Tony Rogers considers himself lucky to be in jail.

Now serving three years of an eight year sentence in theLawrence County Jail for possession of methamphetamines, Rogersknows his particular situation could be worse.

“I feel God has blessed me,” he said. “I got off light with aneight year sentence for all I’ve done in the past. I could beserving 10 life sentences.”

For Rogers, 45, the road to his redemption has been long andfull of stumbling blocks.

“Meth will take you down a bad road that leads nowhere but todestruction,” he said.

He began using meth when he was 18 years old, and his criminalcareer has included everything from possession and abuse totrafficking and manufacturing.

“I’ve beaten bunches of drug charges in my life,” he said. “Thissheds the light on me for how much you can get for a lot less thanthings I’ve done in the past.”

Rogers said he now regrets not having been caught earlier in hislife. The drug has cost him his health, two families, and severalwell-paying jobs.

“Those who say it hurts no one but themselves are caught up inthe deception. It’s a big lie,” he said. “It hurts everyone youknow. And I’ll tell you something else, too. I have never had afriend of mine who I did meth with come visit me while I’ve been injail.

“All my visitors have been family, those who I put on the backburner while I was destroying my life,” he said. “You learn who isreally important when you go through something like this.”

THE MISTAKES

He admits to being embarrassed about talking of his many tragicmistakes, but earnestly wants to prevent others from makingthem.

“If what I say here helps even one person, it will be enough,”he said. “Meth is a destroyer of everything.”

Rogers said his drug use began around 1975, but not with meth.When he was 18, he began using cocaine, but only until he found outabout meth.

“Years ago we used to go to Houston (Texas) to get it. Cocainewas big then,” he said. “I tried it, but you couldn’t get enough,and it was too expensive. The only way to get enough money to keepyourself in it was to sell it.”

While he was using cocaine and still 18, Rogers met a man whileworking offshore who introduced him to methamphetamines. Meth costsabout the same as cocaine, Rogers said, but the effects last 10times as long. That makes meth the cheaper of the two drugs, butwith a similar high.

Rogers was just an occasional user then, only using it toincrease his fun on the weekends. In 1984, however, the drug dealtits first major blow.

“I lost my job offshore, where I was making good money, becauseof meth,” Rogers said. “I failed my random drug test. I had been upall day and took some that night to stay awake. I got caught.”

The company he worked for liked him and his work, he said, andoffered to continue to pay him his regular wages while he was in arehabilitation center, which they also offered to pay for.

“It was such an embarrassment to me that I didn’t want to tellmy family. I told them I quit,” he said.

He flitted among construction jobs for about a year before arelative arranged another offshore job for him with a differentcompany. This time he would be working overseas. Rogers said he”got around” the firing on his resume to get the job.

USING MORE

He was now using meth more heavily though, and on one of histrips home he was up and awake on meth for 22 of his 24 days home.When it was time for him to report back to work, he said he got asfar as Atlanta and decided he didn’t want to go. He returned homeand didn’t even notify the company he wasn’t coming.

“That effectively ended my career in the oil field profession,”he said. “Between the firing and not reporting back, I wouldn’t getanother job in the business. They didn’t know it was drugs, but itwas.”

To replace the well-paying career he had intentionallydiscarded, Rogers took a job with an over-the-road truckingcompany, making long hauls to California.

He was a dangerous man on the road, he admits now. Meth hadbecome the guiding influence in his life by this point, and nothingelse mattered but getting that next hit. He vividly remembers howone time he blacked out from California to eastern Texas. Hedoesn’t remember a single thing during that drive.

“I’ve stayed up as long as 24 days without laying down tosleep,” he said. “I did that a lot as a driver.”

Rogers said it was common for him to make the entire trip toCalifornia and back high on meth and without sleep.

“You can do that sometimes, but it’s eventually going to take atoll, a terrible toll,” he said.

DRUG TRAFFICKER

Trucking was lucrative for Rogers. Not only did he make goodmoney as a driver, but he made better money as a trafficker innarcotics.

“I used to haul crystal meth back here from California,” headmits with a sad shake of his head. “I could buy it back there forabout $400 an ounce and sell it here for $1,400.”

The trafficking ended in the early 1990s when he was caught by aTexas trooper.

