Each year more than 46,000 people die from a drug overdose. Chasing the Dragon: The Life of an Opiate Addict, 2016
‘Being addicted to opiates is like chasing a dragon; you’re constantly seeking that first high.’ ibid.
Approximately one in five high school seniors reports misusing prescription drugs at least once in their lifetime. ibid.
A 2014 national survey found an estimated 1.4 million people in the US abused a prescription pain killer for the first time that year. ibid.
‘A girlfriend of mine introduced me to heroin; I could get a whole lot more for a whole lot less.’ ibid.
Most first-time abusers of painkillers obtain them from a friend or relative. ibid.
The alarm is growing more urgent and spreading further across Canada: Fentanyl – highly addictive and sometimes deadly is now a top priority across the country … an epidemic and an overwhelming crisis. Opioid Fentanyl Street Crisis, W5 CTV 2017
Drug overdoses killed nearly a thousand in this province last year. ibid.
Synthetic opioids are being cut into street drugs all across Canada. ibid.
Fentanyl has found its way into knockoff prescription painkillers, into party drugs and cocaine. People are overdosing across the country. ibid.
The pop-up tent supervises hundreds of injections a day. ibid.
‘He wasn’t my son. I don’t know who he was. He was the devil really.’ American Epidemic: The Nation’s Struggle with Opioid Addiction, Joe’s dad, Wall Street Journal 2016
The drug Fentanyl presents a new level of danger in the opioid epidemic. It’s up to 50 times as powerful as heroin, cheaper to make and rapidly spreading across the United States. New Hampshire had at least 238 deaths linked to Fentanyl in 2015, up from 146 deaths in 2014. ibid.
In the USA someone dies from a heroin overdose every 50 minutes. Smack in Suburbia: America’s Heroin Crisis, BBC 2016
‘Within three days they begin to develop a tolerance, meaning that they will go through some level of withdrawal if they don’t use, and they will need more and more to use to feel that original high.’ ibid.
Purdue convinced doctors they could use Oxycontin for patients on a daily basis and they wouldn’t get addicted. ibid.
Millions of people got hooked. And now on an average day in the US more than 650,000 opioid prescriptions are dispensed and nearly 4,000 people start abusing the pills. ibid.
It was the pill that revolutionised the way we live with pain. It was a revolution driven by a marketing campaign that targeted our doctors. We now spend more than ten billion dollars a year on treatment with narcotic pain pills. And we’re spending hundreds of millions more on the addictions the pain pills cause. The Fifth Estate: Time Bomb: Oxycontin, CBC 2013
A multi-billion-dollar business … introduced in 1996. ibid.
By 2011 Canada would rank second in the world for opioid prescriptions and second in the world for deaths from overdoses. ibid.
By as early as 1995 they had known that many of their claims about Oxycontin including its addictive nature were fraudulent. ibid.
Only one in ten addicts stay clean. The rest end up in jail, rehab or the morgue. Losing Their Souls: White America Hooked on Heroin, News 12, Youtube 53.01
The devastating impact of illegal drugs: not on those who use them but on the 350,000 or so children whose parents have a serious drug problem. And the grandparents who are left to pick up the pieces. Dispatches: Mum Loves Drugs, Not Me, Channel 4 2008
Around 3,500 babies are born to heroin-addicted mothers every year: that’s 10 a day. ibid.
Someone introduced me to the Bronx: biggest mistake of my life. Because not only am I addicted drugs, I’m addicted to the adrenalin rush, I’m addicted to the people, I’m addicted to the whole inner city thing. Hookers at the Point, HBO 2002
By 1970 New York City alone will have over 200,000 heroin addicts. Secret War on Drugs, History 2017
Crack cocaine: it’s the king of all drugs, the undisputed champion of Class A narcotics; it’s expensive, tiny and very very addictive. It’s a drug-dealer’s dream. Crackhouse, BBC 2003
Every single one of my friends were now either crack addicts or crack dealers. ibid.
Virginia’s got two other kids but she doesn’t live with them. ibid.
Virginia’s burnt out a lot of houses. ibid.
In 1984 the United States’ crack epidemic swept through African-American communities instantly turning playgrounds into warzones, destroying thousands of families and making minced meat of good men. On October 18th 2010 I began filmed a group of crack addicts in Atlanta, Georgia, who live outside behind a Texaco gas station infamously dubbed as the Living Room. J is for Junkie, 2011
‘I used to be a beautiful woman … I used to be a majorette.’ ibid. Susan
In Sheffield 12 families live together. But these are no ordinary families. And this is no ordinary house. This is the only family rehab in the UK. More children than ever are being taken into care because their parents are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Addicted Parents: Last Chance to Keep My Children I: Mums, BBC 2017
There are many rules to adjust to in the house. ibid.
‘I would imagine people would not understand why people go repeatedly on to have children when they’ve not looked after the first, the second, the third, the fourth … ibid. key worker
‘Too many children, not enough parenting.’ ibid. 18 year old son
Parents and children stay in a therapeutic community confronting addiction together. Addicted Parents: Last Chance to Keep My Children II: Family
Social services issued an ultimatum – give up drugs and go to rehab, or lose Kyle. ibid.
I was in Fresno California on the trail of the world’s most abused hard drug: methamphetamine or crystal meth is a derivative of speed. Cheap and easy to produce it can be devastating for those who get addicted. Louis Theroux, The City Addicted to Crystal Meth, BBC 2009
The city is also home to the largest rehab facility in the state of California. ibid.
In Huntington, West Virginia, I was spending time with heroin users. The city’s been swept up in the most deadly drug epidemic in US history. For several weeks I’ve been trying to get to grips with why. Louis Theroux: Dark States: Heroin Town I, BBC 2017
‘I’ve used since I was 12.’ ibid. 26-year-old Petty Betty
In Huntington as many as one out of four adults is addicted to heroin or some other form of opiate. ibid.
Last year in Huntington one out of ten babies was born dependent on opiates. ibid.
Heroin addiction: notoriously tenacious and treatment very difficult. ibid.
I’ve come to meet the glue kids: these kids are addicted to solvents and they are just some of the 350,000 kids that are homeless in Kenya … That number is expected to increase dramatically … I was truly horrified. Ross Kemp on Gangs s4e4, Sky 2008
Mothers who are heavily addicted giving the glue bottle to their toddlers. ibid.
‘That’s a bad habit; that’s an expensive habit.’ Drugsland s1e2: Heroin Love Story ***** addict, BBC 2017
‘Making money – go to score – do the drugs.’ ibid.
‘I do enjoy it – that’s the problem.’ ibid.
45% of all shoplifting, burglary and robbery is committed by heroin and crack users. Drugsland s1e3: Dying to Get Clean
Last year there were 2,700 opiate users in treatment in Bristol. 7.5% of them successfully completed treatment in that period. ibid.
‘I’ve give my right or left arm to have this obsession taken away from me.’ ibid. addict
There are over one million heroin addicts in the United States. Facing the Habit, caption, 2007
‘Once you get the taste of heroin it’s very hard to stop.’ ibid. Dave
‘I can get a hard-on but I can’t keep it.’ ibid.
After years of struggling as a heroin addict, Dave turns to Ibogaine. ibid. caption
Can a drug addict mother really change? Or should the state take away her baby? More children were taken into care last year than ever before with many cases directly linked to substance misuse. Panorama: Addicted: Last Chance Mums, BBC 2018
One in twenty pregnant women in the UK are addicted to drugs or alcohol. ibid.