23-year-old Eric Stone first tried meth in high school. What started off making him feel energized soon led to paranoia, homelessness and jail. Today, he's turned his life around and is dedicated to helping others free themselves from addiction.

My Childhood
I grew up in the small town of Brandon, South Dakota, a suburb of Sioux Falls. My town is a nice, close-knit community that seemed like a perfect place to raise children — it has even been rated one of the "nicest places to live in America." When I was 9, my father died of a stroke. My mom remarried a year-and-a-half later, and I never got along with my step-father, whom she later divorced. Besides this, I tried to have a normal childhood. I played soccer, football and wrestled and I continued to play competitively until I started to use drugs. By my freshman year in high school, I dropped out of all of them.

The First Time
When I first started high school I found what I thought to be the greatest release of my life: marijuana. The first time I got high I felt as if I had finally found what I was looking for — I don't even know what it was. I think I was satisfying some innate teenage curiosity.

I also began to use and abuse LSD, cocaine, alcohol, acid, cough syrup — and methamphetamine. I liked the way drugs made me think, feel and behave. They gave me a false sense of security. No matter what was going wrong in my life, when I got high, it all went away. Drugs also helped me make friends and gain popularity in school. Although I had part-time jobs, besides a CD player for my truck, all my money went to drugs and drug paraphernalia.

My Meth Battle
I remember hearing about "crank" on the news but it wasn't a reality for me until I went over to a friend's house one night and saw him smoking something out of a light bulb. I was shocked because I had always thought that hard drugs were only in big cities. Once I saw my friend doing meth I wanted to try it too.

When I first smoked it, I didn't notice the effects too much - it's not like being drunk where you feel inhibited. I felt amped up. As I continued to use, meth gave me energy and alertness — I could stay up for days and days and not feel fatigued in any way. I also used it as a way out of dealing with stressful situations. For example, if I had upset a friend for some reason, I could blame it on meth and therefore not have to take responsibility for my actions. At the time I didn't think I was addicted, but now I know that I was from that first moment I tried it.

A Devastating Event
I had a group of friends and we did everything together. Two of them, Eric and Angie, were dating and decided to go out to celebrate their one-year anniversary. That was the only night when we weren't hanging out together, and it was the one night that something terrible happened. On their way home from a restaurant they were hit by a drunk driver and killed.

I was completely devastated. Nothing mattered to me anymore — especially my grades. After their death my new best friend became meth. And we started hanging out every night.

Becoming Addicted
It wasn't long after I started using meth that I could no longer get high like I used to. Instead, I got paranoid, scared and uncomfortable and I started distancing myself from friends and family. I was caught for stealing, possession of marijuana and numerous underage-consumption violations. I found myself in and out of juvenile detention centers and rehab clinics and I still thought the answer was in drugs. I just kept thinking I was different in some way because all my friends seemed to be able to handle the drugs just fine. (Turns out I was wrong - to this day, many of them are addicted.)

I thought that maybe I wasn't using the right stuff, maybe I wasn't using enough, maybe I wasn't using it the right way, maybe I needed to be more careful so I wouldn't get caught. Quitting seemed impossible because I couldn't imagine my life without drugs. By 18, I was spiritually dead. I had experienced many bad highs and bad trips, dropped out of high school, lost my popularity and friends and spent most of my time isolating myself in my room using more drugs.

My Mom's Reaction
After losing her trust, stealing from her and lying to her face, my mom tried to kick me out numerous times, but I would never listen to her until she filed a restraining order against me. I was forced out of my home by the police and told that I was not welcome back anytime soon. I had dropped out of school by my sophomore year, and I was homeless. I was unable to find a shelter and spent a couple nights sleeping behind a local church until I finally found a shed. I was hungry, tired and lonely.

On one particular occasion I tried to sneak in my house when my mom caught me and called the police. I quickly hid behind some bushes in the neighbor's yard waiting for the police to leave so I could try to sneak in again. As I watched the house I noticed one of the officers carrying out some stereo equipment that I had recently stolen. I knew right away I was in big trouble. I soon had a new home: the county jail.

