The struggles and triumphs of an addict

My name is Rev JE Allen. As a young man I was in two very serious  car accidents. I lost a friend in one of these accidents. I suffered a broken neck and spinal injury which led to doctors putting me on heavy narcotic pain killers. I was told I would need the drugs the rest of my life to function. I developed a dependency and then ultimately an addiction to opiates. The drug I was on was no different than heroin when it came to being without. The withdrawals were the same. My life was destroyed and my goals and dreams were dashed. My life centered around drugs for almost 20 years. Then in late 2014 I decided to take my life back. It took a solid year to get over the drug but I did it and never looked back. Since this time I became an ordained Minister and I focus on mainly teen addiction and prevention. I lived this life for 20 years. I have insight as to what addiction truly does to someone and my mission is to save lives. Teens and young adults that I talk to easily open up to ...

It almost always  nowadays starts in a doctors office after an accident or surgery..

In March, the commander in chief of the War on Drugs stood in front of a crowd of policymakers, advocates and recovering addicts to declare that America has been doing it wrong. Speaking at the National Prescription Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta – focused on an overdose epidemic now killing some 30,000 Americans a year – President Barack Obama declared, "For too long we have viewed the problem of drug abuse ... through the lens of the criminal justice system," creating grave costs: "We end up with jails full of folks who can't function when they get out. We end up with people's lives being shattered." Touting a plan to increase drug-treatment spending by more than $1 billion – the capstone to the administration's effort to double the federal drug-treatment budget – Obama insisted, "This is a straightforward proposition: How do we save lives once people are addicted, so that they have a chance to recover? It doesn't do us much g...

I'm going to speak from the heart and it may sound harsh or rude. I don't know exactly what I'm going to say. I've noticed not too many people are comfortable with even "liking" a post about addiction which I could care less about the "likes".  That's not what it's about. It's about the fact we have an absolute epidemic on our hands and most are oblivious until they are forced to deal with the issue when they realize their teenager is hooked on heroin. You upper middle class in the suburbs and you parents in your nice gated communities this is for you because this is where the epidemic is. You think no way not my child. Well, let me tell you it's going on right under your noses. It started with pain pills recreationally, but it doesn't take long (less than 1-2 months) to become chemically dependent and then the sickness begins and it is absolute torture. So, the government cracks down on doctors and pharmacies and now the pill...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says America is in the middle of an opioid addiction and Alabama is no exception. Experts say overdoses are spiking in part because dealers are cutting or mixing heroin with Fentanyl, a drug that's about 100 times stronger than heroin. Now while that's bad a new drug called W-18 is also being used to cut heroin and many say it's an instant death sentence "We're hearing that the heroin and Fentanyl overdoses are 200 times as much this year already," George King said. He is the director of Royal Pines, a men's rehabilitation center in Alabama. King says a lot of the guys who come through the center are getting a second chance. But with the news of a deadly new drug out there being used to cut Heroin. King says there won't be any second chances to give if you put it in your veins. "To the common man that does simple math, that's almost certain death," King said. The drug is called W-18...

Her fiancé gave her heroin. She overdosed. Does that make him a murderer? When Jarret McCasland and his fiancee decided to celebrate her 19th birthday with heroin, it meant the end of her life and the end of his freedom. Flavia Cardenas, who worked in a nightclub, died of an overdose the next morning in Baton Rouge. After a prosecutor convinced a jury that McCasland administered the fatal dose, the 27-year-old pipe fabrication shop worker was found guilty of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison in February with no chance for parole. With deaths from heroin and opioids at their highest level in U.S. history, prosecutors have begun charging those who supplied the final dose with murder, even when that person is the deceased’s friend, lover, sibling or spouse. The new initiative is sometimes in direct conflict with good Samaritan laws, which protect addicts from being charged if they call 911 when a fellow user is overdosing. The tougher approach also is in m...

                                                           Opioid Addiction Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illicit drug heroin as well as the licit prescription pain relievers oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl and others. Opioids are chemically related and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the brain and nervous system to produce pleasurable effects and relieve pain. Addiction is a primary, chronic and relapsing brain disease characterized by an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors. Of the 21.5 million Americans 12 or older that had a substance use disorder in 2014, 1.9 million had a substance use di...

PLEASE HELP ME WITH MY FIGHT AGAINST THIS EPIDEMIC. ANYTHING WILL HELP. DONATE AT https://www.generosity.com/medical-fundraising/the-genetics-of-addiction-my-family--2/x/13723299 http://freeteendrugc0unsel.wix.com/justchange1

This is the epidemic I have been screaming at the top of my lungs is here. I saw it first hand many times. Experimenting with painkillers doesn't take long to develop a dependence and once you're there you can't function without the opiates because of the terrible withdrawals. Let me tell you opiate withdrawal will make someone that has never even thought of suicide feel as though they would rather be dead. It is torture.  The feds cracked down hard on doctors, pharmacies, and especially pain clinics commonly known as pill mills. The crackdown made the pain pills harder to find which led to dealers raising the prices of the pills. The obvious and natural progression was heroin. It's an opiate just like the pills therefore it takes away the withdrawals. This is an opiate addicts main purpose for using. To stop the withdrawal. At first it's all fun and games and getting high. That does not last long. It becomes a daily battle to just not be dope sick.    When 20-y...

World Graphic video shows attacker killing British tourist in San Fran cisco Los Angeles Times 14 hours ago                       San Francisco police released a dramatic video showing an attacker fatally stabbing a British tourist in a bustling section of the city. The incident occurred Feb. 18 on Post Street near San Francisco's Civic Center. The video shows a robber chasing and then attacking the 44-year-old tourist in the middle of the street. The tourist died Thursday, officials said. Authorities said police were looking for two suspects and asked anyone who was in the area of Post between Franklin and Gough streets to contact police. Police told the San Francisco Chronicle that the victim was stabbed in the head after a man and woman tried to steal his messenger bag. Originally reported on Yahoo.c...