{"id":2478,"date":"2016-11-22T20:26:06","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T20:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stigmaunmasked.com\/?p=2478"},"modified":"2016-11-22T20:26:06","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T20:26:06","slug":"one-last-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalresearch.bsu.edu\/stigmaunmasked.addiction\/article\/one-last-shot\/","title":{"rendered":"One last shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

One last shot<\/h1>\n

Hoping for another second chance<\/h3>\n

\"sherributler_01_print\"<\/span><\/p>\n

S<\/span>herri Butler walked into her bathroom and saw her father hanging in the shower. She looked out the window and saw her home surrounded by a police SWAT team. She peered onto the porch and saw K9 dogs. <\/span><\/p>\n

None of it ever happened.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hallucinations are just one of numerous effects of methamphetamine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how crazy this shit makes you,\u201d Butler said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 42-year-old mother of four sits in the Delaware County Jail on charges of possession of methamphetamine and burglary. She\u2019s there because she violated terms of Delaware County\u2019s Forensic Diversion Drug Court program. Drug court gives convicted users a chance to rehabilitate with state assistance in lieu of jail. But Butler started using again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

From Behind Bars<\/b><\/p>\n

Inmates at Delaware County Jail discuss how meth affected their lives in a collection of interviews. (by Nick Siano)<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I judged and hated is exactly what I have become,\u201d Butler said. \u201cThat\u2019s what methamphetamine has done to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Butler says she used to have a normal life. She had a job, raised four kids and spent her time going to football games and wrestling meets.<\/span><\/p>\n

Three years ago she started using meth. Her criminal life didn\u2019t begin until the meth use. Her drug of choice was opiates. She had undergone surgery and was on pain medication. When it became harder for her to acquire the pills, she turned to meth. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to make. You can go buy everything over the counter. You don\u2019t even have to have a prescription,\u201d Butler said. \u201cI mean it\u2019s retarded that we want to smoke or snort freaking lithium and fucking Draino or whatever the hell, but it\u2019s easy to make.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Butler has been convicted of multiple felonies ranging from burglary to resisting law enforcement. She faces seven years in prison if she does not complete the drug court diversion program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everybody in her family is an addict, she says. Cousins are in prison as a result of their meth use; others cook it. In Butler\u2019s world, everybody either does it, or makes it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI used to think I was better than this shit but here I am,\u201d Butler said.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI\u2019ve become everything I hated. I hated my family that did this shit, I always talked shit about them being weak.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The diversion program allows for missteps, even serious mistakes. You get three strikes before your get-out-of-jail card expires.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d just been up for days high and you don\u2019t think straight,\u201d said Butler before the addiction became too much. She found herself kicking in the door of her ex-husband\u2019s home. <\/span><\/p>\n

The way she sees it, she has one last shot at getting her life together. For her latest infractions, Delaware County Circuit Court 4 Judge Feick referred her to Recovery Matters, a rehabilitation center in East Chicago, Indiana.<\/span><\/p>\n