I don't talk about it much, but yesterday marked my 10 year sobriety from painkillers. After years of addiction, temporary sobriety and relapses, I was finally successful in achieving lasting sobriety.

I thank Layne Staley for helping me along this path. My source for painkillers disappeared, and in desperation, I turned to smoking heroin. The first time, I didn't feel anything from it. Thinking I did it wrong, I tried a second time. Again, nothing.

Damnit, I wanted to get high. I needed to self-medicate my depression. Numbness.