I just wasn't hungry," he said.

Both of his parents were meth addicts when he was born, he said, and his father had spent many years in prison for his drug-related crimes. Wood said he began selling drugs for his father at age 13 and started using meth when he was 16.

"I just got curious," he said.

By the time he was 17, his habit, manufacturing and dealing landed him a two-year sentence at Tucker Maximum Security Correctional Facility in Arkansas, where he said drugs were easy to come by and he learned how to be a better drug criminal.

When checking into Teen Challenge, his health screening showed he had contracted hepatitis C, a blood-borne viral infection that causes inflammatory liver disease and can be contracted via intravenous drug use.

"I'm lucky. I feel fine today," he said. About 70 percent of those infected with the virus succumb to chronic liver disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All three men are looking forward to a life of sobriety after completing the Teen Challenge program.

The Rev. Jack Smart, executive director of Teen Challenge, said he started seeing meth clients rise about five years ago.

"We're usually about two to three years behind what the trend is, but with meth it didn't take very long" to see more users coming to Teen Challenge, he said.

Most meth users burn out after a few years, compared to many years for those using cocaine, he said.

The center focuses on Bible classes, GED studies for those who need them and counseling.

Teen Challenge currently has 134 students, as they are called at the center, ranging in age from 16 to past 50, he said.

carel@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127