It takes a strong person to stand up to his or her fate and overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of freedom and success, but I believe in you.

I began asking myself just what my high was about. What did I do when I was high that I didn’t do when I was sober? What was wrong that heroin fixed?

Heroin was a coping mechanism that I had used to deal with my underlying fears. They were the real problems; heroin wasn’t the culprit, my fears were.

I spent the rest of that day and most of the night thinking about all the hundreds of people I had met in rehabs and sober living houses and on the streets. We were all...