Liam O’Brien is a former fentanyl addict. He found his dealer on Craig’s List. The first time he used fentanyl he nearly overdosed and vowed never to do it again.
“Normally when you get high, there are periods of time where you’re unconscious and unconscious,” O’Brien explained. “But when you fall, you’re on the verge of overdosing. With fentanyl, I blinked. And when I opened my eyes, five hours had passed and I felt my breathing restart.”
“It scared me. And I said to myself, ‘Okay, I don’t want to wear this anymore.'” And then the next day when I woke up I already paid $100 so I’ll finish the rest. And that’s how it started.”
After smoking fentanyl powder for the second time, O’Brien was hooked.
FENTANYL AND A STRONGER FORM OF MET NOW DRIVE AMERICA’S HOMELESS CRISIS
An estimated 150 people die each day from overdose deaths related to synthetic opioids.
(University of Houston)
“It’s an immense relaxation, a relief,” he said. “You’re warm, you’re comfortable. Whatever you’re going through in your life, you don’t worry about it anymore. You’re completely content.”
Like many teenagers, O’Brien began experimenting with drugs at high school parties: marijuana followed by prescription pills. At 19, he tried heroin and switched to fentanyl at 21.
“When you’re addicted, the consequences don’t matter,” he said. “At one point I fully knew I was going to die, but I needed to get high. So I went after it anyway.”
“Once you take the drugs, you don’t get to choose what happens next. You think you have it under control. You’re young, you feel invincible. You feel like it’s your choice. But these drugs will sink their claws into Y very quickly, before they Before you know it, it will become something that is completely out of control.”
rainbow fentanyl
(Drug Enforcement Administration)
O’Brien worked as a machinist full time, but every penny he earned went to buy drugs or gas to buy drugs. He attempted to clean himself on his own, but failed.
What does withdrawal feel like?
“You feel like you’re going to die, but you’re not. It’s like having the flu all over your body and your bones ache, and you get hot, you get cold, you sweat, you’re constipated, you get all kinds of things, but You just have to sit back and take it.”
LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY MADE SEVERAL RECORD ARRESTS FOR FENTANYL IN 2022
O’Brien used again. But with the help of his mother, he entered a five-day detox at a treatment center followed by 18 months of structured living at the Clearview-New Life sober living home in Los Angeles.
“People think that human beings are like cars, that you can go through a car wash,” says Howard Barker of Clearview. “But that’s not how it works.”
Barker says that prevention begins when family members are interested, diligent, open, and attentive to their adolescent children.
“When you have a loved one who is struggling and you suspect they are suffering, ask them for help,” he says. “Don’t wait for the overdose. Don’t wait for the incarceration. Don’t wait for the felony. Don’t wait for the DUI.”
Fentanyl test strips are considered drug paraphernalia in many states.
(FNC)
Treatment programs that last 30 to 60 days are not enough, Barker said. He can get off drugs and separate himself from some bad influences, but it’s not enough time to change habits and understand the underlying behavioral issues that put him there in the first place.
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“Thirty. Sixty. Ninety days. You sit, watch TV, drink Kool-Aid and eat cafeteria food,” O’Brien said of traditional rehab. “When the insurance ends, you’re out.
“Here, it’s not just about getting off drugs. It’s about learning to live and learning to be okay with yourself so you don’t have to think about outside things.”
