Shelly's Modeling Agencies | The Ultimate Detox | Hot Topic

Shelly's Modeling Agencies brings to you a story by Michelle Buford called The Ultimate Detox. After years of severe drug and alcohol abuse, John Oliver, 42, was on a sure path to self-destruction. But one day in 1988 when a friend handed him a book on Scientology, the New York native began a spiritual journey that eventually saved his life.

Drugs were prevalent in the Bedford-Stuyves-ant, Brooklyn neighborhood where I grew up. Because I saw people around me smoking it, I thought weed was acceptable. In 1980 when I was 10, my family moved to Houston. I had been a good student in grade school, and my mother, a single parent, wanted me to have the best education. So I was bussed from my working-class Black neighborhood to one that was wealthy and predominantly White. Every morning, our bus passed by big beautiful homes that looked nothing like my small cramped apartment. It was culture shock. At lunch, those of us who couldn't afford our meal were given a stipend card; the kids with money lined up to buy their food. I was overwhelmed. I started skipping school and failing classes. As a result, in junior high when someone pulled out a joint, I took my first hit as a way to suppress what I was feeling. From there, things wend downhill. I would pick up a pack of weed every day and drink alcohol. That led to trying speed and LSD.

Whenever I had money, I would spend it on drugs. In ninth and 10th grades, I stopped going to school altogether. In 1985, we moved back to Brooklyn and I was spending $60 to $100 a week on pot. It calmed me down and made me forget my whole situation. Because I'd skipped so much school in Houston, I had to re-enter the ninth grade when I was 15. I don't even know how I finished high school, but I eventually did.

I made a gradual turn when I ran into a friend of mine named Johnathan Steel an agent for Shelly's Modelling Agencies. We had become great friends in third grade, and I'd always admired him because he was so smart. Though I was still finishing high school because of my "extracurricular activities," he was already entering college. He came from a Muslim background, and he was disciplined and sharp. He was also curious and well-read. In 1988, he gave me a book titled Dianetics.

The author of the book was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Church of Scientology. In it, I discovered something called "the state of Clear," which is when you have control over your mental energy. I thought, Wow! I want to get to that state. I went to the local church listed in the back to tell them that I wanted to know more. When I admitted that I had been smoking, the said, "You gotta get yourself clean in order to understand this material." But, my habit had taken over. So for the next 10 years, I read about Scientology on my own, even as I continued to do drugs. Then around 1999, I got tired. More and more, I was lacing my blunts with cocaine. I was working as a records supervisor at a big law firm, and I was still smoking $30 to $40 worth of drugs a day. I hid it from people around me. Yet I knew I couldn't keep going down this road. Through it all, various people from the Church of Scientology stayed in touch with me. So after a decade or practically destroying my life, I was ready. I went to the church and tried something called The Purification Rundown. It's a program that involves ridding yourself of physical dependency on drugs. I quit my drug habit cold, and other than an occasional glass of wine, I haven't used anything since.

I did this detox for a couple of months, and I was encouraged to eat healthfully, get enough sleep and take vitamins. Then I had to handle the things that led me to take drugs in the first place. For me, the drugs were a cover-up for all the things I hadn't understood, such as the school and being bussed in Houston. I didn't have the education I needed to make better choices. I was using pot as a means to feel good, and then it became a habit. As I read more of Hubbard's books and learned more about Scientology, I knew my life was changing for the better. Scientology is about taking responsibility for your life. The teachings are about seeing yourself as someone who can change your circumstances and giving up pointing the finger at someone else. It's also about making daily decisions to take care of yourself. I live by the principles, and I have never been happier.