As heroin and opioid abuse has surged in recent years, conversations about addiction have moved out of the shadows. In the lead up to our recent documentary, Chasing Heroin, we asked the FRONTLINE audience to share their experiences with addiction. Some were users themselves. Others helped people with recovery. Many lost loved ones to the epidemic. These are their stories.
Share Your Story“The only thing that sets me apart from that other young business professional that seems to have it all is that I'm addicted to opiates.”
“As a parent of a child lost to addiction, I can only say there has to be a better way.”
“The only way that we were able to get her into treatment was to foot the bill ourselves.”
“I've been clean for 6 years. My husband of 12 years, on the other hand, has not. He relapses all the time. He's overdosed 8 times that I have had to save his life. ”
“The first time I knew of one of my friends shooting up I was disgusted, but it gradually became less foreign and one day just didn't seem like a bad idea anymore. ”
“I've helped treat everyone from an Ivy League graduate from a prominent, well respected family, to an elderly Southern matriarch who became addicted...”
“I used to be judgmental. I used to say, 'I would never do that!' I would have the public know…Don't judge.”
“I didn't ever intend to be a heroin addict; it quickly got out of control and led me to places I never dreamed of.”
“It's as if a tortured prisoner were offered the key to their cell door, they are going to take it, there would be no choice. ”
“The brain gets hijacked and wired only to seek what it now believes it lacks to be normal. The brain stops making serotonin and dopamine on its own and craves the opiates to feel well and not get sick. ”
“Do you think addicts want to live on the street? Panhandle? Shoplift? Not have their family and friends' support? Feel less than? ”
“Because heroin is so addictive, I will live in fear for the rest of my life of my daughter overdosing and dying.”
“Watching its effect on my son for the last 7 plus years has drained me emotionally and financially. Heroin and opioid addiction has no bias. ”
“The physical withdrawals are horrible but the real hell is in your mind. ”
“You must be vigilant at all times against relapse and you must surround yourself with different places and people. ”
“I never woke up one day and decided that I wanted to become a drug addict. I was in college and working full-time when I stepped on an earring in my apartment. The earring pierced my left heel, and days later an abscess formed.”
“Despite what life has given people who live with addiction, they have prevailed to the best of their abilities. ”
“I loved the feeling I got from opioids, but when dependent, I hated the fact that I couldn't stop it. I stole massive amounts of prescription grade opioid analgesics from a friend's father who was a physician. For some reason he had massive amounts of these drugs in his home in pharmacy stock bottles. People need to understand that we are affected by a horrible disease.”
“Kicking the habit is very hard and painful. Then, to relearn how to live can be just as taxing.”
“I think deep down, individuals struggling under addiction really do not want to be where they are.”
“The current focus on addiction and abuse has been hugely harmful to the legitimate chronic pain patient... we have been deprived of our medications, lost our doctors and been treated like criminals.”
“Not every pain patient is an addict or addicted to their pain medication. Addiction is a "CRAVING" for a substance. Pain patients DO NOT "crave" their medicines. ”
“As a recovering alcoholic, I know that I am susceptible to addiction, and did my best to stay away from opiates. ”
“Children will take a back seat. Basic morality never comes into play when it comes to the end goal of putting this substance into your body. That is what it does to you mentally -- it is an ever present thought.”
“I think because there are so many unsuccessful and sad stories out there we miss the successful stories. The stories with hope attached to them”
“We have a huge demand for treatment, and a shortage of providers to offer this treatment.”
“You can not let the possibility of someone being an addict hold you back from treating those who actually need it. There is no reason any person should have to suffer in pain.”
“It is very heartbreaking and infuriating that someone you love is trapped in this hell that you cannot rescue them from. ”
“...This is the sort of advice that sobers up the family -- get them help, or prepare for the funeral. ”
“I began using when I was 15 and I got good grades in high school while on these drugs. By 16, I had a dependence.”
