Inspiring Pictures Of Former Drug Addicts Who Recovered

Dejah Hall

In 2014, over seven million Americans battled a drug addiction as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported. Fatal overdoses are topping the list of accidental deaths today in the US, surpassing shooting and traffic accidents.

We all know the effects drugs can have on our body and life, but it isn't every day that we get to see exactly how much damage they can elicit.

Moderation is the key to everything else except for illicit drugs. You are much better off not using any at all. Ask any of these eight former addicts who ditched the drugs, recovered, and transformed their lives.

Dejah Hall is a 26-year-old mother and student from Glendale in Arizona. She celebrated being drug-free for 4 years by sharing pictures which highlight her amazing transformation on Facebook.

"Today marks four years clean from heroin and meth," she wrote in a caption. The left picture is the day she was arrested on felony warrants and spent two years in prison. That was the starting point of her journey to sobriety. She has since decided to complete a BA so that she can become a prison minister and help other people.

Alyssa Gaudinier

Alyssa's addiction problems began when she was just ten years old after she discovered her parents' alcohol stash. By the time she was fourteen, she was already using molly, ecstasy, meth, and heroin.

Alyssa explained: "My own family didn't even know who I was anymore. I didn't even know who I was any more". She relapsed after her first stint in rehab. Still, second time's the charm for Alyssa. At twenty, she has now been clean for more than a year and now works as a daycare teacher.

Reddit/WormGuy666

Reddit user Wormguy666 was inspired by another user to share his former meth-addict sister's before-and-after pictures. She allowed her brother to show everyone her transformation so people could see the "the effects of what meth can do to you and hope to inspire some people who are in addiction or in the process of recovery."

She added: "I didn't even realize how disgusting I looked while I was using until after I got clean and realized how awful I looked. I'm 5'4 tall and was 110 lbs in the first picture, and now I'm at a healthy weight of 130 and proud of it".

Graham MacIndoe

Graham MacIndoe used to be addicted to cocaine for a while. It was not until he moved to New York that he began to abuse heroin. His addiction pushed him away from all the people he loved, so he spent most of his days in devastating loneliness. The Scottish photographer beat the odds in 2010 after he spent 4 months in an immigration detention and some more months in a rehab program.

MacIndoe documented his self-destructive behavior on camera and some years after quitting drugs; he turned his candid graphic pictures into an art display at the National Galleries of Scotland to show what addiction looks like.

Instagram/ @bilderbackbrooke_

Brooke let the world know how she turned her life around through posts on her Instagram page. She used to be addicted to both heroin and meth, and it took twelve attempts before she succeeded. The young woman said she was eight months sober at the time the photo was posted and it is the longest she's ever gone without drugs.

Imgur/Germwithaj

Imgur user jermwithaj used to be a heroin and meth user for approximately nine years when a light bulb went off more than a year ago, and he decided to recover.

"Today, my life is different. And that's all I could really hope for towards the end. Not a better life, because I didn't feel like anything was ever going to get better... but just something different," he wrote.

"This is what six months of hard work and commitment looks like for me. I can finally know what happiness and serenity feel like. I get to help others as well as tell my story and share my solution. In doing that, I'm able to turn all of the negative from before into positive now. If you are struggling, please ask someone for help and dig deep down with everything you have to find the willingness to change. It's worth it, I promise you."

DisreagardThisOrDont

Courtney, a 24-year-old mother, proved that recovery is possible even when someone has a severe heroin addiction. She opened up about her hard journey to sobriety in a Reddit post.

"I have finally gotten to a point where it all seems like it was a bad dream. It's taken a lot of hard work and a lot of discipline," she wrote when she was 826 days sober.

She added: "The picture on the right is a whole different person completely. That's a person who loves herself. I've grown out my hair, stopped picking myself until I draw blood, and while I'm not as thin as I'd like, I'm healthy! Also, that is a girl celebrating her anniversary with her significant other who saw her when she was at her worst and trying to better herself."

Andi Peterson fell into the cycle of drugs at the age of sixteen. By eighteen, she became addicted to opiates after a doctor prescribed her Percocet following her emergency C-section. That drug made her "feel good," but it landed her behind bars and even cost her the custody of her son as well. It took another 4 years for Andi to quit, and she has been sober ever since.