2023-10-22 23:00:00
“It’s always possible to get out of it,” is the message that a 19-year-old, now sober for eight months, wants to convey and has managed to overcome his addiction to cannabis and cocaine which began when he was he was only 15 years old.
“It happened every day. It started slowly, but I felt good when I consumed so I started to consume more and more,” confided Samuel Carbonneau.
Vacillating between soft and hard drugs, the latter finally had a realization when he realized that he was no longer on the same lifestyle as other young people his age.
“I only lived at night, I had difficulty talking to people and making friends when I wasn’t using drugs. I was at rock bottom and that’s when I realized that I was no longer myself and that I deserved better than that,” he explained.
Photo Nicolas St-Pierre
Proud of the path he has traveled, Samuel is now studying at CEGEP in a program that fascinates him and hopes to be a model for other young people who are currently experiencing what he has already experienced.
“It seems insurmountable, but you have to take it one day at a time. Today, I am happy to be myself, and the most important thing to say to yourself is: I deserve better than that,” he emphasizes.
Defeat your demons
At the age of 53, Chantal also overcame her addiction to cannabis and opiates. The one who also followed therapy emphasizes that she has taken much better care of herself since then.
Chantal was once addicted to cannabis as well as opiates.
Photo Nicolas St-Pierre
It was following tooth pain that she became addicted to the opiates that had initially been prescribed to her.
“I was working in intensive care during COVID, I was seeing a lot of deaths, I was accumulating a lot of stress and it made me feel better,” she admits.
She also explains that once her prescription was finished, she was still able to obtain it due to her job and this is how her dependence grew.
“No one around me knew that I had an addiction, but when I realized that I was committing crimes to make up for it, I realized that I needed help,” says Chantal.
Ask for help
If the two ex-users are now sober, it is thanks to the Portage organization, whose objective is to help people with drug addiction problems free of charge to overcome their addiction.
It is also on the occasion of the 50e Portage Recognition Day The newspaper went to meet them on Sunday.
In total, 146 graduates from across Quebec, surrounded by their families, celebrated their accomplishment, now that the clinical component of their rehabilitation is completed.
1698022714
#minor #addicted #cocaine #cannabis
