Marissa was a single mom living with her two sons in the suburbs, right outside of New York City. Her husband, the love of her life, was an electrician and was electrocuted while working for a construction company. He had no “Will” and Marissa was awarded only enough money to barely cover his funeral expense. She and her sons were forced to move from their comfortable condominium into a low-income apartment subsidized in part by the state of New York. Her oldest son, Tommy, had a paper route. Greg, the youngest boy, was only 8, but he tried to help with the newspapers as much as possible. Marissa held down two jobs; however this wasn’t enough to pay the bills. They were constantly getting their utilities cut off. Marissa did not know what to do; she had no family to help with her financial difficulties. One day, she met her friend Pam from high school at the supermarket. Marissa did not have enough money to buy her groceries, so Pam chipped in and bought them for her. This was the beginning of her nightmare!

Pam called her the next day and invited her to lunch. They talked about the “good ole days” and Marissa felt great just being out at a nice restaurant with Pam. Pam seemed to have everything; a son, a nice apartment, plenty of money, and a boyfriend who doted on her. Pam told Marissa that she had a part-time job and that Marissa could help her with it. They left the restaurant, and the next thing that Marissa knew was that they were delivering Meth. The delivery was simple, and Pam handed Marissa $ 1000 for a 15 minute drop-off job. Marissa hated the idea of engaging in this illegal activity, but felt she had no other choice. Well needless to say, Marissa got in so deep that she became stressed and ended up using Meth and becoming addicted to it.  From there on out, it was a nightmare! Her boys took care of themselves and became victims of drug dealers that their mom worked for. Finally, Pam was killed! Marissa knew that she had to get out of the situation, before she and her boys were killed, so she went to the police and told them everything that she knew. Marissa became an agent and actually helped to bust the biggest Meth drug ring in the state of New York. She got off of Meth and she and her two boys now live in protective custody somewhere in the United States.  Marissa was lucky, but how many other young single mothers who get sucked into selling drugs, will be as fortunate?