Episode 3: Back to Dinsmore

Dinsmore is a community in Jacksonville FL. It's where my family is from and where I pretty much spent the first seven years of my life. My mother and my aunt who lived together were  both pregnant at the same time. My cousin Tonia was born 11 days before I was and we were more like best friends than cousins into our teenage years. When I was really young she was the only friend and companion that I really had. We had a very strong bond.

Dinsmore was what I would call countrified. Its always had its share of petty crime but drugs are the worst problem the community has.

So, by now I'm around 20 and I start going to Dinsmore because a relative of mine always had some marijuana and I started self-medicating to deal with the pain from the accident. Returning to Dinsmore would turn out to be the catalyst for all my problems. My relative that was the weed man always had a house full of people including females. Basically I just showed up to my relatives house and never left. I'm still in Dinsmore to this day. So, from the age of 20-23 my life was a non-stop party. During these years I drank a lot of beer and smoked a lot of marijuana. That was the extent of my drug use.

I met my wife on new years eve 1998. We had a one night stand and I didn't really pay her much attention after that night until about two months later and her parents called me. They wanted me to go to the Doctor with them because she had a miscarriage and it was mine. The miscarriage brought us closer as those types of things usually do. It wasn't long and she was pregnant again. On April 5, 1999 we were married and on may 14, 1999 our son, Austin, was born. Now I had a family to worry about and the ability to work was becoming more and more difficult due to my back pain. One night while at my relatives, the weed man and his wife, His wife handed me a tiny green pill with an 80 on one side and the letters OC on the other side. She told me it would help my debilitating back condition. I took the pill and it was heaven. It wasn't the euphoria from all the dopamine being released from my brain. That's the part that usually hooks someone immediately. But, for me it was the fact my pain was completely gone for the first time in years. The green little pill was called OxyContin and with it I could work. The problem was each pill cost $25 and three were needed a day to sustain me. It didn't take long and I was chemically dependent. I had to have it or I would become violently ill. So, in just about two months I had gone from wanting them for pain to needing them so I wouldn't get sick. Eventually, my relatives Doctor switched her to Methadone. With Methadone only one pill a day was needed because the effects of methadone lasts 24-36 hours unlike the OxyContin which lasted about 8 hours. Each month when she got her methadone I'd get about 20-30 pills to cover the month. Economically it was much better because each methadone sold for only $5 on the street. This went on for several months until my mother talked to her Doctor and scheduled me an appointment. By this time I was up to three pills a day. When I went to the Doctor appointment I lied and manipulated my way into being prescribed ten pills a day so my life as drug dealer began.............