POWELL - On paper in official reports and in the anecdotes of police offices, it's a common combination: a mixture of meth and prescription drugs.

But for Linda Johnson, 41, of Powell, that combination isn't a trend noted in a report or a statistic tucked away in a bureaucrat's office. For several hellish months that dragged into a couple of years, the combination of prescription drugs and methamphetamine was more or less her life.

It's essentially a simple matter of ups and downs. Johnson got into a cycle many have noted as becoming all too common in Wyoming - getting jacked up for days on meth, and then taking prescription drugs to crash.

"It was an easy way to come down off the meth after you'd been up for two or three days," Johnson said recently in the living room of her modest, comfortable home. "You could just take three or four Hydrocortisone and knock yourself out for a day or so. Then you're ready to go on the meth again."

The making of an addict

Except for no more than a usual amount of partying with alcohol as a youth, Johnson was squeaky clean until she was well into her 30s.

Then tragedy hit her three times in 2003.

That April, her father died. On Oct. 16, her husband, Ed, was in a serious automobile crash that left his passenger dead and nearly killed him. He has never fully recovered.

And while Ed's situation was still touch-and-go as he lay in a Billings, Mont., hospital, Linda's mother died Nov. 3 in the same hospital.

"I was so close to my mother. I didn't know how to deal with losing her," Linda said. "And Ed went to work one day as somebody and then was in an accident that's almost made him somebody else because of the head injuries he suffered. All that after my dad died. It was like I really lost three people that year."

She and Ed have four children ranging from 13 to 22 years old. And when one of the older daughter's boyfriends started bringing drugs into the house, Linda thought she'd found a way to drown her stress and grief. She said she started off with marijuana, but was soon doing meth.

Ed's medical condition also kept a steady supply of Hydrocortisone in the house; it quickly became part of the mixture.

"I thought I'd just try it, and before I knew it, I was hooked on it," she said. "The drugs just took all the pain away."

Linda said she was able to keep her drug abuse - or at least the extreme level of it - fairly hidden from most.

She made a new group of "friends." Getting high in one way or another was a common thread among the group, but many of its members were not who one would expect, she said.

"Some of these people had what I thought were good jobs and good lives - people I thought were examples of good citizens. You'd be surprised by some of the people who do drugs," she said. "It wasn't like they were just a bunch of junkies and losers sitting around getting high."

The meth/prescription drug combination was a common one, she said. Others did mostly prescription drugs. Some would grind the pills up and snort them.

"I would use the prescription pills mostly to come down and sleep, but some people told me they would get a real high from them," she said. "I knew one guy who was taking Ritalin; he said that high was just like a meth high."

Acting as an intermediary between her daughter's boyfriend and the people he sold drugs to, Linda was able to get most of her drugs for free.

One customer wanted two grams of meth. Linda promised delivery, but couldn't resist the urge to use half a gram herself. When the customer came around for delivery, she cut a deal by throwing in some of Ed's pain pills.

The "customer" was wearing a wire for the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.

Day of reckoning

On Aug. 19, 2005, DCI agents showed up at her door and ordered everybody out of the house. Linda was arrested and charged with felony delivery of methamphetamine and illegal delivery of Hydrocortisone. She was potentially facing years in prison and tens of thousands of dollars in fines. But as she was taken into custody, she said she didn't care.

Linda ended up spending four days in jail, after which one of her sisters and Ed's boss managed to raise enough money to bail her out.

Because of a previously clean record, Linda was given a two- to four-year deferred sentence and strict probation that included regular drug testing.

The possibility of losing her children motivated her to stay straight.

"My kids were crushed, devastated by what happened," she said. "I will be sorry forever for what I did to them and Ed. All I can do is try to make a better life for them."

With a felony on her record, that was tough.

"Every job application has that line that asks if you've ever been convicted of felony. I had to fill that in, I couldn't lie about it," she said.

Bills started piling up, and if it hadn't been for a gracious landlord, Linda's sure she would have ended up homeless.

She also had to break ties with all the "friends" she'd made while using drugs. Her recovery process meant meeting met new, clean friends. Some of them went to bat for her when she applied for a job at Taco John's, where she's now assistant manager.

"My boss has told me that if hadn't been for those people speaking up for me, he never would hired me," she said.

Success is part of the reason she's eager and willing to share her story.

"I want people to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel," she said. "I want them to know that no matter how far down you get and how bad it gets, there are ways and there are people who will help you - and it doesn't have to come to DCI breaking your door down."

Finally feeling safe from her past, Linda is looking toward the future.

"I can't wait to have grandkids," she said with a huge smile.

Mark Heinz lives in Powell and can be reached at 307-899-0414.