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Paul Sanders carried his years-old addictions with him to college, where they blossomed. He got the boot from school but when granted a second chance, he earned a degree. Unfortunately, his substance use continued through it all. Eventually, drugs robbed him of his wife, family, and a six-figure career. He has lived under a bridge, in a homeless shelter, and in prison, when he spent 18 1/2 years for crimes committed to support his drug use. He found sobriety via a 12-step program.

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John Kelly will mark 13 years in recovery in December 2025. At the age of 16, in an effort to fit in with his peers, he smoked marijuana for the first time. A year later, he was in prison. Until he was 53, using drugs to escape reality seemed like the solution to his problems. Then, he checked into rehab. Now, he credits his higher power, his sponsor in a 12-step program, and his focus on giving back to others suffering from the disease of addiction bringing him a better life than he ever could have imagined.

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Both of Rachel Price's parents and her first husband battled addiction. When Rachel's first child was 6 months old, her mother died after an overdose. She learned to be strong and stand on her own two feet out of necessity, and for a long time did not understand how trauma had impacted her life. Eventually, she decided she wanted to be a cop, in large part to help people whose alcohol and other drug addictions brought them into contact with law enforcement. Someone at Randolph Community College in Asheboro suggested she take a look at the field of social and human services, specifically addiction and recovery services. She did and discovered her calling.

A California native, Blake Easley smoked marijuana in high school, then drank cough syrup to achieve a buzz (almost every day) until his mother found a stash of empty cough syrup boxes hidden in their house. She marched him over to the 99-cent store where he was buying the over-the-counter cold medication and made certain they would never sell her son cough syrup again. He moved on to other drugs and eventually into an active addiction so severe that it led to him living on the streets for many years. Today, he works in the field of recovery.

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A California native, Blake Easley smoked marijuana in high school, then drank cough syrup to achieve a buzz (almost every day) until his mother found a stash of empty cough syrup boxes hidden in their house. She marched him over to the 99-cent store where he was buying the over-the-counter cold medication and made certain they would never sell her son cough syrup again. He moved on to other drugs and eventually into an active addiction so severe that it led to him living on the streets for many years. Today, he works in the field of recovery.

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Amber Poe was in her late 20s until she experienced her first-ever buzz from drinking alcohol. The unexpected intoxication was linked to how her body metabolized alcohol following weight-loss surgery. She liked the way alcohol made her feel, but over time her alcohol consumption increased to an unmanageable level that led to consequences she did not like. She lost jobs. She lost her driver license and faced the prospect of jail time.

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Growing up in West Virginia, Treston Dickerson struggled with his self-image. The first time he smoked marijuana, at 12 or 13, he felt better. Through his abbreviated years in high school, Dickerson thought he and his buddies who used drugs were cool. School and drugs were not compatible. He dropped out. His mother took him to his first 12-step meeting to help him reclaim his young life. Today, he says the program and its principles saved his life. He is 18.

Erik Kuykendall has always had the ability to look on the bright side, even when his life was grim due to poor choices on his part -- and there have been plenty of those times. For 20 years, Kuykendall ingested and injected a laundry list of substances -- alcohol and other drugs -- in an effort to numb his feelings. These days, he does not have to try as hard to find sunshine: That's because he has been drug-free since December 2021. It's a different world.