I was in LIFE program in '82. I would have stayed there, but I went off my psychiactric meds and wanted a cigarette. Helen Petermann did a self-disclosure video tape on me that I think may be the reason I wound up in court later, but I don't know for sure. Petermann told me she wanted me to work there and I could still collect my VA pension. When I said "no" and escaped twice she threatened to take my pension away from me. She said she knew the Reagan's. I had been there for 3 1/2 months. I paid for it and signed in voluntarily. I just wanted my medicine and a cigarette. That was against the rules. I was 22. I used to pace the floor back and forth between sessions and was a nervous wreck. They adjudicated me and I lost my rights an got assigned a legal guardian later on. I backed out of a deal to go public with the whole place too. When the cameras rolled in I rolled out after spending a week inside an intake room alone. I didn't want to go back to drug abuse. I needed a doctor. Funny how when I spoke briefly on the telephone with her years later, she stressed to me NOT to ever go off my medicine again. I never did. I was an addict, not an adolescent. I really don't know for sure about that tape though. I hated talking in group and especially in front of people who were visiting, but I gave the program a try to find out the only way to quit abusing drugs was to just stay away from them, and take what's prescribed for my brain's sake. The hard part is finding real friends. On my own. These programs didn't offer me real friends. Most of them were stuck there. I thought everybody there including me was full of a lot of crap. But I didn't dare disturb anybody's treatment. I guess I was just tere looking for serious drug-addicts like myself who wanted to go clean. Too old and too late for that program. I think about the LIFE program people occassionally and just wish there would have been someway to get help in a different environment. I didn't know anybody else who had a better program. I've been to several different types of treatment centers, and basically they were to hard fo me then. I don't believe any program could have worked for me except the court adjudication because then I wasn't going to be able to get high. I guess if she showe it to Nancy Reagan or somebody like that it would explain. All I know is when I lost my money all my good-time buddies and drug dealer friends got busted or disappeared and so did I.
?? At least I'm legal now. I haven't had to be de-toxed in years, and I don't have a problem with drug abuse. Got a lot of enemies though. Oh well, That's LIFE. :wave:
It is criminal to steal a purse. It is daring to steal a fortune. It is a mark of greatness to steal a crown. The blame diminishes as the guilt increases
--Schiller (1759-1805)
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"Don't know where I've been,all I know is it wasn't any easier there than it is here" One Thing more for all you haters that show no mercy.........I'm glad she did it if it was her. I came to her, she didn't come to me. Now I'm alot more blessed and happier because of that self-disclosure tape. Don't hate. It wasn't the end of the world......I just didn't want to do dope. :wave:
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