Wealth Paved Path to Crack

Greg Mitchell’s path to crack addiction--and his publicly funded recovery--ran not through poverty and the inner city, but through wealth and the business world.

Throughout the 1970s, Mitchell lived in Laguna Beach, where he and a partner built a successful clothing business. Flush with money, he grew to love powder cocaine.

Because he was spending so much on coke, Mitchell, 46, lost his business. He held a succession of jobs and eventually quit drugs in the late 1980s through a group recovery program.

But after 6 1/2 years of being clean, he caved in. In 1992, feeling lonely and troubled, he took his first hit of crack. “It was extremely euphoric,” he said. “It brought back a high I had not felt for six years.” Although he pulled back after a three-week binge, the friend who had offered that first hit returned earlier this year. That led to months of usage that took Mitchell to Hollywood, MacArthur Park and Skid Row, where crack is plentiful.

As he began to lose everything again, friends and relatives persuaded him to enter a live-in treatment program. When his brother dropped him off, Mitchell headed to the facility’s restroom, where he took one last hit before checking in.

He was terrified. “It’s like this is (it),” he said after being admitted. “I don’t have any more chances.”

But after less than two weeks of detoxification, Mitchell was feeling confident and has moved to a longer-term residential program paid for by the county.

“When I’ve been clean and sober, (I’ve) been able to help people,” he said. “I think I can do that again.”