Lake County drug counselor draws from personal experience

LAKE COUNTY -- The struggle with addiction can be difficult, but sometimes help can come from someone who's been there already.

"For me, the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life was get clean and sober," drug and alcohol counselor Wayne M. Anderson said. "I wanted to help people because the disease of addictions is at epidemic proportion,"

Anderson, 64, has worked in the field for about 10 years. He draws from the knowledge he gained during his battle with dependency in order to help others in similar situations.

"I was heavily into methamphetamine and I was selling methamphetamine," the Soda Bay resident said, reflecting on his 1987 narcotics arrest in Lake County. "Obviously, I sold to law enforcement, and I wasn't aware of it at the time."

Anderson spent a little more than two years in state prison after his conviction, but his issues with drugs continued once he went back on the streets.

"After I got released out of prison, I had two violations for dirty tests and I was still using. Then I got arrested again," he said.

That May 30, 1991 arrest occurred four days before his son was born, which helped motivate him to change his lifestyle.

"I got clean and sober for him," Anderson said. "I made the decision right then and there ... I said, 'I can't keep doing this. I can't. I just can't do this anymore.'"

While in the Lake County Jail and facing the prospect of seven years in prison, he came across a Reader's Digest article about the Delancey

"So, I had my attorney advocate for me in court about going to a program because it seemed like I was on a carousel and didn't know how to get off," Anderson said.

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Lake County drug counselor draws from personal experience