"I used to pray to get off opiates."
Those words from 55-year-old Michael Johnson. He recalls the horrors of snorting heroin every day. He says the drug is readily available.
"It's easier than going to the store to buy a bag of potato chips."
When friends started dying from fentanyl-laced heroin, he knew he had to stop.
"You play Russian roulette every time you use. Eventually, you're going to lose"
Johnson got help at the "First Step Community Recovery Center."
He spent 5 days there before transferring to Matt Talbot Recovery Services for 60 days.
"Once you get to your bottom you just have to find a new way to live. You explore every option. The information is there for you."
Johnson wants others to know they don't have to live with the degradation of drug abuse.
He's ashamed of a past that led him to steal to support his habit. But now he says life is richer without heroin.
'I don't have tunnel vision. I'm living life more. I'm feeling better so I can be a better family man.. I have like six kids."
"I enjoy life, more I can help more, it makes you want to give back."
Johnson's message to others gripped by addiction?
"Give sobriety a chance!"
