Wedding marks new start for recovering addict
SEATTLE – As a recovering drug addict, Keith Lowery was used to being in courtrooms.
He was back in King County Superior Court’s drug-diversion court on Friday, but this time he was all smiles as the same judge he credits with helping him kick his habit officiated his wedding.
“If it wasn’t for drug court,” Lowery said, “I wouldn’t be here. … They gave me the opportunity to recover and find myself and appreciate life. That’s a debt I might not ever be able to repay.”
During more than two decades of drug use, Lowery had become a familiar face in local jails and courtrooms. His recreational drug use turned into full-blown addiction and by early last year he was using cocaine.
His life was unraveling. He kept getting into trouble with the law. He lost his job. And Julia Harder – his girlfriend then and now his wife – left him.
After he failed to show up for a court-ordered treatment program, King County Superior Court Judge Laura Inveen gave him another chance.
“There’s now good research to show sometimes it takes multiple treatment episodes for there to be success,” she said. “When I started out as a judge, there was a feeling that, that person had been given an opportunity for treatment and they failed, so they don’t deserve another chance.”
If Lowery failed to complete treatment and court supervision he would have automatically been convicted of two felonies and sentenced to three years.
Ready for change, he vowed to become “a poster boy for the Salvation Army,” where he signed up for six months of inpatient treatment.
While in the program, Lowery worked with manager Christina Mason to recover his driver’s license, enroll in community college and apply for financial aid.
He also visited his mother, who was being treated for lung cancer. The visit came a month into rehab and was a turning point in his recovery. Lowery promised her she would never see him on drugs again and he would honor her memory by staying clean. She died six months after his visit.
Now Lowery lives in Longview, works a steady job installing office furniture and plans to take a licensing exam to become a real-estate agent.
He says he owes a lot to Inveen.
“She made me feel like I was not just another case number,” he said. “She wanted to know how I was really doing, how things were going. It made me feel like I was worth something, and I was going in the right direction.”
Inveen watched Friday as Lowery and his bride – now Julia Lowery – were embraced by 20 relatives and friends. “It’s nice to see him coming full circle,” Inveen said. “The first official act I did with him was when he was in his jail clothes, and now to see him walk out with his wonderfully supportive family and his suit – it’s a wonderful end to it all.”