88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
LAS ANIMAS, Colo. — The first time Jason Cline smoked crack was in rehab.
He was 15, there by court order after he was caught using meth. There were other firsts, too.
“The first time I did a lot of prescription pills that I didn’t know what they were, was inrehab,” Cline remembers, almost disbelieving. “People are trying as hard as they can to smuggle in drugs. They’ll hide them in all sorts of body cavities. Think about that the next time you do a line of coke.”
The next 13 years of Cline’s life in southwestern Colorado were a blur of banned substances. After nine root canals to remedy the ravages of meth, he grew addicted to painkillers. Later, as a high-rolling wholesale pot distributor, he made enough money to support a $500-a-day heroin habit. It wasn’t sustainable: Last year, the business fell apart, and he ended up squatting and strung out in Durango.
This spring, an ex-girlfriend found him destitute in an apartment where he hadn’t paid rent in months, and a clinic referred him to Fort Lyon. Cline arrived at the sprawling former Veterans Administration hospital campus, 200 miles southeast of Denver, in early June.
This trip through rehab, he sensed immediately, would be different. All 200 formerly homeless addicts and alcoholics are there voluntarily. They don’t want drugs or booze around; the community strictly polices a zero-tolerance rule. Residents come or go freely, but there’s no compelling reason to leave; community college classes, AA meetings and family visits are all available on campus. The real world is far away: Nothing’s reachable on foot, besides a cemetery. The nearest liquor store is a 15-minute drive to the one-stoplight town of Las Animas. There are occasional shuttles, but no public bus service.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-homeless-to-the-middle-of-nowhere/?tid=sm_fb
long article
thought you guys would find interesting
He was 15, there by court order after he was caught using meth. There were other firsts, too.
“The first time I did a lot of prescription pills that I didn’t know what they were, was inrehab,” Cline remembers, almost disbelieving. “People are trying as hard as they can to smuggle in drugs. They’ll hide them in all sorts of body cavities. Think about that the next time you do a line of coke.”
The next 13 years of Cline’s life in southwestern Colorado were a blur of banned substances. After nine root canals to remedy the ravages of meth, he grew addicted to painkillers. Later, as a high-rolling wholesale pot distributor, he made enough money to support a $500-a-day heroin habit. It wasn’t sustainable: Last year, the business fell apart, and he ended up squatting and strung out in Durango.
This spring, an ex-girlfriend found him destitute in an apartment where he hadn’t paid rent in months, and a clinic referred him to Fort Lyon. Cline arrived at the sprawling former Veterans Administration hospital campus, 200 miles southeast of Denver, in early June.
This trip through rehab, he sensed immediately, would be different. All 200 formerly homeless addicts and alcoholics are there voluntarily. They don’t want drugs or booze around; the community strictly polices a zero-tolerance rule. Residents come or go freely, but there’s no compelling reason to leave; community college classes, AA meetings and family visits are all available on campus. The real world is far away: Nothing’s reachable on foot, besides a cemetery. The nearest liquor store is a 15-minute drive to the one-stoplight town of Las Animas. There are occasional shuttles, but no public bus service.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-homeless-to-the-middle-of-nowhere/?tid=sm_fb
long article
thought you guys would find interesting
great way to open an article
