Raelene and Larry Weber’s first date was like many others.
Larry took Raelene, whom he knew from high school, on a motorcycle ride after reconnecting on Facebook. It was only after they got back home that they discovered each others big secret:
Both of them were addicted to methamphetamine.
Addiction came at different times. Larry was a hard partier and long time drug user, already addicted to alcohol, he fell into meth addiction.
“My first interaction with drugs was when I was 14 years old,” Larry said, “I did cocaine. At 18, I found methamphetamine. Meth made it where I could outlast the party. I could party all night and into the next day, and then go into work. I wasn’t worth a darn at work, but I could do it. That was the attraction for me.”
Raelene found the drug during an emotional vulnerable state, right after the death of her mother.
“It was just there,” said Raelene, “Anybody that knows meth knows that you lose all feeling, not just the bad feelings but the good ones. I just didn’t concentrate so much on missing [my mom], and then you do a little bit more, and a little bit more, and then your life spirals out of control.”
Their drug addiction fed off of one another, and years later, they got married. Larry started producing his own methamphetamine using the one-pot “Shake and Bake” method…and that’s when his cousin, Lee County Narcotics Task Force Commander Stacy Weber, got involved.
“When I took over in 2012 as commander, I was debriefed by the investigators and they told me that [they] were two people we were going to be meeting with in the future,” Stacy said.
And meet with them he did. One day, around June of 2012, right after Larry was finished cooking a batch of meth, the Lee County Narcotics Task Force was at the Weber’s door.
But Larry told KBUR that when he heard that knock at the door, it wasn’t fear that he felt.
“The last couple of months before I got arrested, I was tired,” explained Larry, “I was tired of the game. I was tired of looking over my shoulder. By the time the task force came to my door, I remember distinctly–I was relieved. I took, probably, the deepest breath I had taken in a long time.”
The Weber’s said that on that day, that drug bust, marked the beginning of their recovery. With the help of Stacy; Larry and Raelene enrolled in a rehab facility in Mount Pleasant where they worked with counselors and other addicts. Between rehab and five years of probation, Larry and Raelene still have a strong marriage. According to them, the temptation to use is completely gone.
“Our life was hell for a while,” said Raelene. Neither one of us were working, we couldn’t pass a drug test. To think about where we are now, we have jobs, a house, two cars, where before we didn’t even have one…I can’t see [relapse] happening.”
All three Webers said that if you’re struggling with addiction, there is help, and that people out there really do understand what you’re going through. Stacy says that if you know someone struggling with addiction, the best thing to do is tell someone.
“Turning people in is not snitching. It’s saving them,” said Stacy. “You have to turn them in. They aren’t going to come to my office and say ‘arrest me, change my life’ because they don’t realize how bad their life is.”
Meth is a synthetic drug made from toxic household chemicals. It’s experienced a huge surge in recent years because it’s easy to make and extremely potent.
