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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, September 26,2018
Ashes to opportunity: A drug court success
By Jessica Brown
jbrown@dawsonnews.com
Growing up in his
childhood home in
Flowery Branch, Taylor
McCullough describes
his childhood as a pretty
good one.
“My dad was always
the person when he
walked into the room
everybody’s face lit up,”
said McCullough.
McCullough describes
his old home as a ‘party
house,’ with his father’s
continuous stream of
friends coming to visit.
When McCullough and
his older brother were lit
tle they’d play darts and
cards while their father
and his friends gambled
and drank.
Unknown to
McCullough at the time,
his father was selling
marijuana. When his
father eventually sat
McCullough down during
middle school, he real
ized why his father was
always the life of the
party. He was bringing
the drugs.
“He came to me and
my brother and he told us
‘hey look this is marijua
na. This is pot.’ And he
told us not to tell the
schools, not to tell
nobody. He was like ‘if
somebody asks you about
it you don’t know what
they’re talking about,”’
McCullough said.
By the time
McCullough graduated
high school in 2009, he
had fallen in with the
wrong crowd and was
smoking marijuana and
drinking alcohol. He also
began abusing opioid
pain medications Lortab
and Roxicodone.
“One day I call a
friend of mine who I usu
ally get the pills from...
and it’s not my buddy but
I think it’s his friend
that’s always with him,”
McCullough said.
He talked to an
unknown man on the
phone, believing it to be
an acquaintance of his
friend. He explained that
he had plans to meet with
him that day. The voice
told McCullough that it
was okay for him to come
over.
“I go over there and it’s
not them at all,”
McCullough said. “It’s
the undercover police.”
During his second
semester of college,
McCullough was arrested
for criminal intent to pur
chase Oxycodone and
missed his finals, forcing
him to withdraw from all
of his classes.
His addiction took
another turn after a dev
astating breakup and set
McCullough down a path
to abusing methamphet-
Taylor McCullough will
November after struggli
amine.
“It wasn’t thrilling, it
didn’t excite me - I
didn’t like it that much.
All I remember is it kept
me up. I couldn’t sleep,”
McCullough said. “I
didn’t feel like Superman
or anything special, but
for some reason I kept
doing it. And the more I
kept doing it the more I
could see why people like
it.”
Eventually
McCullough found him
self in desperation and
attempted to end his life.
He woke up in the hospi
tal surrounded by his
mom and grandmother
who begged him to seek
help for his addiction.
In total, McCullough
has been admitted for
treatment 14 times for
various substance abuse
related episodes and
struggled to remain in
treatment until he hit
what he described as the
bottom.
McCullough found
himself living alone in
his father’s run down
mobile home filled with
trash, dirt, roaches and
rats and no power or
water. He only cared
about chasing his next
high.
“I stayed in that trailer
for a good two years with
no power, no water, with
nothing,” McCullough
said.
In the trailer park,
McCullough knew of at
least 12 people around
Jessica Brown Dawson County News
graduate from the Dawson County Drug Court in
ng with addiction for most of his adult life.
him that either did the
same drugs as him or
lived the same lifestyle.
“I would wake up. I
had no power or water so
I would go try to find
whose house I’m going to
shower at or where am I
going to get something to
eat,” McCullough said.
“First I was going to try
to get high. Before I
would even think about
eating food or showering
or anything I was like
‘how am I going to get
high today?”’
Eventually going house
to house to survive was
no longer an option as
McCullough overstayed
his welcome and found
himself isolated from his
friends and family.
“I had people around
me but I was lonely
inside,” McCullough said.
McCullough realized
that he needed help and
sought help at five differ
ent facilities in the winter
of 2016, but because he
was not a threat to him
self or others he was
turned away.
He decided to take mat
ters into his own hands,
knowing that his actions
could land him in prison.
He decided to burn down
his trailer.
On March 31, 2016,
McCullough was arrested
for arson and was taken
to Hall County jail.
“If I hadn’t done that, I
don’t know if I’d have
gotten clean or I don’t
know. I probably would
have died. I probably
would have kept doing
what I was doing,”
McCullough said.
