PCP at 12, Selling Crack, Violence, Life in Prison, Freedom, The Unlikey Inspiring story of Haneef Perry

This week on Dopey! Lots of stuff in this one: my ridiculous dog emergency room experience plus three tick bites in one day!Then we get into listener love — a great email from Sean O about early recovery and live music, Taylor’s wild meth/booze/Grinder voicemail, and Minnesota Matt’s heavy story about losing friends to heroin overdoses.

Then we get into a much different kind of Dopey with activist and person in recovery, Haneef Perry. Haneef grew up in Palmer Park, Maryland, during the crack era. He started smoking PCP (“Love Boat”) at 12, sold crack as a teenager, lost his best friend Earl to street violence, started carrying guns, and at 18 got caught up in a shooting that resulted in a first-degree murder conviction and a life + 15 year sentence.

In prison he taught himself to read, converted to Islam, became a leader trying to stop the violence, and after 20 brutal years had his conviction overturned. Now he’s out, married, working in peer recovery, and deeply involved in community work in Baltimore.

This one is raw, spiritual, full of systemic reality, trauma, and real redemption. Serious, heavy Dopey business. All that and much much more on a totally brand new episode of that good old Dopey Show!