From the time of his initial vanishing act related to hard drug use, California was never far from Tommy’s mind. His favorite band was the Red Hot Chili Peppers. His favorite video games were tied to West Coast surfers, skateboarders, or snowboarders. Tommy had finally made it to the place he’d always dreamed of living.
Everywhere he went he managed to find the most beautiful and natural spots to lift his spirits higher. He excitedly shared each new epiphany and adventure. I had urged him to keep a journal so he could remember this incredible time in his life, and he started doing so. He added that he also was writing long letters that he planned to send to his mother and me. I told him not to worry too much about that and to focus on continuing to nurture his spiritual awakening.
As he rounded the highway curve and again laid eyes on the western rise of the Smoky Mountains, Tommy was so moved his eyes had filled with tears of happiness. And peace.
“I went to so many beautiful places and saw so many incredible things out west,” he told us later. “But as soon as I saw the Smokies, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I just knew in my heart that this is where I’m supposed to be.”
“You’ve taught me so much in the past few months,” I said. “I’m so proud of how far you’ve come. Keep on growing.”
“I just wanted to thank you for all you and Mom have done for me. I love you, Pops.”
“I love you too, Tommy.”
For the first time in years, I allowed hope to enter my spirit.
Notes
Chapter 1 The Vanishing
1. Mike Mariani, “How the American Opiate Epidemic Was Started by One Pharmaceutical Company,” Pacific Standard/The Week, March 4, 2015, http://theweek.com/articles/541564/how-american-opiate-epidemic-started-by-pharmaceutical-company.
2. Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jeff Gerth, “High-Tech Stealth Being Used to Sway Doctor Prescriptions,” New York Times, November 16, 2000, http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/16/us/high-tech-stealth-being-used-to-sway-doctor-prescriptions.html.
3. Prescription Drugs: OxyContin Abuse and Diversion and Efforts to Address the Problem, US General Accounting Office, Washington, DC, Publication GAO-04-110, December 2003, www.gao.gov/htext/d04110.html.
4. Chase Peterson-Withorn, “Fortune of Family behind OxyContin Drops amid Declining Prescriptions,” June 29, 2016, Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2016/06/29/fortune-of-family-behind-oxycontin-drops-amid-declining-prescriptions/#1e22a6a56341.
5. Elaine Silvestrini, “Florida Heals from Pill Mill Epidemic,” Tampa Bay Times, updated August 31, 2014, http://www.tbo.com/news/crime/florida-heals-from-pill-mill-epidemic-20140830/.
6. Results from the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings, NSDUH Series H-48, HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4863, Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014.
7. Pradip K. Muhuri, Joseph C. Gfroerer, and M. Christine Davies, Associations of Nonmedical Pain Reliever Use and Initiation of Heroin Use in the United States, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, August 2013, http://archive.samhsa.gov/data/2k13/DataReview/DR006/nonmedical-pain-reliever-use-2013.pdf.; Christopher M. Jones, “Heroin Use and Heroin Use Risk Behaviors among Nonmedical Users of Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers—United States, 2002–2004 and 2008–2010,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 132, nos. 1–2 (September 1, 2013): 95–100, doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.01.007.
8. Results are from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) by the US Department of Health and Human Services. See Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, updated October 10, 2015, https://www.samhsa.gov/prescription-drug-misuse-abuse.
9. Cassie Goldberg, “National Study: Teen Misuse and Abuse of Prescription Drugs Up 33 Percent Since 2008, Stimulants Contributing to Sustained RX Epidemic,” Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, April 22, 2013, https://drugfree.org/newsroom/news-item/national-study-teen-misuse-and-abuse-of-prescription-drugs-up-33-percent-since-2008-stimulants-contributing-to-sustained-rx-epidemic/.
10. From Rx to Heroin, Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, the Medicine Abuse Project, http://medicineabuseproject.org/assets/documents/Rx-to-Heroin.pdf.
Chapter 2 Despair aboard the Oxy Express
1. “Some Facts You Should Know about the History of Oxycodone,” A Forever Recovery (blog), September 21, 2014, http://aforeverrecovery.com/blog/information/facts-know-history-oxycodone/.
2. Barry Meier, “OxyContin maker to pay $600 million in fines,” New York Times, May 10, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/business/worldbusiness/10iht-oxy.4.5655262.html.
