Buying Heroin Benghazi

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Buying Heroin Benghazi

Adjust the colors to reduce glare and give your eyes a break. Use one of the services below to sign in to PBS:. You've just tried to add this video to My List. But first, we need you to sign in to PBS using one of the services below. You've just tried to add this show to My List. By creating an account, you acknowledge that PBS may share your information with our member stations and our respective service providers, and that you have read and understand the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. We can remove the first video in the list to add this one. We can remove the first show in the list to add this one. Season Episode 4 1h 54m 11s Video has closed captioning. FRONTLINE looks at America's heroin crisis in a fresh and provocative light -- telling the stories of individual addicts, but also illuminating the epidemic's years-in-the-making social context, deeply examining shifts in drug policy, and exploring what happens when addiction is treated like a public health issue, not a crime. Problems Playing Video? Report a Problem Closed Captioning. Before you submit an error, please consult our Troubleshooting Guide. Your report has been successfully submitted. Thank you for helping us improve PBS Video. Additional funding … More. Additional funding is provided by the Abrams Foundation; the John D. Hagler Foundation, and additional support from Koo and Patricia Yuen. Open in new tab. I think I got really trapped in it, because I mean, I guess I didn't know too much about what addiction was. Four years ago, Johnny Bousquet, 38, says he started using to cope with the breakup of his marriage. Here in Seattle, beat cops are four years into a radical experiment to deal with drug use on their streets. He's unconscious, breathing All of this is being fought by really anonymous folks all across the country because this epidemic is also the quietest epidemic. And then when the people die, when the kids die, the parents are so mortified, so ashamed that they keep quiet, too. And it resulted in almost a barbaric under-treatment of pain, particularly when it came to people with cancer and in the terminal stages of cancer. So there was a whole effort to open up minds to allow hospice care and good pain management for people with cancer. They see the opportunity to expand the use of these drugs beyond the cancer wards, kind of into the mainstream of medicine. What they did is they took this old, existing drug and they introduced a time-release mechanism into it so that it would be significantly less addictive because it wouldn't be released up front all at once. Like, all of a sudden, we can give this, and we don't need to prescribe eight Vicodin a day. The FDA allowed them to make the claim that, because it was a long-acting drug, it might-- the stress being on the word 'might'-- be less prone to addiction and abuse than traditional drugs. Russell Portenoy to ease concerns about addiction. Now, part of the reason they were able to do that is that there was clear evidence there were some people in pain who didn't need to be in pain and we had underused them. Cari Creasia, a stay-at-home mom living in Kent, Washington, was prescribed Vicodin after the birth of her second child. In order to get more, I got on the phone the next day and said, 'This one's not working. So my neighbor and friend drove me down to the police station, and that became a deferred prosecution. By , a newly appointed team at the Office of National Drug Control Policy was coming to grips with the magnitude of the opioid crisis. Tom McLellan, was poring over data on overdoses. But then I began looking through the whole of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and I was seeing the impact of opiates everywhere. One day in the spring of , Frieden approached an official at the drug czar's office, Dr. Keith Humphreys. Once that happens, you have to turn to something, and that is gonna be high-potency street opiates, heroin. Ten years after she first got hooked on opioids, she moved out of her house, leaving her husband and two kids. So I went to her house to talk, and instead of having coffee, we smoked a bowl of meth because that was her drug of choice. And it was shocking to me because she would just act as if that wasn't happening when she was hanging out with me. They were the first drug trafficking group to understand that the pill market was essentially priming the heroin market. What you need is a large community of pretty well-to-do kids with money to buy the dope, with cell phones to call the dealer, with cars to go get the dope, and private bedrooms to shoot it up. She went to AA meetings regularly, worked hard at school, and delighted her family when she finally graduated from high school. She just had this thing about her that some people have, and she was able to get through my barriers, you know? And it's not fair, and it's not right, but that's the kind of country that we're living in. A working-class town, home to 40, residents, a Navy shipyard, and a mayor who decided to try a different approach to the epidemic. We're trying to keep those syringes from getting into our parks, on our streets, and in our landfill. It wasn't until I injected it that I realized why heroin is 'better' than taking a pill. And getting on the methadone clinic kind of just fell into my lap, and so I figured I'd give it a shot. Trevor would have to wake up at a. It was originally formulated as a painkiller, but it was embraced in the s as an effective way to treat heroin users in withdrawal. The concept is, if you walk into a methadone clinic, you get your dose for the day so you don't go into withdrawal. You can