Outcry in the Barrio Helps Former Drug Addicts & Gang Members

Outcry In The Barrio Helps Former Drug Addicts & Gang Members – By Josh Navarro – KVEO-NewsCenter 23 Reporter Thursday, March 10, 2011 – 4:37pm PHARR- The Upper Valley is filled with criminal activity from drug smuggling to gang violence and getting out of that lifestyle can be a challenge. There’s one place in Pharr that is willing to help and hopefully change the lives those who want to walk away from criminal activity. Francisco Soto JR. used to be a drug trafficker here in the Valley and was addicted to drugs for 25 years of his life. “I got to a point where I didn’t have enough money no more and I had a family to support and a drug addiction to support also. so after that i couldn’t support my habit so what I did I started trafficking drugs you know up north. maybe two weeks every month to support my habit. I was doing drugs weeks straight, two or three days straight. finish up and it lead my to steal also you know from my family because I couldn’t support my habit no more,” said Soto. He said his addiction began when he was eleven years old and started with a cigarette and then it climaxed with the use of heroin, marijuana and crack. He lost his family to his addiction and hit rock bottom at a jail in Indiana. He made a decision after reading a book about man called Freddie Garcia who was another former drug addict and former gang member who changed his life through Christianity. “I got to do something with my life. and they told me that Jesus is changing lives so it was right there in jail where i asked for forgiveness to God …

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