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A month before my dad passed away, he told a close family friend that I would be dead within a year. I was only 21, and drugs had destroyed my life and my relationships. I went through four drug rehab programs and none of them worked. I always went back to drugs and caused more damage. I simply did not care. After my dad died, I spiraled down to the point where I no longer wanted to live. My dad's premonition almost became reality.

Then, a worried friend drove me to a drug rehab program that had just been started in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I don't remember much of what was said that night, but I do remember asking the director of the drug rehab, 'Will I still want to use drugs if I complete this program?'

I'll never forget his response. He looked directly at me and replied, 'Lora, you may always want to use drugs. But if you do this program, you won't need to use drugs.'

Finally, someone had said something that made sense. He didn't fill me full of unrealistic goals. He didn't try to sell me a quick fix, something that I was craving by that point in the evening. So I did what any committed drug addict would do. I left. Two weeks later, I was in jail, sitting in a holding cell and staring at the phone on the wall. I picked up the phone and called the drug rehab ' collect.

'Are you sure you're ready,' the man on the other end of the phone asked.
I answered, 'Yes,' and within two hours, my bail had been posted. I remember driving up a heavily wooded, winding road. It was dark. I was scared. I couldn't see what was ahead of me, and I was not convinced that this drug rehab would be any different from the last. I was wrong.

I graduated from that drug rehab fourteen years ago. I've experienced the death of my husband, received my black belt in Tae Kwon Do, lived through a life-threatening illness, gone to college, repaired my relationships with my mother and my brother, and am currently in the process of raising my, now, 13-year-old son. And I've done all this without the need for drugs.

The drug rehab that I went through approached drug addiction in a way that I had never been exposed to. The program focused first on cleansing my body of all drug residues. I learned that drug residues had been stored in my fatty cells and that the majority of my cravings were tied to small amounts of these residues releasing back into my blood stream.

Next, the drug rehab taught me practical life skills and helped me sort through the issues that had led me to drugs in the first place. I never once sat in a group therapy session. Instead, I worked through the books that were given to me in a classroom setting. I worked at my own pace, never feeling rushed to complete or understand some aspect of the program. I had my own realizations about what had led me to drugs, about the person I truly am, and about how to live a drug-free life.

Over the years, I have stayed in contact with this drug rehab. I have watched it grow from a small six-client facility tucked at the top of a heavily wooded, winding road to a drug rehab that now can help over a 100 drug addicts at a time.

Because of this unique drug rehab, I no longer view myself as a drug addict. I don't even view myself as a recovering drug addict. I am simply living my life in a productive way, and the power of drug addiction no longer has its hold on me. Those words from long ago became a reality for me. I no longer need drugs, nor do I want them. My dad would be proud.