Belair man living new life after kicking drug habit

“I just want to tell young people like myself who are using drugs to stop, do not encourage the pushers and to find a church make themselves a good person.”

This is the encouragement that is given by 44-yeart-old Vibert Mc Inniss a former drug addict and ex-convict and father of five from Belair.{{more}}

For the past 16 years, Vibert wasted his time and money using drugs and says he has finally come to the realisation that the substance is not worth anything.

“I got into trouble with the police, it made me do things I did not want to do, I steal to buy the drugs and it made my family stray away from me,” Vibert told SEARCHLIGHT.

According to the former diver, he used to steal from his wife and mother just to obtain the money to purchase cocaine and at times when he worked, he would spend all the money that he made in drugs.

However, because it has only been about two months since he last used the substance, it is still too early to decide whether or not he has actually changed.

Over the years, Vibert tried desperately to stop using cocaine. The last time that he was caught with the substance, according to him, he asked the magistrate to send him to prison so that he would stop using drugs.

He spent six months in the prison and after being released continued to refrain from using cocaine for two years, but claimed that after he began making a lot of money he slipped right back into the old habits again.

His wife and mother then decided to send him to a rehabilitation centre in Trinidad where he spent a month and then came back.

“I thought that I had solved the smoking problems so I asked them to release me,” he highlighted.

Today, Vibert has once again transformed his life and is attending a church in his Belair community. According to him, he has dropped his old friends who would usually encourage him to smoke and is now keeping company with those who would share God’s words with him and would encourage him to do the right things.

When asked what made him decide to change his life once more, Vibert responded by stating, “I was diving under the heavy influence of the drug and when I came up on the land I then collapsed. I could not walk or talk and from there I decided to stop diving and using drugs.”

“I almost reached death’s door and realised that I wanted to be somebody and reunite with my family,” Vibert told SEACHLIGHT.

Congratulating Vibert for his change was Inspector Jonathan Nichols of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force. However Nichols also stated that despite the changes that he had made in his life it is still too early to say whether he had truly changed.

He however stated that based on the conversations that he had with Vibert, it seemed to him that he (Vibert) is very serious about changing his life.

“On behalf of the police force we are really happy for the changes that he has made in his life and hope that he would stay clean,” Nichols said as he congratulated Vibert.