(Editor’s Note: This piece is the final part of a joint series between the Beckham County Record and Elk City News in an ongoing series on the fentanyl and opiate pandemic in Beckham County.)
“I’m going to be fully honest about my time using those pills and methamphetamine,” Jason Witherby confessed. “I was a conman because that’s what I was raised to be by my father. Now, that didn’t take hold with me until I was fully addicted later on myself, but then again, I was raised by alcoholics and addicts. Both my parents were. My dad died that way. But I’m not that person today. I can understand that some people will see me, judge my past, and think they will get that same burn from it. And I completely understand. But I also never had a life worth living for and fighting for in my childhood. I finally do, but it was only through sobriety. That chance to finally get this life — their parents give the one so many that they take for granted because they don’t understand that some of us aren’t able to — was my dream. I protect my sobriety all the time because that is protecting my wife and my family, protecting myself. And the most ironic part of this all is my chance to get to the good life finally didn’t come from my parents, but the police.”
Witherby began his story with the promise to be honest about his journey, and he was.
Every asked question was answered with brutal truth.
He was born to addicted parents and lived in multiple states. The family often fled every time rent was due, drugs ran out, or warrants were issued.
Witherby recounted, “The first time I used, I don’t remember because I was so young. My brother later told me about it. I was five years old, and it was the day before Christmas Eve. Of course, I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep. My mom had my brother hold me down while she blew marijuana in my face so I would get high and go to sleep. I guess that is how it all started.”
He was actively drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes and marijuana by age twelve.
Witherby met his now wife Jennifer in 1999 when he would stay at a hotel in Elk City as he worked for a uniform cleaning company based in Amarillo. The pair struck up a love connection.
Around that time, he was also going through a divorce and moved in with a friend.
“I was drinking a lot and smoking a lot of weed, but my friend introduced me to meth,” Witherby remembered. “Pretty quickly, I was a full-blown meth addict. Jennifer moved to Amarillo to be with me, but that didn’t last long. She couldn’t handle how I lived out there, so she returned to Elk City. She said I would jump up and move out here if I wanted to make it work between us. Didn’t take long for me to follow.”
And, then, a random injury, he discovered his love for opiate pain pills.
Before long, he found himself taking more than ten a day.
“Oh, those pain pills take hold, and they take hold quickly. Fentanyl wasn’t something we discussed back then like we do now. I liked the Lortabs. One time, I stole 27 Lortabs from Jennifer’s friend’s husband. They were out-of-date, so I figured they wouldn’t be as potent. So, I just took all 27 in 12 hours because that’s how addicts think. When my mom had cancer, I would suck the medicine out of her fentanyl patches,” he said.
Witherby had said that he had learned to “con” from his father.
At the height of his addiction, he went to work in the oilfield and promptly learned that he could easily steal diesel from locations and sell it on the black market to fund his addictions. He is clear that his wife never knew of his illegal activities because she would have left him, his only real fear.
“And he did leave me many times. It’s amazing still that I have been able to hold onto her,” Witherby said.
Eventually, his diesel scheme was discovered by law enforcement. The investigation spanned multiple counties, including Beckham County.
His wife Jennifer said, “One day, I was at work, and an Elk City Police Department detective came and asked to talk to me at the department. I told him I couldn’t go then but did on my lunch hour. By chance, Jason was in rehab at the time. I walk in, and the detective starts telling me about Jason stealing the diesel and selling it everywhere. I think he could see my shock and asked if I wanted to see pictures of some of their evidence. I was just stunned. Then he asked me where Jason was. I told him I couldn’t tell him but that he was in rehab in Texas. The detective asked me if I really thought Jason would stay there and get help. I think he could see that I was really mad and just stunned. I said that I really thought Jason would stay, which he did. Well, the detective told me to stay there and that he would talk to his boss. He returned and said I needed to call him as soon as Jason was done or had left, which I agreed to do. And that — that second chance — ended up being the thing that saved his life.”
Witherby added, “You never know where that is going to come from. At that time, I probably wouldn’t have thought it would be an Elk City cop. But, yet it was, and I am all these years sober because they decided to let me finish the help that I so desperately needed.”
Witherby still had to face the consequences of his crimes. He went to jail, paid restitution, and will forever have that on his record. He said that opiate withdrawal is the worst he ever faced, far worse than still-awful methamphetamine.
But he wants those struggling in addiction to know there is a way out.
He said, “You have to be honest with yourself about things you have done, and that can be hard. There are things beyond the 12 steps. If that works for you, great. If it doesn’t, there are other ways. But we do recover and have good lives.”
Jennifer and Jason Witherby’s only child is now leading a successful career in the United States Marine Corps.
Witherby ended, “I love this quiet life. I do like to share this story just to help one person, even if it doesn’t put me in the best light. I now police myself better than my wife or anyone else could because it is too good to give up.”