go to work, you can achieve your daily functions, and you're not out doing things like stealing or prostitution of yourself just to earn the next hit. Wait a minute, we can't put in a facility that's selling meth or giving meth out. And then the very base of the word 'methadone' I think probably confused some people thinking that it's methamphetamine. He said, 'I own two gas stations in Seattle, they're right next to methadone clinics. He said, 'These things are destroying our neighborhoods over there, and the police can't get it under control right now. He said, 'I invite you to come over to Seattle for a day,' and he says, 'And let's go visit. And it's easy to be scientific, but when you're scared, how easy is it, really, to listen to that science? But it got worse, and he slid down further, and finally, when we wouldn't bail him out anymore, we lost him. The state has no objection Hassan another chance here They represent the attempt of people who are right there on the street facing the problem every day to do something different, not to just keep repeating the same mistakes. The individual that I dealt with was dealing directly with individuals that were part of a drug cartel. Cari had twice sold heroin to a confidential informant, giving prosecutors all the evidence they needed. And that's a message to me every morning, that because of the life that you led, because of your addiction, this is what you have to do. And it's gonna be a lot of triggers, because I've always used and gotten messed up on Halloween, so what we're planning on doing is, we're going to have a group of friends who are all sober, all in treatment and stuff, and we're just going to hang out Like, I was a complete addict piece of bleep for a decade and a half, and you know, I got 14 months clean. And it was just a wake-up call for me, so it was a good reminder of where I'm blessed today, and I'm glad of where I am today, so I think if you prove that you no longer want to lead a life of crime, you deserve a second chance. Studies have shown that they save taxpayer money And it was a very wise judge who offered me care and compassion, along with accountability, that led to my path to recovery. And so I had the opportunity at that point to get care and treatment and was diverted away from the criminal justice system, and that's what I want to see for everybody. We need to take some different approaches, and it shouldn't all be seen as just a criminal justice problem. And I found, you know, federal judges and prosecutors, once exposed to these alternatives, all became enthusiastic. While graduation rates vary from county to county, about half of participants fail to complete the program. Gailen, who is 24, was sent to drug court in Seattle after he was caught selling heroin to an undercover officer. Because of the severity of his case, the court determined that he needed 60 days of in-custody drug treatment. I know I'm one point away from going to 60 or , but ten years of my life isn't worth it. I mean, a lot of people are, you know, a lot of people fail, but everyone's not a failure, you know? But it really doesn't answer the question of the people who are so addicted, who are homeless and who are mentally ill, who can't keep court appointments, who we know are gonna fail drug court. I think a lot of this is about learning the realities of addiction, and we don't have a great understanding of that within the criminal justice system, but we're learning more and more and more about the human physiological reaction to drugs and to drug addiction and what it takes to get somebody to do less harm to themselves. If that person is committing a violation or a crime, we can arrest them and put them in jail right now. But the program, the philosophy behind the program, is treatment and assistance on demand, and no incarceration. I used to be a wine salesman, and I got into some issues myself with drugs and alcohol and being arrested, and I had an opportunity to turn my life around. I've looked at the police and not had a good relationship, and I've done drugs, and I get how that works. Let's make it safe for them to use drugs until they're ready to do something different. It doesn't mean that they're completely clean and sober, but they're doing better than they were. He came into the office the day after his arrest, and I sat in a room and did all of his paperwork. And I made a phone call and got him an assessment, and literally five days later, he went to treatment for 60 days, and then he stayed clean for almost nine months. Meth makes you obsess about stuff, so like, I'll be in the bathroom here picking at my face and I make it 15 times worse. On YouTube, there is still a trace of that young musician with an outsized ego and big aspirations. I had about seven years clean and sober at that time and had just finished college, and I was top producer in the town. Because as soon as I wake up, I think about what my kids might be wearing to school and what my daughter's hair smells like. I haven't even been able to talk to them, seen a picture of them, heard how they're doing or anything. Thomas is not doing so well, but he's still working on stuff and he's claiming to go to treatment. John Bousquet goes back to treatment tomorrow We all meet at the same table-- case managers, social workers, law enforcement, the prosecutor's office-- and I think it allows us to do our work better. I would prefer to see him get the treatment he needs Greatest thing about being a cop, greatest thing about being a parole officer, you can solve that problem right now. LEAD is about, 'We have to have a conversation about him,' and, 'We have to give him another chance,' and that's frustrating. Like, it's not about you as a person, she just doesn't