Ex-addict turns dark past into bright future

WATCH – AT ITS EXREME, EVERYTHING TURNS TO ITS OPPOSITE –

May 12, 2021 – People become addicted to drugs for many different reasons. For Jeff Blackburn, it happened very young while he was living in a broken home. He told 59News his father was very abusive. He said while he was searching for a father figure in his life, he was molested at just 12-years-old. He turned to marijuana, and before he knew it his drug addiction was out of control.

“By the time I was 14 I was drinking, doing acid. By the time I was 16 I had a very expensive cocaine habit,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn said somehow, he was able to graduate high school and did well for himself. He was living in Rainelle and his addiction was dormant

Until 2016, when the floods hit. He lost everything and battled depression. The life altering event took a toll and the drugs slowly crept back into his life.

“I went to the only thing I knew how to cope with and that’s drugs. I couldn’t do life on life’s terms,” Blackburn said.

Things got so bad, Blackburn ended up in jail. He said he was sitting in what they call the “gladiator pod” and decided it was time to make a change.

Unfortunately, that positive mindset did not last long. He didn’t make it two weeks when he failed a drug test for home confinement. Blackburn said he didn’t want to waste his life in jail, so this time he had a goal to get clean and he stuck with it.

“It took me losing everything and hurting a lot of people before I changed my life,” Black said.