SET FREE FROM ADDICTION

CONWAY - Yvonne Grissett was bound by alcohol and crack cocaine for
more than 10 years, but she is set free now and hoping to get others
loose from substance abuse. "I lost four friends because of alcohol
and crack cocaine addiction," said Grissett, 38. "They were good
people at heart who got caught up in a lifestyle they never could get
out of, and they died in it. I don't want to lose any more of my friends."

To help those still trapped in their addictions, Grissett has launched
Set Free, the birth of an idea she said came from God.

If Grissett has her way, Set Free will be a nonprofit organization
that will educate the masses, uplift the suffering, offer spiritual
guidance and encouragement, serve as an information resource and work
to increase funding for treatment and prevention.

Officials said there is a void.

"I think there is a huge need in all communities for organizations to
help people who are substance abusers," said Tammy Nelson, prevention
associate at Shoreline Behavioral Health Services.

Grissett said Set Free will be funded by donations and grants.

"You can see cigarette ads in our community, and you can see beer ads,
too," said Grissett, an Army veteran. "But you don't see anything in
the community to let people know how to get help if they are substance
abusers."

An estimated 14 million people nationwide were using illegal drugs in
2000, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration.

"I want Set Free to be an all-volunteer organization for people who
have been delivered to help others become delivered," Grissett said.

On Tuesday, Grissett presided over the first meeting of Set Free at A
Father's Place in Conway. Her 82-year-old grandfather, Wesley Friend,
was among the seven people who came to the building where men receive
help in becoming better fathers.

Before the meeting's end, he cried and told everyone how proud he was
of Grissett for launching Set Free.

"I'm overjoyed," Friend told Grissett. "I love you. You have brought
something into this community that no one else seemed to care about."

Chronic substance abuse services are among the most-needed homeless
services in Horry, Georgetown and Williamsburg counties, according to
a June survey by the Total Care For The Homeless Coalition.

About 3,000 people in Horry County were treated for alcohol and drug
problems at Shoreline between July 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001. Of
those people, about 960 were repeat clients.

"Who knows how many didn't come back and started using again," Nelson
said.

Grissett said she became an alcoholic at age 20 while in an abusive
marriage. At the time, she and her then-husband were serving together
in the Army.

"He would beat me in my sleep," she said. "I was so afraid of him that
I would drink because I didn't want to deal with it. I couldn't tell
my mother or anybody else because I was embarrassed. The only friend I
had was alcohol, and it soothed the pain. That is how I thought."

After three years, Grissett left the marriage but her demons followed
- - she began abusing crack cocaine at 32.

"Make no mistake, the abuse of drugs and alcohol mess you up,"
Grissett said during the meeting. "You start off taking a few drinks
here and there. A few puffs to relax and make you feel better.

"But it leaves you devastated, angry, upset, paranoid, broke, pitiful,
mad, used and abused and more times than enough it leads to early death."

Of 12.6 million people who are heavy drinkers, 65.5 percent also use
illegal drugs, according to the substance abuse administration.

Grissett swam in and out of crack cocaine addiction until she was 35.
Then in 1999, four of her friends died in the U.S. 378 corridor in
Conway. She and one of those friends had discussed ending their crack
cocaine addictions the same night he was allegedly shot by a drug dealer.

"We said we were going to quit smoking crack, but he didn't get a
chance to see the sun come up that morning," Grissett said.