My name is Ann S. Tanquary and I am 45 years old and convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. I have been sentenced to 240 months with 120 month probation. Let me tell you my story of this last time that got me to my current situation. I am a prior offender for drug crimes, but not for the reasons you may think. I am a Korean adoptee brought from South Korea at the age of 4 by an American family that took me in and raised me. Little did they know that I would face diversity head on and they did not know how to deal with a child going through prejudice. Having a lot of trauma and attachment and abandonment issues growing up, I tried to fit in anywhere I could and it seemed as though I had a really good mind for business, but not an addiction problem so I made my way and name through selling and using methamphetamine. I was a highly functional user, finishing my college degree on it, but still not satisfied with my life. My parents kicked me out of the house and so I started running the streets, but even then I know that my way of thinking was different ’cause I wanted to be an example to others that you can use drugs and still manage a life, but I did not understand addiction at that time. I didn’t understand how people could lose control over their lives for this drug. Then I was in and out of jail, forced into Drug Court and rehab and began to understand what addiction was and why I didn’t understand it to the point that others did. I did my first prison term in 2008-2009 completed parole successfully, got arrested in 2011-2014 and completed parole successfully again. In that time my husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 malignant melanoma and within 4 months he was stage 4 and his insurance hadn’t kicked in to cover his cancer treatments. I took it upon myself to start selling drugs again to pay for his cancer treatments and it gave him 5 more years of life. I know it wasn’t the right thing to do by societies standards, but you never know what you’re capable of until you have a loved one facing death. He passed away my second year that I was in and my life has never been the same, nor will it ever be. I believer that I would be a worth candidate for relief because I know now how to redirect my resources to help others in my situation to find other ways to be successful. I want to give back to a system that I took from. To show that I’m truly sorry and that I want to be a productive member of society. I have grants I’m going to write to open non-profit halfway houses, clean and sober living establishments in nice areas both male and female seperate and mother and children houses. I want to meet the needs of housing placements for treatment centers and/or prisons to utilize for people to be successful. I’m currently a Paralegal and wish to go back to law school maybe in to family law so that I can help women fight for their children. I just need this one last chance to prove that I can provide housing, job opportunities and be a postive contribution to my community. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and if there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.
