The Seventeenth Conviction

by Dierdre Joy

Help for Those who Struggle with Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Dierdre didn’t really stand a chance. She, like so many others, was just history repeating itself. The child of chemically-dependent parents, she grew up to become a meth addict and a thief, eventually landing in the state prison. She takes you with her on her honest assessment of life as an addict. As her own worst enemy, she wreaked havoc on her life, her relationships, her children, and her body. Any hope of ever being more than a felon was permanently destroyed. Or was it?

Dierdre spent many years trying to prove that as an adult, the choice was indeed her own. Even as she encountered roadblock after roadblock of her own making, she refused to believe she was doomed to be only the sum of all her bad decisions. The Seventeenth Conviction is a very candid look at one woman’s journey into the depths of addiction and the very challenging road back.

This book is a true story, although names and some details have been changed to protect privacy.

“I think of some of the things I’ve been through, seen, and done. Would I go back and change any of it? Well, duh! Absolutely. But, it doesn’t work like that, now does it? Since I can’t go back and change any of it, what I think I’ll do is this instead: I’ll take some tiny piece of good from all the crap and I’ll move on. I’ll do my best to not let history repeat in any way—not in my parenting and not in my relationships of any kind. Take what you can use and leave the rest.”

“Why has the Good Lord given me the trials He has? … There must be someone I can help using the strength He went to such lengths to build in me. It’s certainly a message I feel compelled to pass along. If I can get up and walk away from addiction and dysfunction, so can you.”