Crossing the Line: From Patient to Addict
With all the talk of opiate addiction, it seems a lot of us have forgotten what started this epidemic. All we hear about is bad dope, fake pills and elephant tranquilizers hitting the streets and killing hundreds. This problem didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t happen miraculously and for no reason. Doctors began prescribing copious amounts of opiate painkillers, not realizing the monster that would be created. And as doctors began prescribing more and more opiates, a new generation of drug addicts was created.
Here’s an all too familiar scenario:
A young man, full of life and looking toward his future gets injured on the job. He slips, falls, throws his back out and his right knee swells up to the size of a softball. After a day’s rest, he goes to the doctor. The doctor takes a look at his injuries and orders X-rays, an MRI and writes a prescription for Vicodin. This young man has never taken drugs in his life. In his mind, drugs were things like cocaine, meth and heroin. You know, stuff that’s illegal.
Certainly, drugs weren’t what the family doctor he’s known since childhood just gave him. He thinks nothing of it. The doctor tells him to fill the prescription and schedules him for imaging studies. On the way home, he stops by the pharmacy and drops off his prescription. “It’ll be ready in an hour,” says the tech.
He’s uncomfortable. His injuries hurt and he’s glad the doctor gave him something to handle it. He comes back an hour later to pick up his prescription. The pharmacy tech asks him if he knows what the medication is, what it does and does he have any questions about it. He says “no,” takes his meds and goes home.
At his kitchen counter, he opens the prescription and reads the bottle. “Take one capsule by mouth every 4 hours or as needed for pain.” With no reservation, he pops the bottle open, swallows a pill and relaxes on the couch. About 30 minutes later, he begins to feel a warmth come over his body. Not having taken drugs before, this is a foreign sensation to him. But he knows he likes it. He begins to feel more and more comfortable but also has a sense of energy and euphoria. “I feel better than I’ve felt in years,” he thinks to himself.
A week later he goes for his MRI and X-ray and follow-up with his doctor. The doctor comes into the exam room with his results. He tells him he needs surgery and it should be scheduled immediately. He has a torn meniscus in his right knee. “How’s your pain?” asks the doctor. What the doctor doesn’t know is the young man ran out of his month supply of Vicodin already. “My pain is awful! My knee hurts so bad!” the young man dramatizes. “I can barely sleep at night!” The doctor gets his prescription pad and gives him a prescription for Percocet. “This should help,” the doctor says.
The young man drops the prescription off and goes back in an hour to pick it up. The same pharmacy tech who filled his first prescription is there and gives him his 2nd prescription. With a slightly judgmental look, she asks him if he has any questions about the drug. He says no and rushes home with excitement. When he gets home he tears the bag open, pops the bottle and takes 2 pills. As the drug kicks in he feels an even stronger warmth and euphoria. “This is the answer to everything,” he thinks.
A month later, he has his surgery and is on the road to recovery. He leaves the hospital with a fresh prescription of Percocet. Two weeks go by and he sees his doctor for a follow-up appointment. Good thing, since he’s out of Percocet.
The doctor does an exam and sees he’s healing nicely. As the doctor goes to leave the room, the young man asks, “Where’s my prescription?” The doctor tells him there’s no need for them anymore since the surgery was successful and he was healing well. Crushed, the young man goes home with a slight chip on his shoulder. He can’t stop thinking about those pills. The way they made him feel. The euphoric energy. The comfort. He can’t get it out of his head. He calls one of his friends just to complain for the sake of complaining and casually says, “man, I could really go for a perc right about now.”
His friend says he so happens to know a guy who sells Roxy’s. His friend calls in a favor and the dealer meets up with the young man. “I’ll take 5,” he says. The dealer pulls out five blue Roxy 30’s and says, “that’ll be $150.” This shocks the young man. Five pills for $150?! “Screw it,” he thinks as he hands the dealer the money. On his way out the door, the dealer gives the young man his number and says “holler at me” and leaves.
Fast forward 2 months and the young man is completely strung out, broke and worst of all, sick. The dealer won’t front him any more pills but tells him heroin is cheaper and stronger and he only has one bag of it left. Since the young man only has $10, he has no options other than to get a bag of dope. He’s so sick. His cravings are so bad. What else is he supposed to do?
And down the rabbit hole he goes. We all know how this story ends. Either this young man overdoses on Fentanyl-laced heroin and dies, winds up in prison, or he gets help and gets clean. Hopefully, it’s the third option and his family doesn’t have to mourn his death or visit him on the other side of a pane of glass. Hopefully, he finds a treatment center that can unwind his addiction, clean him out and get him in control of his life again. It’s the only real chance he has. The scary thing is this story is real-life for many, many addicts.
At some point, they were patients and crossed the line into addiction. It can happen to anyone and no one is immune to it. Luckily, there are good treatment centers to help undo all the damage created by that first, harmless, little pill.
