Former drug dealer helps people in Salem battle addiction

Former drug dealer helps people in Salem battle addiction

Josh Lair, a former addict turned advocate, works at community outreach manager with Ideal Option, and is the chief operating officer at Be Bold Street Ministries in Salem.

Josh Lair, 44, bent down and rolled up his pant legs to reveal a tattoo spanning throughout both of those shins that browse “HOPE Vendor.”

“I applied to be a dope vendor, and I introduced demise and destruction into almost everything that I did,” claimed Lair. Now he tries to bring hope to everything and anyone, alternatively than destruction, he claimed.

Lair, of Salem, has been residing a material-cost-free existence for 12 a long time.

He will work as the group and legislation enforcement outreach supervisor for Ideal Solution, which has two outpatient clinics in Salem that help help material use problem recovery as a result of medicine-assisted procedure. Best Solution also connects people with community providers these kinds of as housing, treatment and transportation.