Jail Time
The cops uncovered everything I had stolen and quickly found the shed where I was living and arrested me on a number of charges, from which I faced a total of 65 years in prison.

Once in jail, I entered a treatment program, even though I had no desire to stop using. A month later, an inmate called me into his cell and told me he had a little "care package" that he wanted me to bring in. A couple weeks later I had successfully snuck meth and seven hits of LSD into the county jail. (Wondering how I did this? When I left the jail each day to attend treatment, someone would meet me with the drugs. I hid them in a hole I'd made in my boxer shorts. I couldn't imagine doing something like that today but then it seemed like a really good idea.)

One night I was breaking up a line of meth on the mirrored metal of my desk in my cell. It was dark and I couldn't really tell how big the line was. It proved to be too much. I overdosed and went into a psychosis for the next four days. I hallucinated and heard voices. I thought cellmates were talking to me when they really weren't - I tried to have "conversations" with the voices I heard. For days I was out of touch with reality and trapped inside my own, drug-induced, scary world. After that experience even my cell-mates were telling me that I should quit.

My Moment of Truth
One of my turning points occurred four months into my jail term at my sentencing hearing. I had been kicked out of treatment though and had spent 30 days in the "hole" so it seemed likely that I would sit the full year. I had gotten my GED while I was in jail however, so that looked good for my case. For whatever reason the judge gave me a second chance and I was sentenced to six months in jail and required to successfully complete another treatment program after release.

After getting out of jail I was able to stay clean by isolating myself. I wouldn't talk to anyone. I would go to work (I was a night janitor at a grocery store), come home, go to bed, then wake up and repeat the same cycle again. I did this for awhile and things seemed to be getting a little better. I was clean and I had some money saved up in the bank.

Then I met a guy at work who had the "hook-up". He invited me over after work and I remember telling myself I wasn't going to use — I was just going to hang out. Once we got over to his place and they started passing meth around I was unable to say no. I had to have it. I knew I had to see my probation officer in four days and I remember thinking that meth only stays in your system for three days. I decided to use. Three days later I found myself in the same basement. I couldn't stop using, even though I knew I had to see my P.O. I ended up sitting in that basement for three days straight and never left -high the entire time.

I still made it into my PO's office — dirty and praying he wouldn't ask for a urine analysis. We talked for a bit and just before I thought he was going to set up our next appointment he asked, "Well, Eric, how about a UA?" My eyes grew big. I could tell by his stare that he knew what I knew. Then he said, "Get outta here, we'll get you next time." I later found out that he was leaving his job and didn't want to send anyone back to prison on his last couple of days. I thank God for that second chance.

Why I Changed
I was sick of hurting all the time and sick and tired of the addiction. I had experienced too much pain in my life, and doing drugs was no longer something that gave me pleasure — it was something that controlled my life. After getting a new probation officer who would make me go to twelve-step meetings numerous times a week, I relapsed one last time. Then I put everything I had into focusing on a recovery. So far, it's worked.

My Life Today
Today my existence has been revolutionized. I no longer have the obsession to use drugs and I have been clean and sober for over two-and-a-half years. I graduated college with a 3.9 GPA and received an associate's degree in Chemical Dependency Counseling. I was inducted into an international honor society and was flown to Boston to receive a $2,000 scholarship and national recognition as a nominee for the All-USA Academic Team. I have been employed for the last three years and currently work at an adolescent drug treatment center. I have recently been accepted into one of the country's top ten universities where I will be working on my bachelor's degree in Psychology and Addiction Studies. Today I have a deep compassion for those who struggle with addiction. By helping others I help myself, which is one of the stones in my foundation of recovery.

Meth addiction is cunning and baffling. It starts out as a harmless and fun thing to do and then, before you know it, your whole life becomes centered on it and it gets to the point where you can't imagine life without out it. But you're unable to live with it.

I have developed some strong and meaningful friendships since getting clean. I have repaired my relationship with my mother, and she has accepted me back into her home and her life. As horrible as my experience was, the one good thing that has come from it is the new appreciation I have for life today.