Randy Smith went to the Cayuga County Jail on Wednesday under much different circumstances than he went there exactly six months earlier.
Smith, 46, of Auburn, was presented with his recovery peer advocate certification that day by Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck. Sponsored by the Heroin Epidemic Action League, Smith s training prepares him to support people in recovery from the same addiction that brought him to the jail Aug. 23. And Schenck believes Smith s success will lead to better peer support services at the facility.
Six months earlier, though, Smith didn t feel like a success.
A Cortland native, Smith started drinking when he was 14. By the time he was 21 he was using cocaine and other drugs, but alcohol was the one he abused the hardest. When he was 24, an assault charge landed him in drug court in Ithaca, as well as probation. So he got sober, and got a job as a certified nursing assistant. He also met the woman he would call his wife for the next 21 years. With her