Our Stories
Share the power of long-term recovery. If you are in recovery, a family member, friend or ally of someone in recovery, we want to hear your recovery story!
Learn more...
Voice of the Recovery Community Award
Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) is the recipient of The Joel Hernandez Voice of the Recovery Community Award!
Learn more…
|
Our Stories
Butch Jamieson
Clinton, MD
My name is Butch Jamieson. This is my story. At this point in my life I have been clean 29 and a half years; before this I drank and used drugs for 23 years of my life. My first experience with any type of drug was alcohol at the tender age of 5. I stole some wine my mother was saving for some friends. I got extremely sick after drinking the whole bottle. From this point on I would look for the chance to steal drinks that were left behind after my parents would have people over for drinks. Everyone in my family drank, so I thought that this was normal behavior. My father had problems with drinking and he died when I was 15 years old as a result of his drinking; nine years later my mother died from the same thing. This did not tell me anything at all.
At age ten or 11, we moved to SE Washington DC where my drinking took off. At that time we did not get into the other drugs, because the older guys would not give it to us. A short time passed and this would soon change; the year was 1970, and pot was the big thing in town. We soon started to smoke pot and drink, and then at 21 years of age I allowed a sixteen year old boy to stick a needle in my arm and then my heroin addiction started. I was selling drugs and thought I was safe. I was married and had three daughters at the time, and my poor first wife was trying to hang in there the best she could. Jails, Psych wards, OD-ing a few times did not stop me. I had three more daughters and then I ended up living in the streets of Washinton DC, sleeping in my car at first, and then the car was repossessed and I slept wherever I could. My youngest daughter’s mother and her father saved my life by allowing me to lay my head somewhere warm. It was in the winter time and I had no place to go. I really wanted to die, and used to cry a lot by myself.
I was arrested again in 1975, for driving drunk and shop lifting, and was made to go to meetings. My process began at this point. I still was trying to buck, but I was very tired at this point. The winter of 1976 a friend of mind named Chubby, introduced me to the program again, and this time I stayed. My cousin and I came into the program together. The guy who got me in went back out and came back 21 years later. It seemed that God had put him there for me. I used to go where he hung out and would give him money when he needed it. He was doing badly and people used to wonder why I was taking care of him. I looked at him as my angel from God because he helped me get clean. I started going to meetings and have been clean since then. I started back playing music again, singing, and later started my own TV show dealing with addiction and recovery. I have just published a book about my life, entitled, “The beginning.” Recovery has given me my dreams and my life back. This book was a dream and a way of giving back. We are also getting ready to start a radio show for folks who want to talk about recovery and find solutions for this age old problem. My web site www.streetmasters.com is seen all over the world. I cannot thank AA/NA enough, or God who made all this possible. Thanks to all addicts in recovery. God loves you and so do I.
Click here to sign up for the Faces & Voices online newsletter. Meet other powerful faces and voices; get regular updates of the recovery community’s advocacy across the country!