Hey, friend of Jerry listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Episode 1, friend of Jerry, this podcast is going to be something special, something electric, something never done before. I'm bringing something different to Barsville Sports. A lot of my fans over the last couple years have been asking asking me oh Jersey Jerry why don't you have your own show Jersey Jerry you need a show listen I always wanted to find something I'm really passionate about yes I do love gambling yes I love the ponies I was thinking about doing a bunch of those other things yes I am the love doctor but I am sober and I want to bring a different, something different

that Barsal has never done before to this company.

The show is Friend of Jerry, essentially what it is is you don't have to be sober to listen

to this show.

If you're a friend of me, Friend of Jerry, make sure you're listening.

This show is pretty much essentially going to be a podcast, not specifically based on and sub-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b guests on here that are sober my friends who are sober even other people who are trying to get sober. We're gonna talk about what it's like being sober

Trials and tribulations how I got sober Where I was and where I'm at now I'll first start off by saying this my sobriety date is July 4, 2015 I've been sober for over six years now and it's something I take very serious I'm curious.

All started.

I want to tell my story first and I'll get into what I want to-

What I want to show to basically be about specifically. So my Sprite H, life for 2015, I got sober in Scottsdale, Arizona but I all started when I was about 17 years old. I was an athlete in high school, good grades, always on the honor roll. I started hanging out with the wrong people after varsity football games and stuff like that. I got introduced to Smokin' Pot around 17 years old. Started smoking, thought it was pretty cool, and I kind of fit in for the first in my life. I was never like the cool kid but I noticed the more I smoked and hung out with some people. People would look at me like, oh Jerry he's really cool, he's really cool kid. So Marijuana led me to the worst decision of my life. I one day went to a party and a kid was like, hey Jerry, you want to try one of these? I'm like, what the hell is that? It was in a dip can and it was all pills in it and I'm like, what the hell is that? He's like, oh these are percassettes. They're so much better than smoking weed, you'll love them. Then I was like, nah, I'm good. I don't want to do that. And then I didn't touch it. And then I noticed this kid started to make a lot of money in high school. He was selling these things. And I was like, Google in what the hell it was. And I was like, oh shit. This stuff is in my cabinet at home. The medicine cabinet at home. It was my grandmother's prescription. So I was like, fuck. So I went to the cabinet and I took one and I'll never forget the day I took that, it was a feeling that I can't explain. It was pretty much like, I don't know. It was like a rush and I felt so calm and relaxed and I was like, oh, this is it. This is how I want to feel. Every fucking day for the rest of my life, I want to feel like this. And before you know it, try it the first day. Didn't try it for a couple days. Then a couple days went by and I took another one. And then I started taking two of them and before you know it within a month or two, I'm fucking doing these things every single day. And I'll be honest, in the beginning I was still getting good grades and I didn't fuck up and nobody knew what I was doing. I knew what I was doing, but nobody else really knew until it got to the point where I was like fuck it. I can't keep stealing these. They're gonna find out. I gotta do something. I gotta probably sell these things and try to get in with the guy that offered me the first place. And I'll talk to him and maybe we can sell them together. So boom. boom. Jersey Jerry at one point thought he was a drug dealer. He was not a drug dealer. I tried and I failed. So I linked up with that one kid and we got some things together. We talked and he gave me, I'll never forget, he gave me 90 of them. I don't remember the prices or anything like that back then, but he gave me 90 of them and it was like, here, you could fucking do them and you could fucking sell them and you'll never have to worry, just, you know, always come to me. And I'll be honest, I barely fucking sold any of them. I just fucking fucked up and I just fucking took them all and that's when it was like fuck it now it's off to the races now I'm playing varsity baseball as a junior going into my senior year in high school and I was fully, fully dependent on opioids. And as the summer came it just got even fucking worse and that's when the summer going into my senior year is when my mom kind of started to notice to change in me. I would never, I used to go to the movies all the time with my friends and watch new movies that are coming out and she's like, oh, why'd you stop hanging out with this kid and why'd you stop going to the movies? Why do you just stay home every single day now and you don't do anything? I'm like, I don't know,'t know I just I just want to stay home, you know So that's was that was the first time where other people started to realize What what I was doing and and obviously it was wrong so like I said the summer became pretty bad and I'm almost 18 years old and I'm just fully dependent on opioids and I'll never forget I was 18. I was a senior in high school and it was the first time where I tried to stop. So senior year in high school, beginning of the year, I tried to stop using. I didn't know how to stop but I wanted to stop because I knew it was wrong and they didn't want other people catching up So I tried to stop and it was it was a I failed I Stop taking it and after like the first the first day I was sick. I was throwing up I was having like Crazy bowel movements. I was sweating. I didn't want to eat. I didn't want to drink anything and I'm like, oh fuck like This this is fucked up and I'm reading about it on Google and it's like You know when you quit this there's withdrawals that come with it and I never knew anything about what a withdrawal was So I'm like fuck. Well, how do I stop it? Boom. More percuss sets. If I take another percuss set, it'll stop the effect. So that's exactly what I fucking did. So first time trying to stop Epic failure, nowhere close to stopping. Maybe stop for maybe, I don't know, 16 hours, a day maybe. I don't really remember that much. But so that was the first time I tried to stop when I was 18. From 18, it's pretty much a crazy fucking story till 20, till 21. 18 years old, I go to college and I'll never forget this. So I got accepted to a private Catholic college called Wall University.