While the trooper, who was alone, was searching the cab of his18-wheeler, Rogers fled into the desert on foot and returned home.He was arrested in Mississippi, on Texas charges of transportingmeth, trafficking, possession of meth with intent, and drivingunder the influence of a controlled substance, but the case wouldnever go to court.

“I had good lawyers,” Rogers said.

While waiting to go to court, he was released on bond andcontinued to live his way — high on meth and even drivingtrucks.

“I went out and got a complete set of false identification andwent back to driving trucks,” he said.

After many delays, when the Texas authorities were ready to trythe case, Rogers was incapable of standing trial and the chargeswere dropped for medical reasons.

About five years ago, he had an accident while on meth in hispersonal vehicle. It landed him in the hospital and in a coma. Hesaid he had probably been awake for 14-15 days when he crashed.

It was while he was in a coma that the Texas authorities wantedto try the case. The charges were dropped when they discoveredwhere he was.

ANOTHER ADDICTION

His saving grace happened on Feb. 23, 2002, when law enforcementofficers raided the home of a friend where Rogers had finishedcooking meth, he said.

“I was making it for them,” he said. “I had dope. I didn’t needany more. I just enjoyed making it. I never, and I mean never,charged to cook dope for anybody. It was an obsession of mine.”

In fact, Rogers said, once he began cooking meth it became moreimportant to him than actually using the drug.

“The cooking of crystal meth is very addictive,” he said. “I wasmore obsessed with making the stuff than doing it. It was somethingto go to regular stores and buy everything I needed. I never stolethe anhydrous ammonia. I made my own.”

Rogers said his cooking obsession revolved around improving theproduct. He wanted to make the best meth he could and wouldcontinuously modify the recipe to make it better.

“I was cooking mine for me, not to sell,” he said. “There’s abig difference. I wanted mine to be good. Those cooking for othersdon’t care. It’s an easy dollar, a quick fix. I wanted to learn. Iwanted to do it right. I wanted the best. And I wanted it to notmess me up.”

THE EFFECTS

He realizes now that he was guilty of wishful thinking. There’sno way to avoid the ill effects of meth, he said.

“It tears your health down tremendously. It ages you a wholelot. I’m 45 years old,” he said, waving his hands at himself, “butI know I look much older. I can probably pass for 60. Your body isnot designed to run 24/7. On meth you can run 24/7 … for a while.So, naturally it’s going to age you.”

The health effects are not the worst, a fact Rogers has trulyonly learned to appreciate since he was sentenced on Nov. 15,2002.

“Now I only see my kids through a fence on visitation day. I’mmissing a lot of time with them,” he said.

Rogers said he has five children and two broken marriages.

“All of this cost me my family,” he said. “I’ve been through twomarriages and two sets of kids. If not for meth, I probablywouldn’t have had a second family. It broke us up. It also caughtme again with my second family.”

Because of that, he said, he is glad he plead guilty topossession of three grams of meth during a plea bargain. Hisoriginal charges also included manufacturing meth, possession ofprecursors and two counts of possession of a restrictedprescription drug, which he said he was holding for a friend.

His incarceration has been a blessing to his family, who dodgedthe meth bullet by seeing what it has done to him and by using agood dose of the common sense he lacked, he said.

“My family is lucky. They have seen how it has destroyed us andhave gone on and avoided meth,” he said.

THE UNLUCKY

Others, however, are not so fortunate.

“It can go from one generation to the next,” he said. “It maynot be hereditary, but you do what you know. Kids who see theirparents doing it just assume it’s OK for them too.”

Rogers said he doubts he will ever return to doing meth, but theconcern lingers, and he worries about it a great deal. It’s a hardtrap to escape.

“No one can sit here and tell you they’ll never do it again,” hesaid. “If they tell you that they’re a fool. They may tell youthat, and they may mean it, but it’s hard to get away.”

Rogers said he has learned while incarcerated to put his trustin the Lord and hopes He’ll lend His strength to help him past thetemptations. He puts no trust in jail or a rehabilitation center tocure a meth addict.

Rogers turned as he was being led away and said he had a warningfor those considering using meth or those who had not yet traveledtoo far down the path.

“I’ve never met anyone who has done crystal meth who did notlike it. The beginning is wonderful, but the end is Hell. That’sthe truth. In the end it will cost you your health, your family,your possessions, your self-respect … everything. And it don’tgive a damn thing back. Nothing!”