Osvaldo C

Hi, I’m an addict and my name is Junior, I came from Puerto Rico when I was 13 years old, I had a kid whit a girl I met when I was 16, he’s now 38 I’m 55. His mom passed last year so to drug use. I started selling drugs to support him when I was 16 and started using drugs (weed, alcohol, and pills when I was 17, I started getting in trouble and landed in jail at 17, once I started selling I couldn’t stop, I had no clue, from selling crack in NY I ended up with my parents, son and hostage “my kids mon” in beautiful Lynn Ma, I continued to sell cocaine and soon got addicted to using it, from 1988 to 1998 I spent 7 years in Jail, in and out, by the time I got clean I was shooting heroin. I lived to use and used to live, I have been sentenced for possession of class A,B,C and all the way through Z. I have 5 convictions of possession with intent to distribute in a school zone and should have had received a 20 year sentence but god had other plans, I sold to an undercover Agent in lynn mass, got caught with 3 1/2 grams of coke in Salem Ma, sold coke to a US secret service agent in Salem Ma, and got caught selling out of my sister’s apartment in Chelsea Ma, she had a unit under section 8 and ended up loosing her sec 8 and unit because of me, she never use drugs her self or did anything illegal as well, my parents where staying with her also and ended up having to move as well, by the time I got clean I had 7 kids by the age of 27, I got clean when I was 30 years old. Wasn’t there for any of them, I choose DRUGS and the lifestyle, so when I finally surrendered I was beaten, in a nutshell, I owed over $65,000 to child support, I had chronic Hep C, never finished high school, got my license to drive in 88 lost it in 89, had 10 driving after suspension charges and never held a job for more then 6 months, never had my own place and was literally homeless, hopeless, and a derelict, I literally abandoned myself and didn’t think there was any way out. Woof! I finally surrendered and found NA. I started my process, got clean September 10,2000. I went to the detox, then a holding, then a shelter, then a halfway house for 6 months, then a three quarter house, I met my sponsor after a month in the halfway house and he still my sponsor and best friend today (he had 9 years clean then, he has 34 today) best sponsor in NA lol. I joined my Homegroup and I’m still a member of my group today, I met my fiancee and we are still together and going strong, I stay clean long enough and did the right thing, got help from an angel in the form of a nice man I met and he helped me get section 8 for my myself, in 2001 I went on a medication called interferon to treat my hep c, I’m undetectable today, in 2004 my oldest son came to live with me, in 2005 I got custody of my 2 youngest kids because their mother became addicted to drugs herself, in 2007 I got my license to drive after almost 20 years, in between this time I worked in get well jobs and that I can explain later, I worked as a custodian, door man, cook, with kids in the custody of the state and did all kind of jobs pertaining to construction and particularly painting, roofing, siding and more, I started working with people with mental health issues and eventually became the inspector for the section 8 department at Salem housing in Salem Ma where I was arrested many times before, I eventually gave up section 8 and ultimately ended up purchasing the house I was renting and I’m now the owner, today I work for the Swampscott Housing Authority and I own my own business called Sin City Recovery Apparel and I am an NA licensed vendor and have been since 2014. I am truly blessed to have found this way of life, I do step work, sponsor guys and live a drug free life, have much more to say but not enough time to put it all here now. I hope this can be of help to anyone thinking that they too can find this that I found, freedom from active addiction and I can honestly say that them Demons are Far behind me today. Thanks and blessings.