Drugs...hits close to home for most of us.

[GK4Herd]

A girl I coached in softball and a good friend of my daughter in high school was buried today. Although my daughter hadn’t really ran in her circle for three or four years, they kept in touch. They were best friends in high school. She’s taking it pretty hard. She made an attempt to put her addiction behind her, but died just a few days out of rehab. She left behind a two year old son. It’s beyond me what possesses a person to do drugs. I’ve been very fortunate with my kids so far. I just couldn’t imagine how hopeless it would be to deal with an addicted son or daughter. Way too young to leave this earth.

I’ll always remember calling time out in the bottom of the fourth, 0-0, with a runner on third and one out in the semi finals of the Les Ghiz tournament against Barboursville. This was likely going to be the championship game, because we were clearly the two best teams.

Anyway, this young lady wasn’t the fastest kid in the world and was more of a power hitter. I huddled with her and said, “Listen...I know I’ve never asked you to bunt before, but we’ve practiced it every practice. Just push the ball up the 3rd base line.” This young girl’s eyes got real big and she went to the plate and laid down a slow roller right between the 3rd baseline and the pitcher. The pitcher fielded the ball and turned and threw to first without looking back the runner. We score, go up 1-0 and she was thrown out at first. At the end of the inning we’re really praising her and patting her on the back and she is bewildered why we were doing it since she got out.

In the top of the fifth the sky burst open and it rains cats and dogs. Since we had four complete innings, we took the 1-0 win and advance to the Ghiz championship game and win. That’s all I could think about when I stood at her casket. Screw drugs.

 

[herdfan06]

I am very sorry for your loss.

 

[ThunderCat98]

Southern WV and Southeast KY are inundated with drugs. Prescription pills, heroin, meth. It's beyond an epidemic and it's terribly sad. Sorry to hear about the loss of this young woman.

 

[i am herdman]

I hate it as well. Terrible to hear that story.

 

[big_country90]

Our church is filled with neighborhood kids whose parents are all on drugs or in jail. It’s pathetic. They are such good kids too and love coming there, if nothing else, to get away from home. They also eat like animals. They are always so hungry. It’s really heartbreaking and tough to even sit here and type.

 

[Raoul Duke MU]

Dope does not discriminate.

 

[ohio herd]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I have a niece who is in recovery and doing well at the moment. Yep drugs are no respector of people

 

[GK4Herd]

I want to just say that I’m way down the line of people this impacted. I don’t want to make this seem like I posted for sympathy. My daughter has really struggled with it and this girl’s parents are taking it hard obviously. I appreciate those wishing me well, but this young lady’s friends and family are bearing the real hurt here.

 

[WV-FAN]

lost my nephew to an OD on heroin Nov 20. he had called me back in March 2018 wanting me to pay for a room for him at a local hotel where drugs are prevalent. told him no. told him that when he got a job and held it down, got help for his addiction, and got his life together, i'd give him whatever he needed. that was the last conversation i had with him. shortly after that he went to baltimore to make a drug run and the girl he had with him OD'd and he took her to a hospital (she made it). cops picked him up and put him in jail in baltimore where he remained until november when he was extradited to harrisonburg, va.

when he was picked up at the hospital he had apparently hidden heroin in his hat and they never found it when they checked him in at either jail in baltimore or harrisonburg. the day he got out, he and 3 buddies got together and did the heroin. three of them OD'd, two of them didn't make it.

it really changes a person's perspective on druggies when it hits home. i've always had the tendency to look down on druggies as low life pieces of shit. my nephew was a good kid and got wrapped up in the shit and couldn't break free and didn't appear to want to. i've relatives and friends whose kids battle addiction constantly. i know people who've checked themselves into rehab but went right back to drugs when they get out. going through what we have can really change a person's outlook on druggies. at the end of the day, they're someone's kid, brother, sister, nephew, niece, friend, etc. it hurts. it sucks.

