Bangor - The drug Bath Salts are causing a lot of problems in Maine.

We've heard from emergency officials on what they see with the drug, but we also wanted to hear from a former user.

A young man named Jesse agreed to share his story with us.


Jesse was addicted to opiates for ten years, in late April he hit a low point in his life and went looking for a new way to get high.

" I was looking for an escape and looking for drugs and Bath Salts were quite prevalent at the time. You'd find them anywhere," said Jesse.

He found them, and started using them.

" It is so widely available. I mean you can walk a block in any direction in the town of Bangor and buy the stuff and the next thing you know I was doing it constantly. I would find some, and I was using them intravenously, so I would do an injection and just be a crazy person for the next two, three hours. I remember one day taking a shot and then literally spending the next three hours on my hands and knees searching for four-leaf clovers. Just out of my mind. I definitely had a lot of paranoid fear and a lot of disconnection with reality," explained Jesse.

The drugs took control of his life. So much so, he wouldn't even sleep.

" At one point there was a 12 day stretch where I didn't sleep at all. No eating, no sleeping, none of the other priorities of normal life, just getting it,doing it, getting more and doing it," described Jesse.

Obviously taking a toll on his physical and mental health.

" I generally weigh about 140 pounds, I was down to 105. The bones in my face were showing. Obviously hygiene had gone right out the window," said Jesse.

One night as he was coming down from a high, he fell asleep, standing up next to a school.

" The next thing I knew I was waking up with a police officer standing in front of me and I had paraphernalia and stuff on me and ended up getting charged with possession," said Jesse.

That was May 29th. The arrest changed his life.

" Now, looking back on it with a clear head I would be dead if I hadn't been arrested that day. I had no intention of stopping at that point. I knew I wanted to, but it was not a possibility for me unless I was stopped," said Jesse.

Jesse will admit, he's done a good amount of drugs over the last 10 years, and says none destroyed him like Bath Salts.

" You can take all the steady decline throughout all those years from doing drugs and you can roll it all in to one three week bender on Monkey Dust and that literally had the same amount of destruction in that short period of time," said Jesse.

He also has three little reasons to stay clean.

" I love my children and man I want to give them better than what I was giving them," said Jesse.

He hopes sharing his story will help others stay away from or get off of Bath Salts.

" Your body can't take it, your brain can't take it. Of all the drugs, I've never seen anything so destructive. I just can't believe how badly it destroyed me in such a short period of time," said Jesse.

We thank Jesse for sharing his story with us.

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