Part One of Two
Studies have indicated that there is a 500% increase in the number of individuals who take prescription drugs illegally since the year 1990. The study further indicated that 95% of untreated addicts die of their addiction. Here is the Alton Voss story.
Alton was a local student born in Michigan in 1988 and moved to Florida as a young child. In high school, Voss become one of the most intensely-recruited high school quarterbacks in the country.
Top National Recruit
During his senior year at New Port Richey Gulf High School, just outside of Tampa, his tight grip on the football helped him develop into one of the 25 best prep quarterbacks in the nation, and third best in the state of Florida. Voss could throw the ball 73 yards.
Colleges all over the country, including some of the highest-profile programs, like University of Florida, Miami University, Alabama, West Virginia and North Carolina State were trying to recruit Voss.
Voss said, “By the time I graduated, I had four shoe boxes filled [with letters].” He eventually signed a letter of intent and accepted a full-ride scholarship to play at the University of South Florida but he never played there.
Swallowed by the Dragon
Voss never got a chance to because he got swallowed up by the dragon. Voss said, “I felt like I was doing okay. I had committed to South Florida, high school was over and things were good. I didn’t think trying a pill was going to potentially ruin my life.” After a few more pills, Voss became an addict and that took over his football career.
South Florida decided to red shirt him and that is when drugs claimed a victory over his potentially lucrative and rewarding football career. Voss says he began to binge heavily on alcohol and prescription pills OxyContin and Oxycodone.
Voss said, “All of the anguish and pain that I was going through emotionally all disappeared. I could not see I was killing myself.” Voss used his USF scholarship money to support his drug habit. He would eventually quit the South Florida football team and choose a life of addition and desperation.
Through various means of manipulation, Voss was able to get various prescriptions in large amounts to also fund his growing habit. He would get refills regularly and this went on for the next two or three years. It didn’t take long for him to start dealing drugs.
Near Death
Spiraling out of control and living on the edge, Voss came very close to death. He bought some cocaine and decided to go into his bedroom closet and shoot it up. He tied a belt around his arm and grabbed a syringe. Voss said, “I missed my veins maybe six or seven times. There was blood running down my arm, all over my clothes and onto the carpet.”
Voss said, “Immediately I felt the high, but a couple seconds later, I felt my chest pounding. I felt like I was going to die of a heart attack. I started thinking of my family and what if I had just overdosed and was going to die, and [my family] would walk in the next morning and see my corpse there with all my trophies behind me.”
Life Changing Event
That still was not his rock bottom. Voss decided to leave Florida for Holland, Michigan to visit a good friend. The problem worsened and his addiction was out of control. Voss, while high, lead to a life changing hallucination.
Voss described his hallucination like this, “I had this intuition that I was going to win the lottery, so I went jogging one day and came upon a store. There was a guy in the parking lot on his cell phone. He walked away from his car. It was still running, so I thought it made sense for me to take his car.” So, Voss stole the guy’s car and went joy riding for about 15 minutes through Holland. After pulling into a cemetery, his buzz started to subside and he realized what he had done.
“I got out of the car and walked up to a tombstone, and it just felt it was right for me to pray to God,” Voss said. “This was the first time in my life that I had ever prayed. I didn’t know what to say, but I knew to ask for forgiveness and for a direction. God answered my prayer and gave me a solution.” The results were almost instant.
Find out tomorrow what it was that changed Alton’s life forever.
