The following article from the February issue of New Jersey Lawyer, a publication of the New Jersey State Bar Association, was condensed and edited for space.

By Landon Hacker

I want to preface my story by stating that my story is not unique. I am not special, and I am not much different from any other addict. I was just fortunate to have been given an opportunity to change my life, and I am fortunate to have many people who support me and help me throughout my recovery process.

My name is Landon Hacker. I was born on Aug. 10, 1987, in Philadelphia, and I grew up in Voorhees. My clean date is Dec. 1, 2011, and I graduated from Burlington County Drug Court on Sept. 11, 2014 (perfectly, with no sanctions). At one point in my life, I never thought I could get clean, let alone graduate from Drug Court.

Not in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined the places life has taken me. Prior to entering into Drug Court, I spent a significant amount of my adult life either homeless, in and out of jail, or in institutions as a result of my drug addiction. Heroin was my drug of choice, but I used everything and anything to get high. I had zero respect for authority, zero respect for the law, and zero respect for myself. I didn't care what I did or what happened to me. All I cared about was getting high, and I didn't allow anyone or anything to stand in the way of that.

When I got to college, I was off to the races. Equipped with no good decision-making abilities and the first-time freedom from the shadows and demands of my parents, my life became one big party. Within a year, I developed a full-blown drug addiction; and within a few years, I was failing out. Due to my drug addiction, I quickly lost everything and everyone, and burned every bridge I had.

I was given the opportunity to participate in the Drug Court program in 2012, in lieu of a lengthy prison sentence. At first, I took this program with no plans of ever completing it. I knew myself. At the time, I didn't think I could stay clean on the street for very long. I expected to violate quickly, take it on the run, and eventually get my alternative prison sentence.

I owe my life to the Drug Court program. This program instilled in me the values of accountability, responsibility and discipline. Drug Court provided me with the help and resources I needed to address my addiction and problems.

While in Drug Court, I decided to go back to school and earn my bachelor's degree. I worked full time while going to school full time, too. In 2016, I graduated from Rutgers with a degree in political science, with a 4.0 GPA, as the top graduating student in my major, and as a member of the National Political Science Honor Society.

I am now in my last year of law school at Rutgers, where I am a member of a small, selective group of Social Justice Scholars, students committed to using law for the public good. I work full time during the day, and go to law school at night.

I intend to dedicate the rest of my life to helping others who are in the position I was once in. I truly believe that we are not bad people, but rather good people who made bad decisions; and those bad decisions should not determine our entire future. My goal is to become a criminal defense attorney, specifically a Drug Court public defender. There are a lot of improvements that can be made to our criminal justice system, and it starts with attorneys who genuinely care.