If you want to know about the hopelessness of being addicted to drugs, talk to Roxie and Heath Hopkins.
The couple spent decades addicted to anything they could get their hands on, eventually leading to methamphetamine. In the process, they lost custody of their children.
At times, they were homeless. He nearly died from an overdose, but both recovered and have been living a happy life with their children for nearly four years.
Both were facing years in jail when they were offered rehabilitation instead — Roxie Hopkins through Sullivan County’s Felony Recovery Court, also known as drug court.
The court allows inmates with nonviolent criminal charges who have a high need for substance use treatment to receive inpatient and/or outpatient treatment in place of serving a jail sentence.
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“I was like a lot of people around here — born into an addict home,” she said. “My parents were addicts, so you hear kids say, ‘Well, I never wanted to grow up to be a drug addict,’ and I won’t say I wanted to, but … I don’t remember having goals. … I really, legitimately always knew I was going to be a drug addict.”
The 38-year-old began drinking beer at the age of 7, and by 12, she was smoking marijuana and abusing prescription pills. When she was 17, she started shooting up.
“It’s just what I always knew,” she said. “Unfortunately, you see it time and time again of kids not given a chance. My parents loved me. They tried, they did, but they were addicts.”
When she met her husband, she was in a “whirlwind of addiction,” she said, but they fell in love, got married and had three children who are now 17, 11 and 9. Her first pregnancy was the only one during which she didn’t use drugs.
Roxie Hopkins said she and her husband were “functional junkies” until they started using meth for the eight years before they recovered.
“You can’t be a functional junkie on meth,” she said. “You just spiral out of control.”
The Hopkinses have been married for 19 years, but they weren’t always together because their addictions consumed them.
“We never really split up, but it was just in that chaos of that lifestyle, we would be on separate paths and meet up at different trap houses and be like, ‘Oh, hey.’ And then go our separate paths again,” she said.
Their children were living with family members. The eldest still lives with an aunt who has taken care of her for most of her life because they decided it was best for her. They also have custody of their niece and nephew.
In December 2015, Heath Hopkins was high when he evaded arrest, which led to a police officer using a stun gun on him, he said. He had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. After being told he was lucky to be alive, he was faced with the choice of jail or rehab.
“I was to the point where I just felt like myself and everybody I knew was just better off if I died, and it was a fortunate situation when I went to the rehab that I was surrounded by people that were put into my life to help me and say the right things that still make a difference today,” he said.
The 40-year-old was an addict from the time he was about 13 years old.
“It was all-consuming,” he said. “That was the whole force and drive behind my life was getting, finding and using drugs.”
He spent more than two months in two rehabilitation facilities in Kingsport and Nashville. His wife was one of the first graduates of the Recovery Court program in October 2017.
“I didn’t think any of this was possible,” she said, holding back tears. “I never dreamed in a million years that I could come from where I was to even remotely close to where I am now. It is possible, and there is help out there. There’s just massive amounts of people willing to help, but you’ve got to reach out for it, and it’s not easily available, unfortunately.”
Coming back together was a challenge, but over time they learned to focus on their recovery together — a complete turnaround from when they violently argued and even tried to kill one another a few times while high on meth, she said.
“It’s weird that a couple can overcome what we’ve overcome and still make it out on the other side being 100% trusting,” she said. “It’s a blessing to have a partner to be able to connect with on the recovery side of things.”
She added that she owes “so much” to God, Sullivan County Criminal Court Judge Jim Goodwin, who presides over Recovery Court, and the program.
“I 100% would not be where I am today if it wasn’t for that program, and it’s affected so many people aside from just me — my kids and their [future] kids for generations to come,” she said.
She added that several others have been affected, including former addicts who recovered when they heard her story.