Poisoned: America's Fentanyl Crisis l ABCNL

I'm a recovering addict, been clean 13 years in March. I thank God everyday for my sobriety, that I'm not out on the streets these days. In my day, for the most part, you knew what you were getting. I pray for the people still out there that they find sobriety, it's a gift we all deserve.

My son was in the hospital for surgery and was given morphine.... for a week and a half. When he left the hospital they did not wean him off. He went to, what he thought, was heroin.... it was fentanyl, 100% non-lab created fentanyl... colored to look like heroin. The 4th time he used he died. I found him. He was 20 y/o. My only child. My baby. I'm in Canada. It's here to. It's disgusting.

My husband was a Doctor and he got caught up in it too.
They were handing out samples like candy.
He started with one a day, and ended up overdosing by shooting up in his femoral artery and bled out. He was shooting up 20-30 times a day.
I never knew......💔

It was horrible. We were just starting our real lives together after college and medical school and residency.
It was his first year working.
After all that investment in his education.......we had two daughters and were expecting another.

I've been talking Tramadol for arthritis for 15 years. A couple years ago my doctor retired and my new doctor wouldn't prescribe Tramadol for arthritis. He was worried about his license. I don't feel comfortable taking a lot of NSAIDS so I requested a different doctor. This new doctor restored my prescription.
My point is that some doctors are so afraid of being accused of over prescribing opioids that they under prescribe instead.

The government will never stop it because they are making money

90% of my Friends were addicted to Opioids , Many of them are gone now. I miss friends, I miss my family members, I watched something so small destroy everything.

I find it difficult to believe that doctors didn't know the potential for addiction.

I think this is one of the rare cases where just awareness itself is actually somewhat effective. I and many other people I know declined to take opioids after major surgery or despite chronic pain, because of the lessons learned from people like these.

The drugs are also prescribed on an "as needed" basis. If you don't default to taking everything your doctor tells you is available, but only take it as absolutely necessary, that's a step in the right direction.

Lost my little sis three weeks ago due to the same thing. RIP Gracie.

Man I used to watch my parents Drink themselves silly and always promised I would NEVER be addict like them. 😕 Then in late 90's I had back surgery and the rest was history..... Took at least 6 yrs of my life and my relationship with my own child before I became one of the "Lucky ones".... Absolutely HATE pain pills.!!! I pray for.each person struggling with it, that sh*t is no game!!

what an eye opening documentary - This is an EXCELLENT investigative reporter-

I’m so happy I got sober in November of 2018. I lost my cousin in April of 2020 to this poison, she helped me find suboxone, and had been sober for 6 years. I pray, and have so much sympathy for those still addicted, those who have lost someone and kids who don’t have parents,and, Vice versa.

Sounds like the life i once lived. I used heroin for over 14 yrs and today i can say i am over 2 years sober. Many overdose’s , visits to several different jails, stays in many several rehabs facilities and ive lost way to many friends to heroin and fentanyl. This drug kills more people in our country than automobile accident’s. Its a battle that i tried to tell people about when i was in highschool and Oxy 40’s 80’s and 120’s and once they were gone all the individuals that were taking Oxy’s moved from pills to heroin. Thats how my addiction started out. I was a decent kid in school who played sports and was involved in every after school activities the school offered and once i started taking OC’s i did not care about school and sports no longer and then next came putting everything else in my life second. Thank god i found the correct path in life and if i can do it i know any one can do it. If you are struggling keep your head held high and do not be scared to ask for help

I'm so thankful Fentanyl laced pills weren't a problem when I was addicted to pills buying them off the street. This stuff is horrible.

I started with pains pills then oxy then heroin…. It was the worst … I’m now a year sober … but it’s still a long road to recovery … all those years of using has caused a lot of mental damage …. I hope others can get help as well

Let me give y'all an example from Travis County (Austin, TX). Fentanyl deaths tripled from 2020 to 2021, murders doubled from 2020 to 2021. Yesterday a house was raided in northwest Austin with enough Fentanyl inside to kill over 100,000 people.

The last time I was in rehab years ago I got pulled into the PAs office and asked why I was there… that I had no opioids in my system. And they weren’t going to give me Subs to help with detox bc of it. Thank god there was a nurse there that was hip to what was happening, bc even I had no clue. She told him to run a larger panel drug screen that included Fentanyl. Sure enough the next day when I got called back down the PA said I had nothing but that in my system and he couldn’t believe I was alive, let alone sitting there talking to him. That scared the absolute crap out of me. I had no idea that’s what I was doing. In a way I thank god I had such a nasty tolerance, bc without it I know I’d most certainly be dead! That was enough to scare me into sticking with it that time! And I am now in long term recovery! I feel so terrible for everyone out there these days using. It’s so damn dangerous out there!

I was prescribed oxy as a high schooler after wisdom tooth removal. Why was that okay? I thank God I stopped taking the pills earlier than instructed. God bless everyone with substance use disorder.

It’s interesting that I’m 52 and I’ve never looked for such drugs and I’m quite fine without them. Such drugs won’t heal souls .

“I think it’s gonna get worse “ yup I feel you I say the same thing we gonna suffer from this years down the road even the people who don’t do these drugs