Amethyst House helps rescue drug addicts

Clarence West went to the Amethyst House to change his life. He was addicted to drugs when he arrived, looking for help, and now he is helping others to follow his path to sobriety.\nBefore going to the Amethyst House, West had tried to quit before, but he had always relapsed. Then his girlfriend, a graduate of Amethyst, suggested that he go to the treatment center.\n"I saw how it had changed her life," West said.\nThe most important thing the Amethyst House did for him was restructure his life, he said.\n"I couldn't work," West said. "My hours were changed around. I'd sleep during the day and be out at night."\nWest has been sober for four years since coming out of the Amethyst house. After his treatment he is "able to have a life again," he said.\nHe now acts as mentor to other residents and offers them his experience to help them overcome the same addictions that he once had.\nThe Amethyst House not only offers the transitional house for men that helped West but also has a house for women and an outpatient program.\nThe programs are designed to help people overcome addictions to alcohol and drugs. Everyone that comes to the house is using at least alcohol and marijuana, but some do more hardcore drugs like heroin, said Tom Cox, executive director of the center. On average, they start drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana at the age of 11 or 12, said Kristen Hupp, the women's house manager.\nEveryone that goes to these programs must go to group therapy three to four times a week and attend AA meetings. They must also work between 35 and 50 hours a week, Cox said.\nOne of the most helpful things about the Amethyst House is the drug-free environment. \n"This is the first time they have been in an environment without addictive substances," Hupp said.\nThis environment is exactly what Eric, whose last name cannot be used because of the confidentiality rules of the center, was looking for when he entered the men's house program a little over two weeks ago. He has tried to overcome his addictions by himself before, but he could never do it. \n"I didn't have the willpower or really the want," Eric said.\nHis major problems started when he was going to mechanics school in Arizona. He made a pact with his girlfriend that once he went to school he would stop using drugs.\nIt took three or four months until he started using again and another two or three months to quit school and work. Because he didn't keep their pact, his girlfriend broke up with him, and then it just got worse.\n"I quit working, started selling, started partying more. That was pretty much my life," he said.\nWith no money, he got kicked out of his house and was bouncing around from place to place.\n"I was homeless, broke. I started using more than I was selling. I was a good old drug addict with nothing," he said.\nThat was when he called his family in Indiana, and he moved in with them. But, it was only a month before he started partying again. After another year of drug and alcohol abuse, he decided that he needed a change and found the Amethyst House.\n"I've partied for 15 years, and its gotten me nowhere," he said. "I've been sober for two or three weeks, and I can see where it can go"