like the police, and she's not gonna, like, warm up about it. But for her, I think it's the first real program she's ever been in since she got out of prison in , so Kristina was interested in what the program could do for her, including help erasing pending drug charges. They knew that she was involved in some, you know, 'illegal' activities in the last year. And she had had a pending case on an arrest from December, and instead of filing that case, they referred her for the program. The goal that we have for you is that your quality of life increases, that you just feel happier and healthier overall, whether you continue to use or not, and that you have less interaction with the police Our role is to take an individual and to meet them exactly where they are. To say, 'Well, you have to get clean in order for me to provide you services' is probably gonna mean that person doesn't get services. When you are or if you are ever ready for treatment, I'll bust ass to get you into somewhere that feels good. And then I'd go to school and I'd go to the bathroom, sit on the toilet, and do drugs until it was at night, and then go home. But I do really want to believe that I'm capable of doing a whole lot more than just what I'm doing right now. Most programs are kind of, like, you need to reach a certain point, and if you fail, you kind of get penalized and you get set back. With LEAD, it's kind of like on your own terms, and I could bleep up a thousand times and still have the opportunity to get help. I want to go to beauty school, and that's something that the LEAD program is probably going to help me with. The lady told me that, um, they'll help with housing and treatment and funding to go to beauty school and stuff. This scene on a Seattle street is a familiar one If you're using open-air, drug trafficking, or you're using drugs in public, you're going to get charged. Street sales of cocaine, crack And one day we just sat down-- Lisa and I and a police lieutenant from the Seattle Police Department. And she said, 'Well, we just want the police to have another option to take somebody to treatment. And that's when the Seattle Police lieutenant said, 'Well, that's what we want, too. And by putting down the law books and sitting down and looking at each other, we realized that we could work together and accomplish a lot that the courts could not fix this problem. We're going to try to move the intervention back a little bit on that timeline and try to see if we don't get better outcomes. It has shown us another way for people who are severely addicted, who could use some help that giving them that help actually makes the community safer, and it's more effective, and it's cheaper than just going in and arresting people. Instead, a bulk of these suspects will be allowed to enter a crime diversion program, where they'll receive drug treatment and opportunities for things like housing, rather than a felony conviction. In July , the team was invited to the capitol to talk about the lessons of their four-year experiment. We got a lot of people excited about it, and I could sense that the administration wants to use their last 18 months or so as a way to shine a spotlight on criminal justice reform issues. Some LEAD participants do engage in other low-level property crime, and occasionally in serious crime. It's just that they do that a lot less frequently than people who are not in LEAD who started out in the same situation. She wasn't taking advantage of LEAD's services and had missed most of her appointments with her case manager. The reason why I'm not going to treatment right now is because I don't wanna let myself down and everyone else down. I'm always so busy, and hectic, and sidetracked, and my mind's in a million different places. They had a thing on NPR today about some guy who's gone viral 'cause he went on his Facebook and was talking about his daughter that died at Like, almost 21, so it's like, how That means that the probability of someone becoming addicted to it is much higher than the probability of someone, for example, getting exposed to alcohol. Volkow believes that, over time, exposure to drugs like heroin disables the part of the brain that regulates impulse control. We are starting to get a sense of the major changes, but our understanding of the human brain is just at its very early stages. I just want to get back to my kids and to my music and back to being me, because I don't know who I am right now. Because even with those limitations, we do better than the alternative-- the incarceration and prosecution alternative. As one person put it, 'We've put a plane into the sky, but we don't have a runway. We have to divert folks who otherwise are going to jail and into the court system to a robust public health system. This hearing today will examine the scientific evidence treating drug addiction and All that training, all that knowledge about addiction did not prepare me for the most fundamental question of all. I've been to easily addiction treatment programs in the United States over my career, probably more. I saw why lots of things that sound so good in academic circles and are so theoretically compelling simply cannot work in a real world setting. You're left with the conclusion that either treatments don't work or addicts can't be treated. McLellan believes that heroin addiction should be treated like a chronic illness with long-term outpatient therapy and access to methadone or newer medications, like Suboxone. Methadone is tightly regulated, it's confined to specific authorized clinics, and given under a very rigid system, and you have to actually get to the physical location. There are people who need ongoing stimulation of, you know, certain receptors in their body