Life-gripping addictions knocked them down, but they’re back on their feet again
Published 11:12 am Thursday, September 5, 2019
Weston Aron works in a University of Mississippi biology lab feeding cloned fruit flies. Aron, whose promising academic career at a major university was derailed by drugs, alcohol and arrests, is sober and working hard on his degree at Ole Miss. Photo by Megan Wolfe/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
Sam Peeler, who used to begin every day at 10 a.m. by drinking and taking Xanax, eventually wound up in prison. He is sober and working on his degree at the University of Mississippi, thanks to the support network of the university's Collegiate Recovery Community. Photo by Megan Wolfe/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
Eric Peters works the line at Grit restaurant in Taylor. The University of Mississippi student, who battled alcohol addiction during his career as an executive chef, has been sober for years and is working on his degree. Photo by Megan Wolfe/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services
One day, he got the call he’d failed: he tested positive for marijuana. He contends he wasn’t smoking it, but was hanging out with people who were. Drug court sent him to jail for 10 days.
“That’s when it hit me that my people, places and things needed to change,” Peeler said.
‘The worst of the worst’
He didn’t learn his lesson, though. Addicts can be a stubborn group.
Peeler tested positive and violated probation for the second time. He was sent to the Lafayette County Detention Center for three weeks without any idea of when he was going to be released. When the three weeks passed, he was sent to the Delta Correctional Facility for 90 days.
It took this scenario for him to get serious about getting his life in order. Prison offered him time to reflect and plot a course of action.
“I sat in there, and that was where I realized this is where the worst of the worst come,” Peeler said. “This is a doghouse. Right there, I started writing a journal every day about how I am going to change my life.
“I started reading the Bible and realizing that when I get out of here, my life needs to change. I couldn’t keep doing all these same things and hurting the same people.”
His redemption story began there. He went back to school. He even started showing up for class and going to the library – lower case, library – not the local bar of the same name. And Peeler, a product of a wealthy family who never really held a job before, was working and paying off his debts.
He was also hitting the gym instead of the bar.
“I got everything squared away with drug court so I could start traveling out of state,” Peeler said. “All that productivity truly helped me. That’s when I started realizing where I am.
