Two years ago, Dale McNeil would have looked at cars left in a parking lot as an opportunity.
Addicted to crystal meth in his early teens, McNeil took the opportunity to take a lot of cars. At his worst, he took a car every other day.
"I'd look inside to see if there's anything worth taking, and if I really wanted it, I'd take it," the 21-year-old told CTV British Columbia.
"It was more of an addiction than anything," said McNeil.
"If I didn't have a car I felt like I needed a car, I'd go out and find one. One or two sometimes," he said.
Now, it's a different story. McNeil hit bottom, and when he was in jail, he decided to get clean. At Vision Quest Recovery Society he took programs -- and is now celebrating a year clean from drugs.
"He's out of the system, he's not looking over his shoulder, he's not worried about getting high," said Jim O'Rourke, Vision Quest's executive director.
"Today is a special day."
And not just for McNeil. Gord Elias of the Integrated Municipal Auto Crime Team says that having McNeil off the street could save B.C. motorists a lot of money.
"About 20 per cent of the auto thieves are stealing about 90 per cent of the vehicles," Elias said. "We see auto theft rates plummet just by taking that one individual off the street."
But being clean wasn't the end of it -- Vision Quest paid for McNeil to receive forklift operator training and now he's prepared for a new career, said O'Rourke.
"Just give me five grand to treat the kid," said O'Rourke. "He could save you $4 million over his lifetime, it's a pretty good investment."
McNeil is now expecting a baby with his partner. He plans to stay clean, and never steal another car.
"What keeps me going -- knowing that I'm better than I think I am," he said.
Watch CTV News at Six for a full report on McNeil's story
