From dope to hope: One man’s journey to sobriety

EVERY STEP COUNTS –

AUGUST 4, 2021 – He learned that once you’ve reached rock bottom, the only way out is up. June 22, 2020, is the day Mathews reclaimed his life.

For the past 13 months, Mathews — who lives in Winter Garden and is a lifelong West Orange County resident — has remained sober. He stopped drinking for one day. And then another. And another. Days became weeks, which then became months. He celebrated one year of sobriety June 22, and he wants to tell his story. Or, more accurately, he needs to tell it. The drinking started in high school, said Mathews, a 1995 West Orange High graduate.

“It really took off in college,” Mathews said. “My first year, I started drinking, did a little bit of weed. I got home and bought like a half ounce of weed and started selling weed a little bit. I started making $200 in one day. It just escalated into buying half-pounds and pounds. Then that led to cocaine, ecstasy.”

Somewhere during the buying and selling, Mathews tried the drugs.“It went back and forth like that for years,” he said. “Then it became less about selling and more about having it. And then I needed alcohol.