West Texas Counseling & Rehabilitation Program of Midland

WTCR can be pretty frustrating. Sometimes you're waiting for more than an hour to meet with your counselor [which is required every other week] or to take your required monthly drug test.

Saturdays are typically a complete nightmare. The clinic is only open from 9 - 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, so you usually end up waiting in an extremely long line to receive your dose. They don't even have enough chairs to accommodate every patient, most people end up sitting on the floor while waiting. The waiting room is large enough for them to bring in at least 3-4 DOZEN more chairs, it's a total mystery why they don't do it.

It's also frustrating to belong to this clinic, because for AT LEAST the first three months [and usually much longer], you have to attend the clinic every single morning [aside from Sundays, when they're closed]. So basically, you better have reliable transportation, and you must accept that you CANNOT leave town for more than a day, unless you want to be horribly sick from withdrawals, and likely get booted out of the program for poor attendance.

There is only a certain amount of patients that WTCR will treat at any specific time, I had to call once a week for about 8 months before I was finally able to get in. They typically don't tend to have many openings, due to the increasing opioid abuse problem here in Midland/Odessa. So while the clinic was at the max amount of patients, I had to continue purchasing/using heroin so I could stay well... Heroin addiction is a HORRIBLY EXPENSIVE illness. While waiting for an opening for new patients, I became homeless [because all of my money was going to heroin], and I was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, which is a felony.

I honestly wanted to quit using for about a year before I was able to get in WTCR, but I couldn't do it on my own, and I kept relapsing after 2-3 days without heroin. It is truly unfortunate that they won't allow more patients to attend, because for many of us, methadone turns out to be a godsend and a life-saver. I know in the pit of my soul, that had I not received treatment, I would either be dead from infection, or I would be in prison.

My heroin possession charge is pending, I'm awaiting trial, but will likely be a convicted felon for the rest of my life... just because I had a small amount of heroin on me for personal use.

I have constant reminders of my addiction - track mark scars up and down my arms, scars from abscesses I had drained at the hospital. I also contracted hepatitis C [an incurable, deadly disease] from IV drug use, Heroin steals your soul from you. I went from a bubbly 20-something with a great future, to a withdrawn junkie who avoided social contact with anyone aside from my dealers.

I was in WTCR from Sept. 2009 - Sept. 2010, and within days of quitting the clinic, I was back on heroin- spent the next 2 1/2 years trying desperately to rejoin but being told that they weren't accepting new patients. I rejoined in January 2013, and since then, I have not done heroin, or any other drug. I'm trying to rebuild the successful life I essentially threw away, starting over from scratch at the age of 27. While I have so many complaints about WTCR, I must say that this clinic is truly a life-saver for me and many others. It's much safer than IV heroin, and at $65 a week, it's definitely much cheaper. I do think there are many things that could be done to improve the clinic, but as it stands now, regardless of the negative factors, this clinic is still a positive, efficient way to quit heroin or prescription painkillers. If they would increase the amount of patients allowed, buy more chairs for the waiting room, extend their hours [they are only open from 6 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.], perhaps hire a few more counselors, WTCR would be perfect. But I'm just thankful that such a place exists in Midland, because it's definitely a necessary service.