The most difficult part of recovery from addiction can be taking the first step to get help. For hundreds of heroin and prescription pain medication addicts, that first step is a walk through the door of a methadone clinic in the South Sound called Tacoma Treatment Solutions. Every day people arrive at the clinic as early as 5 a.m. to get their daily dose of methadone.
“Taylor,” who asked that we not use her real name, is in her 40s and definitely doesn’t fit the image of a down-and-out addict. She was addicted to prescription pain meds for 10 years, use that began after she was injured in a car accident.
“I wasn’t one of those people that just took it and nodded out and did nothing with my life. I was going to school full time, being a single mom and taking care of my disabled parents,” she said.
But, things fell apart for her after medical bills forced her into bankruptcy and she lost her doctor and her access to legal pain meds. She turned to illegal sources for the drugs until the stress of it all brought her to the methadone clinic.
“I knew someday my number would be up and I just couldn’t live a lie anymore,” she said.
She’s been coming to the methadone clinic for two years. In this story, she recounts her own battle with addiction and path to recovery.
This story originally aired on March 18, 2017
