A convicted drug dealer, facing new drug charges wants a new life.

“I’m being charged with manufacturing methamphetamines this time,” Greg Mitchell Williams said during an interview in the Sequoyah County Jail.

Williams was pulled over by Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) troopers Oct. 16. OHP troopers discovered a possible methamphetamine lab inside a backpack in the vehicle Williams was in. Williams was taken to jail and booked on various drug charges. According to the report, Williams asked the OHP troopers if they could talk about help available for him because he couldn’t go back to prison for the rest of his life.

On Oct. 27 Williams, 33, of Muldrow was charged with manufacturing, possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Williams is spending time in jail while waiting for his Monday arraignment in Sequoyah County District Court, Sallisaw. His bond is set at $190,000, which he said he would not be able to make.

Williams is no stranger to drug charges. He said he has several priors. His last drug charge sent him to prison where he spent seven and a half years. Williams was released from prison in February and once again is behind bars for similar drug-related reasons.

Williams started using meth as a teenager, he said. Since then Williams has been in and out of jail. He went to prison in 2002 for possession of a controlled dangerous substance, knowingly concealing stolen property, and first-degree burglary.

“I wasn’t clean for the first four years in prison. The last three years I got clean. I wanted to get out. I wanted to go home.”

Williams said prison hardens your soul. He said he’s probably seen over 100 stabbings during the seven and a half years he spent living behind the walls of a correctional facility.

“I’ve seen so much and I don’t want to go back again.”

He said when he got out of prison he looked for a way to keep on the straight path. He said he didn’t want to return to the same path that led him to prison to begin with.

“Money was tight and I couldn’t find a job. I looked everywhere. I put application after application in at different job sites and I couldn’t find a job,” Williams said. “Plus being a convicted felon and not having a diploma it’s even harder to find a job.

“I fell again. I felt like I was cornered with the way the economy is.”

Williams said he hit rock bottom again.

craves for better life

“I want to advise people not to ever do methamphetamines. I want a better life, a clean life without drugs,” Williams said. “I crave a better life style.”

Williams said he has never been offered the Sequoyah County Drug Court Program. He is hoping to get into the program so he can get closer to his goal of a drug-free life.

Williams said he believes with the structure of drug court, the help from the program and with his will to want to get off and stay off drugs he would succeed if he got the chance.

He believes drug court will help him if he gets the opportunity to be involved.

“Meth isn’t good for anything and it takes you down all the wrong roads. I can get off of methamphetamines. I know I can.”

Williams wants to one day be able to send a message of hope for those who are trapped in the vicious cycle of substance abuse. He said he knows the cycle is hard to escape from.

“Prison life is hard, I would advise no one to go down the path I have. I was a dumb---.

Drug Court Program

The Drug Court program, instituted and overseen by Special District Judge Dennis Sprouse in Sallisaw, gives convicted and admitted drug and alcohol abusers a second chance. If they remain drug free, and cooperate with the court and parole officers and the Eagle Ridge Institute treatment counselors, they may become productive members of society without having spent time in jail. If not, their assignment to the Drug Court program is revoked, and they go to jail.

According to Samatha Compton, coordinator for the Sequoyah County Drug Court Program, each offender in drug court, which is funded by the state through the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, must remain in the program for two years and maintain a drug and alcohol-free life.

Clients in the program face a variety of requirements, including attending a certain number of meetings, obtaining a high school diploma or equivalent, and maintaining a job. Clients are also subject to random drug tests and searches.

Other requirements of the program include getting a job in the first 30 days, and their driver’s license.

“You have to totally change. Those changes have to be made in every aspect of a recovering addicts life, including thoughts, people, and places,” Compton said.

Williams said he knows the preogram is hard. He said he knows he can do it. After completing the program—if given a chance—Williams said he eventually wants to counsel people who have drug addictions. He said he is going to get his GED and go to college.

“I want to become a productive member of society, not a menace.”