And like I said, I had really good grades. So my mom didn't make a lot of money and I got into this thing called the EOF program. And essentially what it is is they give you like financial aid or whatever it is. So I got half scholarship for that and half for academics or whatever.

So... I don't know like financial aid or whatever it is so I got half scholarship for that and half for academics or whatever so basically pretty much Got a free enrollment to college. I just needed to pay for my room and board and my my meal plan Which which my mom was was paying for because I wasn't really working. I was just like delivering pizzas or something at the time. And I'm in college and I'll never forget. I'm roaming with this one kid. I thought he was pretty weird. And this group of juniors, I noticed them smoking pot one night outside and like, oh, Jared, you smoke. And I'm like, I don't really smoke anymore. I used to a lot. And'm like, hey, do you know anybody on campus that does percusses or pills or opioids or blues or anything like that? They laugh and like, dude, you're in a private Catholic college. No, I don't think so, brother's nuns here and should I think people really do shit like that. And sure enough, I started smoking with them,

one thing led to another, and I was like, okay, boom. I'm really gonna try to stop again, fuck this shit. I'll just smoke weed, and it'll all be fine. And honestly, I had very little success. I did it for like three months. Like I stopped for three months. I was just smoking weed. I went through like two or three days of pretty shitty withdrawals, but then I felt okay.

And I stopped and I started hanging... for three months. I was just smoking weed. I went through like two or three days of pretty shitty

withdrawals, but then I felt okay. And I stopped and I started hanging out with these kids and they're like, hey, you should come, you should come room with us. We have, we have a quad and it's only us two. We'd love another guy. I'm like, dude, you think they're gonna let fucking a freshman dormant you guys are like do you like your your roommate I'm like not really we don't

really talk it's kind of weird like fuck it we'll put in we'll put in the

word we want to have you and I started hanging out with these kids every day I'll never get So we started hanging out every fucking day smoking pot and I was still getting good grades and shit like that I was still going to class. I never really missed class or anything like that and I was and I noticed the more I hang out with these guys the more and more parties they would bring me to and all these people that are fucking smoking and shit like that I'm like fuck it I can make some money here so what I did was I went I went back down to my town on weekends I would pick up a lot of pot and I'd bring it back and And then three months into college, I go, I'm

coming back and I forget where I went, I think I went to the cafeteria to eat or something like that. And I come back and I use my key thing, my key fob to try to get in and I'm like, oh shit, it ain't working. So I'm banging on the thing, the security comes. And I'm I'm like, hey, my Keith car's not working.

And he's like, hey, are you, are you Gerard?

I'm like, yeah.