 

[mlblack16.]

lost my nephew to an OD on heroin Nov 20. he had called me back in March 2018 wanting me to pay for a room for him at a local hotel where drugs are prevalent. told him no. told him that when he got a job and held it down, got help for his addiction, and got his life together, i'd give him whatever he needed. that was the last conversation i had with him. shortly after that he went to baltimore to make a drug run and the girl he had with him OD'd and he took her to a hospital (she made it). cops picked him up and put him in jail in baltimore where he remained until november when he was extradited to harrisonburg, va.

when he was picked up at the hospital he had apparently hidden heroin in his hat and they never found it when they checked him in at either jail in baltimore or harrisonburg. the day he got out, he and 3 buddies got together and did the heroin. three of them OD'd, two of them didn't make it.

it really changes a person's perspective on druggies when it hits home. i've always had the tendency to look down on druggies as low life pieces of shit. my nephew was a good kid and got wrapped up in the shit and couldn't break free and didn't appear to want to. i've relatives and friends whose kids battle addiction constantly. i know people who've checked themselves into rehab but went right back to drugs when they get out. going through what we have can really change a person's outlook on druggies. at the end of the day, they're someone's kid, brother, sister, nephew, niece, friend, etc. it hurts. it sucks.

That's awful man, sorry to hear that. On one hand, you don't want your loved one to die, yet you also cannot keep enabling him/her. It's a very scary position to be in, but, from what I understand, most addicts will have to go to rehab, and bottom out again multiple times before finally kicking their addiction.

 

[GK4Herd]

lost my nephew to an OD on heroin Nov 20. he had called me back in March 2018 wanting me to pay for a room for him at a local hotel where drugs are prevalent. told him no. told him that when he got a job and held it down, got help for his addiction, and got his life together, i'd give him whatever he needed. that was the last conversation i had with him. shortly after that he went to baltimore to make a drug run and the girl he had with him OD'd and he took her to a hospital (she made it). cops picked him up and put him in jail in baltimore where he remained until november when he was extradited to harrisonburg, va.

when he was picked up at the hospital he had apparently hidden heroin in his hat and they never found it when they checked him in at either jail in baltimore or harrisonburg. the day he got out, he and 3 buddies got together and did the heroin. three of them OD'd, two of them didn't make it.

it really changes a person's perspective on druggies when it hits home. i've always had the tendency to look down on druggies as low life pieces of shit. my nephew was a good kid and got wrapped up in the shit and couldn't break free and didn't appear to want to. i've relatives and friends whose kids battle addiction constantly. i know people who've checked themselves into rehab but went right back to drugs when they get out. going through what we have can really change a person's outlook on druggies. at the end of the day, they're someone's kid, brother, sister, nephew, niece, friend, etc. it hurts. it sucks.

That’s the thing, it’s easy to take the hard stance about personal choices and all, but people make mistakes. And the price of that mistake is so costly. You’re exactly right, we don’t consider all the innocent friends and family members that pay the price also.

 

[herdfan429]

Watching someone "come back from the dead" after a dose of narcan is one of the craziest things Ive ever seen in person. I dont see the point in ever starting drugs but the struggle to stop is real

 

[Y.A.G Si Ye Nots]

When I first read GK's post, I intended to talk about how I never really was around meth or heroin growing up. My best friend in high school smoked weed just about every night (most nights with his mother, as she wasn't able to sleep without first smoking). In high school, I saw coke a handful of times at parties. But I was never around meth or heroin, and I'm not even sure I was familiar with much about either at that point.

When I got to Marshall, I had never heard of "Oxy." I met a local girl (from some small town around Huntington) who came to my apartment with two of her girlfriends. I tried getting into my bedroom, but the door was locked. I pounded on it for a minute annoyed that somebody would go into my room without my permission and lock the door. All of my roommates were accounted for, so I knew it wasn't one of them hooking up with a girl in there. It ended up being the really cute local girl whom I had just met. She was in there by herself using the top of the pill case to crush up the Oxy on my dresser and snort it. I had never heard of Oxy before coming to Marshall. My point being that even in a bigger area, I was never exposed to the drugs (other than weed and coke) that Huntington had at the time.

Coincidentally, hours after reading GK's initial post, I was told that a childhood friend had died that day. He was a kid I played baseball with through high school. He died while cooking meth in a camper that exploded. He had burns on 80% of his body, the firefighters found him alive outside of the camper, but he died the next day.

