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Heroin Hits Home: Addicts turn to cheaper option than Rx drugs

Chad Gibson seemed to have it all…but behind the façade of the perfect guy, he had a secret, dangerous drug habit.


(WBIR-Knoxville) Everything seemed to be falling into place. Chad Gibson, 27, graduated from high school as captain of the soccer team, class president and even Mr. Halls High. Despite occasionally drinking and using marijuana, he never thought his indulgences would go beyond that. In college, Chad discovered pain pills. Some of his roommates in college brought home hydrocodone and it became a regular thing. Soon after, Chad began seeking them out on his own, instead of in the group, and he was hooked.

In 2010, Chad graduated from The University of Tennessee and moved to Memphis for a job. He thought the move would make him quit; he thought since he didn't know anyone there, he would just be able to drop the habit, but it only got worse.

Then, one night at a friend's house, he discovered heroin.

"Even though I'd heard everyone just talk about it, you know, it's really just the same thing but it's cheaper, for the longest time, that was my line, 'I'm not going to do that,'" he said. "But eventually, your addiction, your habit gets worse, money is tighter and tighter, and you just need more and more to support your habit, and so they had some and I tried it."

Student loans gone, savings used up on his habit, Chad made the switch.

"I mean, it does the same thing a pain pill does, and so from then on, that was what I sought out," he said.

The switch to heroin

An old adage claims "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." A recent crackdown on prescription pain pills around the country has meant people turn instead to its more dangerous, but cheaper, cousin heroin.

Heroin, cheaper and more plentiful than ever, is killing people at a dramatically increasing rate across the country. Deaths from heroin overdoses nearly quadrupled between 2003 and 2013, according to the CDC. Now emergency responders are being trained to carry naloxone, a drug that can stop a heroin overdose.

According to the CDC, about 75 percent of heroin users first became hooked on prescription opiates.In 2013, an estimated 517,000 people reported using the drug in the past year, up nearly 150 percent since 2007.

Heroin in Tennessee

"With the level of prescription opiate use in our state, obviously we have a market that is ready for heroin," said Tommy Farmer, the Director of the Tennessee Methamphetamine and Pharmaceutical Task Force for TBI. "It pales in comparison to the prescription pill problem, but shifts it back more into the law enforcement wheelhouse."

Assistant Knox County DA Sean McDermott explained how many East Tennesseans used to head south to Florida to get their pills. They would go by bus or flight and doctor shop, getting multiple prescriptions filled in a few days. Then, they would come home and divide up the loot between themselves and the dealer, the sponsor who paid for their trip. Florida cracked down on the pill mills first, and the operations moved back to Tennessee, but as it becomes harder and harder to run a pill mill, the price goes up, and leaves more addicted people looking for opiates at a lower cost.

"And so these people weren't always taking the pills to get high, they were just taking it to maintain. They were taking it so they wouldn't be sick," explained McDermott. "But they would have to steal, break into cars, break into houses, and shoplift, in order to get enough money in order to sustain their addiction."

And so the desperate need for drugs, turns into an overall increase in crime.

Chad didn't break into buildings or try to rob a bank. Instead, he stole from family.

"That's the worst part. When you're really addicted, you've lost all choice," he said. "There's nothing like hating what you're doing, knowing what you're doing is wrong, but this thing has such a hold on you that you're going to do whatever you've got to do, things you never thought you'd do, to keep it going."

Getting Clean

Chad finally broke down and told his parents about the hidden addiction.

"I told them, you know, I'd been snorting heroin everyday, and my parents were just, just shocked."

His parents sent him to an expensive rehab in Alabama, but both ended in relapse.

"They talk about every time you relapse, your addiction picks up right where it left off, and it quickly gets worse--within two weeks I was completely strung out again," said Gibson.

After two failed attempts, options were slim for Chad who was losing support, and had no insurance. A friend helped him reach out to the Helen Ross McNabb Center, who took him in as a crisis case.

"I am an IV heroin user. I am afraid I am going to die. I am about to either be on the streets or someone is going to find me dead of an overdose," explained Chad.

Helen Ross McNabb Director Hilde Phipps sees the numbers of addicts climbing.

"We have around 1054 people on the waiting list for 15 detox beds. We can't serve enough people fast enough with the issues at hand," said Phipps.

After completing detox at McNabb's Center Pointe facility, Chad found structure at the E.M. Jellinek halfway house.

"They told me from day one, it's time to grow up and be a man. We're going to show you how to do that," said Gibson.

Today, Chad is 11 months sober and has a new passion, his friends.

"The biggest thing that makes life enjoyable and easy to stay clean is my group of friends in recovery," said Gibson.

Their support inspired him to start Kredan organization made up of different types of recovered addicts. Their mission, to raise awareness and break the stigma that follow addictions.

"It's not just the addict living under the bridge, it's invading our middle class, universities. It literally can happen to anybody," said Gibson, "It's not how you got to your situation, but what do you want to do going forward."

Monday, Kred will hold a vigil at World's Fair Park in honor of overdose victims for International Overdose Awareness Day.

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