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Once hooked on OxyContin, counselor gets pardon as she helps others

By ERIC EYRE

Charleston Gazette-Mail

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The letter arrived unexpectedly, dated Jan. 14, 2017, the last day of the governor’s term in office, and the first day Chelsea Carter could say she was no longer a convicted felon.

Chelsea Carter, a counselor and former drug addict, speaks during a panel discussion with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in May 2016. Carter received a pardon from Earl Ray Tomblin earlier this month, as one of Tomblin’s final acts as governor.
(Photo by Sam Owens)

“I am pleased to inform you,” the letter said, “that Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin has granted you a full, unconditional and complete pardon relating to your prior convictions for nighttime burglary and conspiracy in Boone County, West Virginia.”

“My mother opened the letter,” Carter recalled last week. “She was just crying. She said, ‘You got it! You got it!’ And I started crying. She said all this hard work has paid off and now you can finally start over.”

In December, the Gazette-Mail featured Carter in a story about the flood of prescription pain pills into West Virginia, profiling her work as a counselor at a medication-assisted treatment center for opioid addicts.

Eight years earlier, Carter sat in a jail cell after her arrest on charges she took part in a theft ring to pay for her drug habit. As a teenager, she started taking prescription painkillers. She crushed and snorted pills. Not long after, she was injecting OxyContin.

“The first time I stuck a needle in my arm, it was game over,” Carter said.

Her arrest on felony burglary and grand larceny charges landed Carter in Boone Circuit Judge Will Thompson’s courtroom. He sentenced her to 24 days in jail and a year in drug court, a program designed to help addicts get sober and avoid long stints in prison.

At first, Carter wasn’t a model participant. A motion was filed to kick her out of drug court and send her back to jail. She pleaded her case, got to stay in treatment.

And that’s when Carter’s life headed in a new direction.

There was cosmetology school at first. Then she graduated from West Virginia State University with a psychology degree, and then a master’s in social work from Concord University.

To pay for her education, she worked at drug treatment programs. She showed fellow addicts that recovery was possible.

Carter also traveled across Southern West Virginia, speaking to middle and high school students about addiction.

“I say, ‘I used to be you, sitting there at an assembly, hearing about the dangers of starting to do drugs,’” said Carter, who started smoking marijuana at age 12. “They come up to me afterward and talk about their parents and friends who are on drugs.”

Last May, she served on a panel with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin and then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who had come to the University of Charleston to talk about West Virginia’s opioid epidemic.

“I’ve stayed sober, but I’ve buried a lot of friends,” Carter told Clinton that day. “[My friend] died the day she got out of drug court. She chose to go back to those drugs. I’ve made great accomplishments, but I still, every day of my life, think about doing drugs, because it’s always going to be something that’s in the back of my mind.”

Her felony conviction kept nagging at her. It caused problems when she signed up for licensing exams. It eliminated her as a candidate for several jobs.

“It holds you back having to write ‘I’m a convicted felon’ on there,” Carter said. “It creates a lot of barriers. People won’t give you a chance.”

So about five years ago, Carter set out to expunge her felony convictions.

She called the governor’s office, filled out paperwork seeking a pardon, interviewed with a parole board worker, emailed the governor’s office, submitted six more pardon application packets.

“I heard nothing back,” Carter said.

She called the governor’s office again last month, making a final pitch for a pardon before Tomblin departed. Carter spoke to a receptionist.

“She didn’t give me much hope at all,” Carter said. “She didn’t think the governor would get to my pardon packet before he went out of office. It was hard to hear.”

Thompson, the judge who had sentenced her eight years earlier, wrote a letter of support for Carter’s pardon request.

Over the years, Thompson had stayed in touch with Carter, watching her turn from junkie to drug counselor, from petty thief to community leader who serves on the board of directors of the county’s day report center for drug offenders.

“I’ve seen a lot of people go through my courtroom, and she’s the only person I’ve written a letter for,” Thompson said. “She completely turned her life around. You couldn’t have written a better script for her.”

Carter plans to stay in the drug-counseling field and get additional certifications. She will continue to talk about her life and struggles. The pardon serves as a stamp of approval of sorts for eight years of sobriety, perseverance and giving back.

“It gives me a new start at life,” Carter said. “I’ve been given a second chance.”

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