He was never a good kid. He went to Catholic school through middle school, lived hard, and was a tough SOB that loved to fight and find trouble. He came from a good family. All three of his sisters are still smokeshows and are successful. Somehow, he was the bad apple of the bunch. He was the founder of this company, had moved with one of his sisters to the Hamptons where he found a niche with his business, but he got sucked into the meth addiction and ended up moving back to some small town around where I grew up to live in a camper:

http://barnwoodsalvage.com/

 

[Raoul Duke MU]

When I first read GK's post, I intended to talk about how I never really was around meth or heroin growing up. My best friend in high school smoked weed just about every night (most nights with his mother, as she wasn't able to sleep without first smoking). In high school, I saw coke a handful of times at parties. But I was never around meth or heroin, and I'm not even sure I was familiar with much about either at that point.

When I got to Marshall, I had never heard of "Oxy."

Of course I am around a decade older than you, but that's how it was for me as well. Booze, weed, you knew where to get coke if you wanted it and could afford it...not many could.

Culture changes. Drug culture changes. I distinctly remember around 1993, pot smokers started smoking in the open at parties. Used to be the stoners were upstairs in a bedroom, doing bong hits. All of a sudden people were lighting bowls on the front porch. Weird.

OxyContin was released in 1996. Oxycodone of course had been around longer. But OxyContin, the whole idea that you had to crush it up to circumvent the time-release, and the large amount of dope in some dosages (80 mg FTW), that was a game changer. The packaging actually said do not chew or crush or the time-release mechanism will be fvcked...wink, wink.

I'm going to guess you saw that girl snort regular oxycodone. I saw people back then take like two or four of them and go drinking (not smart). West Virginia always had pain pills floating around, lots of manual laborers, and disability people. But the actual OxyContin, those motherfvkers changed everything. I 100% believe they were designed with the intent to be abused, hook people, and make huge profits.

 

[WV-FAN]

That’s the thing, it’s easy to take the hard stance about personal choices and all, but people make mistakes. And the price of that mistake is so costly. You’re exactly right, we don’t consider all the innocent friends and family members that pay the price also.

exactly. he and I were tight. I talked to him many times about his addiction. He'd lie and swear on my parents lives he wasn't lying; he lived with them after my bro and the kid's mother divorced for several years. He was very young when that happened.

My bro had set him up with a place to stay and had him working at his metal fab shop the year prior to his death. He was there probly 6 or 7 months doing great when one day he just stopped showing up. We all knew he was back on the shit.

I've never given him much money over the years but have paid for other things for him. Never trusted him with cash because I knew he'd buy meth or heroin.

28 years old. he told his mother hours before it happened she'd probly bury him some day from it. If anything positive happened, I truly believe it scared the hell out of my 2 kids. they really thought a lot of him but they also knew what he did. they got to see him at his best, as a fun loving cousin who loved hanging out, hunting, and playing with them, at his worst, when he had slimmed down to nothing from the meth, and in his casket, knowing full well what caused it. one hell of a lesson for a couple of teens to learn at the expense of the life of someone we all truly loved.

 

[GK4Herd]

exactly. he and I were tight. I talked to him many times about his addiction. He'd lie and swear on my parents lives he wasn't lying; he lived with them after my bro and the kid's mother divorced for several years. He was very young when that happened.

My bro had set him up with a place to stay and had him working at his metal fab shop the year prior to his death. He was there probly 6 or 7 months doing great when one day he just stopped showing up. We all knew he was back on the shit.

I've never given him much money over the years but have paid for other things for him. Never trusted him with cash because I knew he'd buy meth or heroin.

28 years old. he told his mother hours before it happened she'd probly bury him some day from it. If anything positive happened, I truly believe it scared the hell out of my 2 kids. they really thought a lot of him but they also knew what he did. they got to see him at his best, as a fun loving cousin who loved hanging out, hunting, and playing with them, at his worst, when he had slimmed down to nothing from the meth, and in his casket, knowing full well what caused it. one hell of a lesson for a couple of teens to learn at the expense of the life of someone we all truly loved.

Nicely said.