Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems, Inc.
Baltimore, MD

Written by Bonnie Campbell, Project Director, and Herman Ford, Project Coordinator

Beany's Story

William, better known as Beany, is a short, stocky, 47-year-old single African-American man who doesn’t look a day over 35. Beany says he’s in great shape for his age because he had over 10 years to develop his fire-plug physique behind the walls of Maryland’s prisons.

Beany and his three sisters were raised by their grandmother in a poor, run-down, drug- and violence-infested area in West Baltimore—an area made famous in the book and HBO series called “The Corner.” Daily, the streets were filled with hundreds of people hawking heroin by yelling out drug names such as “spider bags,” “blue dot” and “Mike Tyson.” Beany began using alcohol and marijuana at age 13, and, because he was a tough kid who never backed down from anything or anybody, he was enlisted by older hustlers to sell their heroin. Beany was smart and soon became a “chemist,” learning how to cut the heroin with quinine and other additives to make the drug go further and to make more money. It was at that time that Beanie began to feel the high from heroin and he began using it regularly along with other drugs such as PCP, acid, and cocaine.

From age 15-45, Beany was arrested over 30 times for charges ranging from drug possession to masterminding a drug enterprise to attempted murder. During his last 10-year prison stint, Beany’s grandmother passed, and he began to think about how she had pleaded with him to do something to change his life. Beany started attending Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings in prison, and for the first time he really listened to stories from people who had problems similar to his own and who had changed. He began to think that he too could change.

But, two years ago, when he was released from prison, Beany had nowhere to live. He tried to get into drug treatment but was refused admission because he had no identification and no money to pay for counseling. He tried to get a job but was turned down because of his criminal history and lack of work experience. Eventually he saw an old acquaintance who was living in a recovery house for ex-prisoners. Beany moved in. It was there that another resident told him about Recovery in Community (RIC). Located in Beany’s childhood neighborhood, RIC is a drug treatment program that offers people in recovery a place to meet, talk about recovery, and get information about services.

Upon entering the program, Beany was impressed by the easy-going, friendly atmosphere. One of the first people Beanie saw was “Snoop” an old buddy from his neighborhood. Snoop, who had been homeless for over five years, said “You can come here anytime, 24/7, and you’ll see people you know here.” The program director, Lena, showed Beany around the clinic and introduced him to program staff and participants. Beany was amazed at the handshakes, smiles and “welcome to the program” messages he received from nearly everyone he met.

“We all have a chance for a better life, and this is where it starts,” was Beany’s first lesson in the Men’s Rap Group. Within a short time, Beanie became a “fixture” at RIC, attending the program Monday though Friday for 5-6 hours every day. “Even though I’d used needles in the past, I was honestly afraid of acupuncture treatment,” Beany reported, “but after seeing 30 or more guys in the group having acupuncture needles put into their ears, I gave it a try.” Beanie found the treatments calming. He went on to try other new things too, such as Tai Chi, yoga and meditation.

Over time, Beany realized his ways of thinking were changing, he started having hope that he could make it. “For the first time in my life, I felt like I wanted to go legit. They helped me get a job at a moving company and I was able to get a small place of my own to live.” Lena noticed the changes in Beany and reported, “When the program received a new grant as part of the Threshold to Recovery program, we could offer peer counseling on the weekends. My first thought was to ask Beany to be RIC’s first peer counselor.” Beany accepted the job and now he has two paychecks!

On any given weekend, Beany can be seen at RIC moving between the downstairs DVD player making sure the day’s movie was running okay, to the upstairs 12-step fellowship meeting and Tai Chi classes to ensure the leaders were there and everything was running smoothly. “It’s cool the way the men will open up to me over a card game, and talk about what’s really going on in their lives,” Beanie says, knowing that the men can relate to him because they know Beany has been where they are.

In fact, Beany was able to help a coworker at the furniture store. “He told me that he was OK during the day while he was working, but at night and on the weekends he was really struggling with his addiction. I told him about Threshold to Recovery and now he comes to RIC on the weekends and Baltimore’s other Threshold centers in the evenings.”

Beany and his friend are among the roughly 300 people who use Baltimore’s Threshold to Recovery centers daily to support and encourage each other in making recovery from addiction a reality in their lives.

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