From the archives: This story was last updated in November 2019.
From planning to end her own life as a result of drugs to celebrating her GED diploma, Jamee Valet has completely turned her life around. Now, she is bravely sharing the “before and after” photos that chronicle her life as a recovering meth addict.Valet, of Sweet Home, Oregon, posted before pictures on a public Facebook page called The Addict’s Diary. One shows her face pale and pock-marked from drug use after waiting in her car all night for a drug dealer back in 2017. A later picture shows the now-25-year-old in July 2019 beaming brightly during her graduation ceremony.
The recovering addict started smoking pot at the tender age of 13. Drugs, sex, and alcohol, she said, became ways to escape the reality of a painful childhood.
By 15, Valet was using pills including Vicodin, morphine, oxycodone, and Percocets. Her boyfriend at the time “was the person who taught [her] how to crush them up and snort them.” Valet explained, “Opiates became my best friend.”
One night when she was 17, Valet was raped by two men. The course of her life changed after that. She dropped out of high school and was seduced by heroin and meth as a means of escaping her pain. “I was traumatized,” she said.
“I didn’t know limits. I remember throwing up and doing more and throwing up and doing more,” the 25-year-old added. “I made a fool of myself. I felt the effects for days but recouped and went right back out.”
Hooked, Valet started stealing from her family and strangers in order to buy more drugs. Her first arrest followed at the age of 19; in jail, she became suicidal.
“Suicide was my escape plan my whole life,” she said. “When I was in jail for the first time, I didn’t have drugs to numb myself and my actions kept catching up to me.”
Valet was rescued by her cellmate and jail staff before a suicide attempt could claim her life, but the ordeal put her in a coma for two days. Shocked and scared, Valet swore off drugs. Her conviction did not last.
The young addict was arrested a further five times before ending up in a year-long inpatient rehabilitation program. It was there that she found love with another recovering addict, Jake.
The pair moved in together and took on two pet dogs, Prince and Belle. But Valet’s struggles were not over; she suffered two miscarriages, and the stress prompted her to return to drugs. “I put my boyfriend through hell,” Valet admitted.
It was Jake’s mother who eventually nursed Valet through withdrawal from drugs. “I wound up going cold turkey for 16 days,” Valet said, “and his mom nursed me back to health before sending me to a 90 day inpatient program.”
Luckily, Valet found a way out.
As of November 2019, Valet has been clean and sober for a year and is working in construction. Amid her personal successes, she is also trying to rebuild her troubled relationship with her own family. “I’m fighting to earn their trust back and earn my place back,” she said.
