Bev Flowers: Her recovery was worth fighting for
“Recovery is always possible.” Those are the words of Bev Flowers, who knows the road back from opiate addiction.
Bev is a busy mother of four beautiful daughters, a full-time college student, a part-time admissions clerk at The Counseling Center in Portsmouth, and an active volunteer in her church and her children’s schools. She’s been clean for eight years — about the same length of time she spent in active addiction.
“Within two months, I was chemically dependent,” she said of her experience trying opiates at age 20. “OxyContin was my drug of choice. It induced a relaxed feeling. I was numb to everything.”
Bev lost her job and was evicted from three homes over the course of her use, each time walking away from all of her belongings. She faced various drug charges through the years and 13 driving under suspension charges.
“My mom and grandma enabled me by providing a home and basic needs,” she said. “I supported my addiction through boyfriends, drug dealers, prostitution, and hustling however I could.”
Bev had periods of recovery during her pregnancies, but always slid back. She eventually switched to cocaine to avoid withdrawal. In 2005, when she didn’t wake despite her mother pounding on her bedroom door, her mom called the sheriff’s office, fearing Bev was dead.
“They woke me up and handcuffed me in front of my kids (for breaking house arrest),” she said, recounting her low point. “Other times when I went to jail, I just couldn’t wait to get out to get high. This time I went in with a different outlook. I was praying. I was watching church services on TV when I could. I was going to 12-step meetings in the jail.”
After a month and a half in jail, Bev learned she was pregnant. She was moved to Portsmouth’s Stepping Stone House, a residential treatment facility for women and their children. She completed a long-term stay and moved into transitional housing. This time, recovery took.
Bev is thankful to those who didn’t give up on her. She hopes others in a position to give someone a second, third, or fourth chance will do so.
“It’s a disease, just like cancer or diabetes, and it needs to be treated like a disease,” she said. “Quite often it takes more than one opportunity for some sort of help.”
Robby Brandt: He took an innocent path to addiction
Opiates grabbed Robby Brandt through a prescription he took after having wisdom teeth pulled as a teen. Four years later — after two treatment programs and at 110 days clean — he died of a heroin overdose. He was 20 years old and within weeks of shipping out for Afghanistan with his Army National Guard unit.
“For whatever reason, the drug caught him that day,” said his father, Rob, of Medina. “His addiction followed a very familiar path: Prescription pain medication. No money. Heroin.”
Addressing a large gathering of government, law enforcement, and medical professionals recently, Rob Brandt implored: “We need to make changes. How many need to die before we have the courage to do what needs to be done?”
For resources: www.robbysvoice.com
Marin Riggs: She wasn’t insulated in suburban Ohio
Marin Riggs lived in Pickerington, then Upper Arlington. She was involved in basketball, golf, and a scholarship pageant. She graduated from high school early and planned to study ultrasound technology.
A heroin addict? Her parents couldn’t fathom it. But when a minor traffic accident led to a drug screening, the truth came out. By then, she had been using for six months.
Marin relapsed within a month of completing a 60-day inpatient treatment program. She resumed treatment and was clean six months when she overdosed and died in January 2012.
Heidi Riggs wants other parents to know: “Heroin is readily available in every suburb, in every city, in every state, and can be had for as little as $10. It’s an insidious and enticing drug that affects the otherwise intelligent children who sit at your family table.”
Cole Smoot: He took one pill, one time
Sixteen-year-old Cole Smoot was an honors student. A high school wrestler. A Junior Air Force ROTC cadet. After he died in 2011, a toxicology report indicated he had abused one prescription drug, one time: a methadone pill. Another student at Cole’s high school in New Carlisle was distributing pills stolen from the home of a cancer patient.
“If you had told me three years ago that Cole would die from a prescription drug overdose, I would have told you, ‘Not possible.’ Because he wasn’t ‘
that kid,’” said his mother, Danielle. “Two and a half years later, at this point in my journey, I want you to realize, there is no ‘
that kid.’ Every child, every person is susceptible to prescription drug use, to any type of drug abuse.
“All of this,” she said, “comes back to just one bad decision.”
For resources: coleswarriors.org