And he's like hey are you are you are you gerard i'm like yet and he's like us so i'm just to see you in uh... in our office i'm like so i'm sure she's like the head of like a raise or whatever like that or head of housing or something like that and uh... i go i see her and uh... pretty much i literally walk in her office and it's all my marijuana on her desk, all in baggies and shit like that. And she's like, hey, so you got two choices here. You can go upstairs, pack all your stuff up and leave, or we can call the cops, you can decide. And I'm like, I'm out. Fuckin Fuckin I'm out I go upstairs pack all my shit I leave I come home and then it's a crazy story like now I got explained to my mom what the fuck I've done and She was super upset at me like you through you through your throwing your whole life away and still she had, she was blinded really like. She didn't really, she knew like I was smoking pot but she didn't really know like oh I got into pills and like I said I'm pretty much clean off of that at this time but I'm still fucking dealing pot and smoking pot. So I go back home and I have to find a job, I find a job like at this uniform place or whatever like that like folding clothes and stocking shelves and shit and delivering pizzas on the side and I did the summer program at the Department of Public Works. I'm 19 years old and I'm pretty much like not doing anything with my life besides smoking pot and fucking fucking off you know. And sure enough I get bored one night and I'm like fuck it. What what what what what what make I want to feel good like fuck this smoking pot shit like I just want to fucking feel like that again and sure enough the cycle continues boom stop smoking pot I'm starting to do fucking prescription pills again and then that's when I get caught my mom catches me and and she's fucking pissed off she's like I think she was doing laundry and she she found a bunch of like straws that were rolled that were cut and fucking powder inside of them And it was the first time where I was completely honest, you know 19 years old and I'm like You know I'm fucked up like I'm doing I'm doing drugs I'm doing prescription pills and she's like okay done You're not gonna you're not doing this anymore. You're going away to rehab I'm like no, I don't want to to go to rehab. I mean I was just like we have no choice It's either get the fuck out live on the street or you're going to rehab so 19 years old I go to my first inpatient rehab facility down in North New Jersey called integrity house and I go there and it's funny story about the place. It's actually a place where my father graduated from years ago. In the 90s, he also had drug problems, been to prison multiple times and stuff like that. But it's a place where he first went there and got sober. So I go there, boom, I'm in there for 90 days. It's a crazy experience. It's like a therapeutic community where they're fucking yelling at you and shit like that and make your bed full to close, wash dishes. And I'll be honest, I fucking hated it. It was, it sucked like, it was in a shitty part of downtown N Nork and we only got to get like three cigarettes a day and I was in there. I was the youngest kid in there. I'm 19 and there's people coming. There's people stipulated there. So people from prison go there, people who are homeless on the street go there, people who are on parole and probation go there and they're stipulated there. So I'm 19 years old, I'm in a fucking rehab with people who are coming out of prison or people that are waiting to go to prison or people who are homeless off the street and I just feel like this, this ain't it. I don't wanna live like this no more.

I wanna fucking get outta here after 90 days and try to get my life together. So boom, 90 days comes up. And I graduate from the program, but during the program, I'll never forget, we had to attend meetings and shit like that for AA and NA. And I I always heard people like talking about crack cocaine and I was always curious I I always looked at it like I knew what crack cocaine was and I knew like what a crack head is and I'm like all these like I'll never I'll never be that fucking guy like fuck that I'll never be like that and sure enough I get home doing good for a couple weeks and then boom off to the races again and this time was different this time was this time was where I really got sucked into this shit and I'm never gonna go to the guy always get the stuff from like hey, do you know? Do you know like where to get crack and he's like? Yeah, you can here's this guy's number like down in Norfolk like you know You could pick it up from him. He sells you know crack heroin and shit like that so I'm like, okay, so I go meet up with that guy and I Start I start asking questions and he's like no like, no, I don't have that on me, but I got heroin. It's like a lot cheaper than fucking, you know, buying pills and I'm like, all right, fucking, I'm like, all right, how much can 20 bucks get me? He's like, all right, here, here's four bags of heroin and I go home and it's the first time where I tried heroin now and right off the bat boom completely completely dependent Every day I'm buying heroin and then I once again like Meet up with the guy for like third or fourth time like hey you got the crack and he's like yeah, so boom Now I'm doing both heroin and crack and now it's all, now my mom has like zero control over me. whatsoever. I'm robbing, I'm stealing my sister's laptop, Mac computers, taking things from the house and selling them purses and I'm doing everything to get money to smoke crack and do heroin and I had this thing where from like 19 to 21 where I would just I would I would just disappear for days and weeks at some point like I just wouldn't come home and I'll never forget like my mom will always look in for me and on the street and late at night, just if I didn't come home that night, just wondering where the fuck I was and crying and leaving me messages, texting me. And it was just really sad, man. And I'll be honest, I never gave him my all, but I don't want to get into too much of the stories, but

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