Chris Cleveland smoked his first joint at age 12, the initial step on a 30-year journey with drugs. He remembers his age because that year his father, a Marine, and his mother, president of the New Mexico Broadcasters' Association, finally divorced. Even before the divorce, his parents worked long hours.
"I had the freedom to do whatever I wanted," he recalls, "And it wasn't a good thing."
By 16, his high school asked him to leave.
"My formal education stopped there," laments Chris, but his addictions took off. A self-described "highly functioning addict," he held down a series of jobs while abusing drugs. At home, he got high. On the job, he was by turns a bounty hunter, bail bondsman, and corrections officer.
