A LIFE REBUILT

Yuba City Man Gets Treatment - and Beats His Demons

Peter Kosinski had just $4 in his pocket and a monkey on his back when
he arrived at the sober-living house on Madison Avenue.

His methamphetamine addiction had left him homeless, but not
hopeless.

"The moment of truth came when I was pulled out of a car and forced to
the blacktop," the 46-year-old father of three recalled. "The cop had
his foot on my back, and his gun drawn on me. At that moment it dawned
on me that this is getting really old."

Sell It Yourself He'd been in and out of jail on drug-related charges
for nine years. But this time, he would qualify for treatment instead
of prison because voters had just approved Proposition 36.

He was one of the first in Sacramento County to qualify for the
program, and while three out of four have failed to graduate,
Kosinski's success shows this voter-approved departure from the war on
drugs can turn lives around.

He said he's been drug-free for nearly five years and working as the
corporate salesman for American Underlayment Systems, Inc., a
Wheatland construction services firm, for more than three years.

He's built a $500,000 Yuba City home and lives there with his partner
and their 2-year-old son.

"I am very grateful for what I have and what I have been through,"
Kosinski said. "Life isn't always rosy. But I have come a long way
from where I was."

He started with marijuana and alcohol at the age of 11 and moved to
harder drugs as he grew up. He married, fathered two children, worked
in construction and became a computer consultant.

His descent into homelessness began at age 34, when he discovered
methamphetamine. Under the influence of this addictive stimulant, he
left his family, his job and the life he'd known.

"I lived out of my car," Kosinski said. "I lived on park benches. I
slept in places most people wouldn't even want to walk through. It has
that ability to take you to where you never, ever thought you would
be."

By the time of his arrest seven years later, he was sick and tired of
being sick and tired. So he persuaded a judge to sentence him to
treatment under Proposition 36.

"Proposition 36 helped add some rigidity to my program," Kosinski
said. "I had to attend so many meetings per week ... report to my
probation officer once a month, and be randomly drug-tested. It helped
me to keep from swaying or wandering off."

He also moved into the Clean and Sober Transitional Living Center on
Madison Avenue.

"He came here as a scraggly, beat-up guy without a lot of
self-esteem," recalled Don Troutman, the sober-living center's chief
executive officer.

The facility Troutman runs is one of the only sober-living homes in
the state to qualify for Proposition 36 funds. It is a cluster of six
houses on Madison Avenue where recovering addicts and alcoholics
promise to live sober lives while sharing rooms, meals and chores.

Kosinski became a house manager, which he said put additional pressure
on him to stay drug-free because he was responsible for others.

He stayed there until he was certain he could live drug-free in a
less-controlled environment.

"You have to learn how to live clean and sober," Kosinski said. "It's
a lifestyle. Drugs are a lifestyle. You have to change your lifestyle."

Today, he exhibits no signs of the homeless addict he once was. He is
a tidily dressed, outgoing sales rep who easily engages others with
his confidence.

During a recent visit to the Fair Oaks sober living house, he served
as an example of what could happen for those still struggling to beat
their addictions. He encouraged newcomers and urged longtime residents
to take the next step by moving out.

"This isn't a permanent address; this is a place to learn how to
live," he told them. "I am proof you can build something out of nothing."