When Addiction Takes Over

At an early age, Greg’s rage was explosive. He was a child unable to cope with his emotions and turned to drugs. After 20 years on a downward spiral of drug abuse and criminal activity, he successfully beat his addiction with help from The Salvation Army.

“There was a lot of anger at home and that hurt me bad,” says Greg, 37. “I had emotions I didn’t know how to deal with and was always fiery and impulsive.”

Greg’s drug use began at 13 when peers introduced him to marijuana.

“I look at The Salvation Army as a blessing and a gift.”

“My addiction started based on peer pressure,” says Greg. “Then it helped me deal with the negativity at home. I thought if marijuana could make me feel better, what else could?”

As Greg’s drug abuse escalated, so did his criminal activity.

“The Salvation Army helped me get healthy and changed the direction of my life.”

“Robbery―violent crimes. I hurt a lot of people,” says Greg. “I spent half of my life in prison.”

When Greg was tired of his lifestyle and burnt out, he turned to The Salvation Army’s Centre of Hope in Calgary for help. Here a live-in recovery program for adult men offers treatment that includes individual and group counselling, life-skills training and after-care support so that individuals not only live substance-free, but thrive.

‘Without them, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

“The Salvation Army helped me get healthy and changed the direction of my life,” says Greg. “I completed the drug treatment program, am clean, working and rebuilding broken relationships. I look at The Salvation Army as a blessing and a gift. They gave me a second chance at life. Without them, I wouldn’t be alive today.”