FBI Officer Hunts Dealers and Does Heroin

Sometimes good people get caught up in bad things. You don’t have to have bad intentions to land up in drug rehab or jail. Addiction is not limited to any group of people in this world. It is a disease that affects people from Laguna Beach to the other side of the world. Matthew Lowry, former FBI agent, is a case in point. 

Matthew Lowry spent his career trying to stop drug crimes. He graduated with honors from the FBI academy and was assigned to an elite drug task force. His goal was to hunt down the biggest narcotics dealers who dealt along the border of Maryland and the District. 

Addiction 

Like many addicts, Matthew Lowry turned to heroine out of desperation. After dealing with years of colitis, an inflammation of the intestines, Lowry got hooked on hydrocodone to ease the pain. 

Once his pain medications ran out, he needed something else to keep him going and out of a withdrawal state. As any rehab in Laguna Beach and elsewhere would know, withdrawal is one of the hardest aspects of recovering from an addiction. 

Matthew Lowry should have admitted himself to a drug rehab facility after realizing he was addicted to his pain medication, but instead his easy access to illegal drugs left him taking heroin lines in his FBI car. In fact, he got the idea of turning to heroine from a guy he had prosecuted and interrogated who told him that heroin gave a similar high to that type of pain medication. 

Discovery 

Lowry says that “within 15 minutes” of taking the heroine he felt rejuvenated. After that, he took heroin daily for the next year. In fact, close to his discovery, his pregnant wife started to suspect he was using.  

One night his colleagues found him passed out in a construction parking lot. Lowry thinks he took a larger dose than usual, although he can’t clearly remember. Because of his elite status in the FBI, he landed up not in drug rehab, but in jail. 

Consequences 

Since that time Lowry’s life unraveled, just like many addicts from Laguna Beach to the other side of the world. Prosecutors were forced to dismiss cases against 28 drug defendants (many who had already been convicted) because of Lowry’s own criminal charges. 

This story displays the pervasiveness of addiction. Many drug addicts from Laguna Beach to Maryland avoid getting help and instead turn to even harder drugs. 

Lowry comments on his addiction: “ I worked so hard, and now it’s gone. This is all I wanted to do, and I lost it all because of an addiction.” Lawyers hope that because Lowry was not profiting from his drug use, that he will still be able to see his son. 

Saja Chodosh is a health writer reporter for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. Information provided by Miramar Recovery Center.