I’m sitting in Starbucks drinking my latte, looking around at all of the seemingly “normal” people. If I had to bet money on it, I would bet that most every person in here has been touched by the effects of heroin addiction. 

For some it may be a son or daughter, brother or sister, cousin or friend. Maybe one of them has battled with addition themselves. I am no different. I am one of the people who have been down the road to hell personally. My name is Amber, I am 31 years old and I put a needle in my arm almost everyday for 7 years. 

I overdosed several times and at one point I was so hopeless I tried to take my own life. But here I am, almost 3 years sober, sitting amongst “normal” people. Finally being the woman that I was raised to be. I just had to take several detours to get here.        

I guess I should start from the beginning. I grew up in Erlanger, with a wonderful family. I had my mom, stepdad, dad, and two younger sisters. I can’t blame my actions on my parents divorce, because they remained best friends. I can’t blame my choices on having inattentive parents, because my family was very involved in my life and they raised me to be a good person. I was a very well behaved kid. 

When I did get into trouble it was usually because of my grades, which were never very good. It was a rule in our house that we had to be involved in after-school activities. I was happy to oblige. Once I got to high school I started playing softball and became a cheerleader. I was part of student council and the Drug Free Club, but I continued to struggle academically. I could not understand or retain any thing that I was taught. I thought that I was just stupid, so I tried to excel in my extra curricular activities. Much later I discovered that I was dyslexic, not stupid. 

Aside from my grades I appeared to be the average, sweet girl next door type. I was voted Prom Queen and “Most Spirited.” Little did anyone know that before school and practices, I was getting stoned on pot. And every weekend that I could, I was blackout drunk. I hid it very well. 

Looking back I never saw it coming….the prom queen would turn into the heroin queen.  

Amber is putting a face on the heroin epidemic ripping through Northern Kentucky

Twitter.