While in jail,
McCullough was able to
get clean and thought
about his options for his
future. With the help of a
lawyer, he was admitted
into Hall County drug
court and later transferred
to Dawson County’s
treatment program.
“I was ecstatic. I was
like ‘Man this is it. This
is going to work,”’
McCullough said. “I was
getting out of jail but I
had my family back. I
already had almost a year
of clean time under my
belt just from being in
jail so I was coming out a
step ahead.”
Since McCullough
entered drug court, he has
seen his life change dras
tically.
Drug court is a two-
year outpatient program
for referred clients
charged with nonviolent
felony offenses related to
substance abuse.
“Everyone has some
thing that they’re strug
gling with. It’s just how
you handle it and that’s a
lot of what we teach the
participants here - how to
handle things in a healthi
er way,” said Treatment
Court Coordinator
Suzanne Stanley.
The five-phase program
includes a combination of
individual and group
counseling to help clients
recognize their addiction,
change their behavior and
help get them integrated
back into society.
“People don’t want to
admit the wrongs or the
bad things that are going
on,” Stanley said. “They
want to focus on all the
good but the truth is this
is a real problem and
what if that was someone
in your family that was
struggling? At the end of
the day we’re all people.
We’re all the same.”
Since entering the pro
gram, McCullough has
seen his circumstances
change for the better.
Now surrounded by new
friends and a network of
people supporting him,
he has seen the benefits
the program has to offer
and has a fresh start in
life.
“I have the best job that
I’ve ever had. Before any
of this I had nothing. I
had ashes and coals and
one mattress in a corner.
And now I have a place
to live. I have a newer
car. My job is great. I
know if I lost my job
today I would find anoth
er one tomorrow. I’m not
worrying about money. I
don’t know I mean it’s
just living life on my
terms,” McCullough said.
Looking back on his
experience, McCullough
realized he needed to hit
his absolute lowest before
he was willing to rise and
overcome his addiction.
“If not for jail and the
treatment systems and all
that I would have never
done it. I wouldn’t have
gotten clean on my own,
no way,” McCullough
said. “When you’re in
desperation and you’re
that far down, it doesn’t
matter what somebody
says. It doesn’t matter
how much support you
have, you’re not going to
do it unless you really
want to do it. Something
has to make you do it.”
In November,
McCullough graduates
from the Dawson County
drug court program and is
not looking back.
McCullough has been
clean since March 31,
2016, the day he burned
his old life to ashes.
“Two years seems like
a long time but it’s not,”
McCullough said. “I’m
still today picking up the
pieces of the destruction.”
Now 27, McCullough
finds himself with a new
life before him and is still
figuring out where he
wants to go from here.
“Like anybody else I
want a family. I want a
good job. Maybe want to
own my own business
one day,” he said. “It’s
still a window of oppor
tunity. Good things hap
pen every day now.”
Editor’s note: This is
the second article in the
Dawson County News’
continuing series on the
Dawson County
Substance Abuse
Coalition.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS
Notice is hereby given that three public hearings shall be held
by the Dawson County Board of Commissioners at the Dawson
County Government Center, 25 Justice Way, Assembly Room 2302,
Dawsonville, Georgia as follows:
• 6 p.m. Thursday, October 4,2018 - Public Comment on Proposed
FY 2019 Budget
• 4 p.m. Thursday, October 11,2018 - Public Comment Hearing
required by Georgia law
• and 6 p.m. Thursday, October 18,2018 - Additional opportunity for
Public Comment.
The Proposed Budget will be presented by the Chairman of the
Board of Commissioners to the Board and the public at the Board’s
meeting of Thursday, September 27,2018. Once it has been
presented by the Chairman, the Proposed Budget will be available
for review by the public at the County Clerk’s office on the second
floor of the Government Center during normal business hours.
At the October 18,2018, meeting the Board will consider and may
adopt the FY 2019 Budget. The Public Comment Hearings on October
4 and October 18 are not required by law but are being held to give
citizens a greater opportunity to be heard prior to adoption of next
year’s budget.
* ..
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