Families Against Narcotics

to establish more funding and availability to recovery housing for females and to provide recovery resources and support to those lost in addiction.

I am the addict they wanted to let die.

I had overdose so many times my family was told to " just let him die he will do it again "

So here's my story ...

Hello I'm Rick McGuffey and my life started out pretty decent, I was born into a upper middle class family mom was a very caring and loving person and my father..well he was a hell of a good provider but dad he was not !
I suffered my first sexual abuse at the age of 8 where my male cousin raped me and my father refused to do anything about it because " it was family "and threatened me to never speak of it again ! and then twice at 10 and 11 years old from a baby sitter and a neighbor.
This started me on the road to trying to " self medicate " and I started with trying different things like marijuana, LSD,acid' mescaline, drinking which lead into many year's of legal issues.
But I finally quit for awhile and decided to get my life together.
My father was never physically abusive but was very verbally abusive in making me and my mother believing we would never be good enough or doing anything worth wild in life.
And for many year's I believed that !
Untill one day I decided I was going to make something of my self and at age 20 I signed up for the Detroit Police Force only to find out that I was color blind and would not be able to join the regular police force but they would let me join the Reserves.
So I took what I could at the time partly because it was what I always wanted to be but also to try to prove to my father that I could become somebody and somebody he could never become !
See my father was a poor country boy with a 5th grade education and would die working in a steel mill, so he never wanted anyone to be better that him.
Even after becoming a police officer for the Detroit Police Reserve unit it still was not good enough for him but nothing really was.
But working with the police department I was introduced to the medical side of 911 through E.M.S. and decided that was what I really wanted to do !
So I went to medical school for E.M.T. and loved every minute of it and graduated top 10 out of 120 in my class and went on to work E.M.S. for the next 12 year's with only a small break in between.
And I was eventually invited to the White House by President George W Bush for acknowledgement of all I had over came in my life and what I had did with my life to this point.
But sadly my life would come crashing down around me one more time when I responded to a 911 call that 2 cars where involved in a head on collision and all occupants " mother, grandmother and 2 children " had been ejected from the vehicle and up on assessing the scene we determined that the 7 year old male was in worst condition and so we grabbed him a ran with him code 3 to the hospital.
I was the tech that day and he was in bad shape and very scared and kept asking me if he would die and trying to comfort him I promised him that I would not let him die !
But in route to the hospital he coded and died and even though I did everything I was trained to do and more I took it very hard because I felt I had let him down !
I took some time off and admitted my self to a psychiatric hospital a few time's because I would dream about this incident and little boy for year's to come.
But during the time I took a leave of absence from E.M.S.I met someone who I thought I was in love with and loved me but would turn out to be thee biggest mistake of my life that would cost me 20 year's of torment and suffering from Heiron addiction !
See during this time with this person I thought had loved me and who I thought I was in love with introduced me to a way to numb the pain and guilt and block out the NIGHT terrors of this little boy I had lost and dream about on a nightly basis.
And for a short time it worked only to be replaced with a far worst nightmare !
Addiction to Heroin and suffering and torment for 20 year's.
More legal issues and loss of  so many people I cared  about but no one as important that the person that was always there for me cheering me on through every little event that happen in my life rather I failed or persevered she was there !
Through my many failed attempts at rehab she was there to pick me back up and tell me that I would do it next time, she was my savior and my rock she was my mother.
During the last case I had caught in court I was sentenced to 90 day's in the county jail where I was unable to get a hold of anyone on the out side !
And that continued for 45 day's when they offered me early release if I agreed to let them tether me to rehab, so I agreed.
It was my chance to finally have contact with the outside world and I planned to use it first chance I had to call home and check on my mother but sadly I would never get the chance to speak to my mother ever again ! Because by the time I was able to make that call I was told by my daughter that my mother had passed away that morning and although my first instinct was to leave rehab and get high I decided I had lost enough in life and that I would grant my mother's last wish..and that was to have " her son back " the son she had raised from a little boy , the son that made her so proud so many times, the son free from addiction and all the problems that came with it.
So I found God and then I found N.A. and today with the help of N.A. and some very special people I have met on my road to recovery I am clean for 54 month's (8-16-16) now and I am working with some amazing people at at a Drug court in  Michigan as a Peer Recovery Coach and a Angel for Hope not Handcuffs,A Peer Recovery Coach as well as A Family Recovery Coach for Families Against Narcotics, Lincoln Park And Allen Park police Quick Responce Team and  suicide prevention specialist.
I am looking forward to continuing my education in substance abuse and helping other's to Recover from addiction. 
I will be the voice for all those lost in addiction !

I am the addict they wanted to let die !

Rick McGuffey ?
#Recoveryispossiable

223 ppl die a day from overdoses, the relapse rate is 97 % and the main reason is because we can get a person into rehab but where they complete the 3 week's (which is a joke, 3 weeks is not nearly enough time) but it is all our funding in Michigan allows for Wayne County. And transitional housing is had from a person to afford when first coming out of addiction. And then they need clothes, food and Transportation  I want to change that and give them a fighting chance by providing initial funding for them so they can find work and provide temporary transportation until they can obtain their own.they need so much more than just treatment to maintain recovery and regain their life's back.

We provide peer recovery coach (someone in long-term recovery) that can help navigate the process and introduce them to the Recovery community. And guide them with their own hope, strength and experience.

If we can make a change now with as many as we can then we can cause a ripple effect that will lead into the future.. I have seen it and have lived it.

Addiction doesn't only affect the person addicted but the whole family and community.