3. Alex Morrell, “The OxyContin Clan: The $14 Billion Newcomer to Forbes 2015 List of Richest U.S. Families,” Forbes, July 1, 2015, https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexmorrell/2015/07/01/the-oxycontin-clan-the-14-billion-newcomer-to-forbes-2015-list-of-richest-u-s-families/#151926675e02.
Chapter 6 Out of Sight, Out of Mind
1. The Business of Recovery, directed by Adam Finberg, http://www.thebusinessofrecovery.com/assets/bor_epress_kit_final.pdf.
2. Dan Munro, “Inside the $35 Billion Addiction Treatment Industry,” Forbes, April 27, 2015, https://www.forbes.com/sites/danmunro/2015/04/27/inside-the-35-billion-addiction-treatment-industry/#55c457eb17dc.
3. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide, 3rd ed., https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition/drug-addiction-treatment-in-united-states.
4. Lance Dodes and Zachary Dodes, The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry (Boston: Beacon, 2014); “With Sobering Science, Doctor Debunks 12-Step Recovery,” All Things Considered, NPR, March 23, 2014, http://www.npr.org/2014/03/23/291405829/with-sobering-science-doctor-debunks-12-step-recovery.
5. Treatment Statistics, National Institute on Drug Abuse, revised March 2011, https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-statistics.
Chapter 8 Boomerang of Agony
1. Opioid Overdose, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, updated September 26, 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html.
Chapter 10 Rise of the Opioid Kids
1. Liz E. Whyte, Geoff Mulvihill, and Ben Wieder, “Politic of Pain: Drugmakers Fought State Opioid Limits amid Crisis,” Center for Public Integrity, updated December 15, 2016, https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/09/18/20200/politics-pain-drugmakers-fought-state-opioid-limits-amid-crisis.
2. Harriet Ryan and Kim Christensen, “Amid Opioid Epidemic, Rules for Drug Companies Are Loosened,” Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1016, http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-pharma-bill-20160728-snap-story.html.
3. “Florida Drug Database and ‘Pill Mill’ Regs Curbed State’s Top Opioid Prescribers, Study Suggests,” Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, June 2, 2016, http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2016/florida-drug-database-and-pill-mill-regs-curbed-states-top-opioid-prescribers-study-suggests.html; Hsien-Yen Chang et al., “Impact of Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs and Pill Mill Laws on High-Risk Opioid Prescribers: A Comparative Interrupted Time Series Analysis,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 165 (August 1, 2016): 1–8, doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.04.033.
Chapter 16 Beyond Twelve Steps: The Business of Recovery
1. Jonathan Rothwell, “Drug Offenders in American Prisons: The Critical Distinction between Stock and Flow,” Brookings Institution, November 25, 2015, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/social-mobility-memos/2015/11/25/drug-offenders-in-american-prisons-the-critical-distinction-between-stock-and-flow.
Chapter 22 The Path to Acceptance
1. Rose A. Rudd et al., “Increases in Heroin Overdose Deaths—28 States, 2010 to 2012,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 63, no. 39 (October 3, 2014): 849–54, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6339a1.htm?s_cid=mm6339a1_w.
1. Neil Young, “Old Man,” on Harvest, recorded February 6, 1971, Reprise Records, Quadrafonic Sound Studio, Nashville, TN.
Rick Van Warner has more than three decades of experience as a journalist, crisis-management counselor, and media-relations expert, honing a critical eye into some of the most difficult challenges of our time. His book on the nation’s growing opioid epidemic was spurred by his family’s personal experience and his heartfelt calling to help other families wrestling with similar issues. On Pills and Needles: The Relentless Fight to Save My Son from Opioid Addiction details his son’s harrowing eight-year fight to survive Oxycontin and later heroin abuse, while providing a compelling look behind the curtain of an epidemic created by pharmaceutical-industry greed and inept government oversight.
A graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications, Van Warner began his career as a daily newspaper reporter. Always willing to tackle tough challenges, he also volunteered as a social worker within the New York State youth justice division, where he counseled teens confined to group homes after committing serious crimes.
After working for many years as a journalist and editor in New York City, Van Warner shifted to an executive role in corporate communications and crisis management to create more time for his four children and coaching various youth sports. In addition to his writing endeavors, he remains active as a consultant and speaker.
Van Warner and his wife of thirty-two years currently reside in central Florida.
VanWarner.com
Sign up for announcements about upcoming titles.
Website: www.bakerbooks.com
Quantity Discounts: www.direct2church.com
Twitter: ReadBakerBooks
Facebook: BakerBooks
On Pills and Needles Page 22