My story is a candid and at times appalling account of the shameful events that led to my dependence on prescription painkillers. If you think that you are alone in your guilt and regret, you will find after reading my narrative that you are not. As an army medical corpsman, an inner-city high school teacher, and a drug- and alcohol-abuse counselor, I have met a variety of people with a variety of addictions. My hope is that the sharing of my personal drug dependence ordeal and my eventual victory over such will be of some benefit to those who struggle against all sorts of addictions.