to be healthy. Last spring, after one of his relapses, he found a primary care doctor who was able to prescribe Suboxone. So even if you wanna get high on heroin, you won't be able to because it has a blocker in it that stops that. When I walk into these rooms, I'll have someone next door who's a year-old, diabetes is out of control, blood pressure's through the roof. And I'll go in and have a discussion with them about, 'Boy, you know, I've got some concerns here. And I walk out of that room, and I think, 'I just don't know how it's going to go for that fella. I'm limited by the federal government on how many people that I can follow at any given time. I think the DEA wanting to keep a very close eye on prescribers to make sure that prescribers don't turn into pill mills where medicine's not being used appropriately. We've had doctors and pharmaceutical companies promoting OxyContin and doctors have been freely prescribing OxyContin without any limitation on how much they can prescribe. You can prescribe as much OxyContin as you want, but you're limited by the DEA on how much Suboxone you can prescribe. And that's not abnormal, people get really caught up in active addiction and the street life and time flies. But right now there are people that are chipping away at the corners of it, trying to do something, but there's no tool for us. It depends on how quickly we work, how intelligently we work, how quickly doctors improve prescribing patterns, and how quickly communities establish support systems for people with addiction or at risk of addiction, that decreases the risk that they will get addicted to and die from an addictive substance. We're gonna continue to pay the price for thinking of this as a lifestyle issue, a personality disorder. We're gonna pay that price for a very long time because it's standing in our way of medical progress, of public health progress. She had completed all the requirements while dealing with the terminal illness of her partner of ten years. In December, Kristina was hospitalized with a heart and lung infection-- a result of her intravenous drug use. When you're on heroin, you're just always sick, and if you're sick, you can't do anything. But right now my clear-headedness is overtaking the addict brain a little bit more because I've seemed to stay clean for this much time, right? Devon and I were talking about getting housing, like me saving up for my own place, like me getting into Oxford. And someday we'll look back at this as, you know, this thing we can talk about in retrospect. Skip to Main Content. Use System Theme. Dark Theme. Light Theme. Continue Watching. Watch Now. Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Passport Highlights. Appearance Adjust the colors to reduce glare and give your eyes a break. You have the maximum of videos in My List. You have the maximum of shows in My List. Buy Now: Buy on iTunes. Embed Video. Width: in pixels px Height: in pixels px. Copy Copied! Copy failed. Please try again. Report a Problem. Cancel Submit Report. It ought to be seen as a public health issue. Let's make it safe for them until they're ready to do something different. Many now turning to a cheaper way to chase that high. And the numbers keep rising. I don't have a cooker. Here, that's clear. Did I give you enough cleans? Thank you. And it just became so second-nature. It consumed me. And I just was kind of interested in it. And I asked her to hit me one time. Like, it literally has a brain. And it shares mine, you know? It just made me feel like I can make it through that moment. And then eventually, I needed it to get through every moment. She was gone by the time he was She lost her battle with heroin then. I know she loved us, and I know she really cared about us. And I would always wonder if she loved heroin more than she loved us. You know, you can pull through and be okay. Why don't you even just get a little bit high? That'll be fine. I've just been, like, fighting that, you know? I can't seem to get a hold of myself no matter how hard I try. When we turn the corner, it might be different. Are you taking a right, Felix? I want you to do me a favor. Do me a favor. Stop moving, stop moving. Okay, good, whew. Because when you're moving, I don't know what you're doing and I get When you stop moving, I got you. You're getting well. Not a big deal. All right, I'm not gonna jam you up. We gotta find out who you are, okay? She's shooting heroin. Stop crying, babe. We don't care. They are more likely to refer addicts they encounter to social services. You would arrest a person, they'd be in jail for 20 or 30 days. They would get sober. They would start using again, we'd continue to arrest them. And then they would use, and continue to arrest. How much do you use a day? Are you a meth user too? I'll give you something to eat. I'll let you call your parents. We'll sit down and we'll have a talk. Do you still need that cooker? It's filled with shame. Known history of heroin use. Admitted to using heroin today. He was found unconscious, they kinda roused him, they're gonna start an IV on him. And the thing is left to perpetrate and spread. It's a crisis 30 years in the making. That changed with the emergence of the hospice movement. And the drug that becomes the vehicle through which they do that is a drug called OxyContin. It's a powerful painkiller The molecule had been around since That's how they pitched it to the FDA. To them, OxyContin initially looked like a godsend. It looked like this wonder drug. There was absolutely no science to support this idea-- zero. There's no doubt about that. But there's also no doubt about it that they were commercially driven. Prescriptions for other opioids soared too, for drugs like Percocet and Vicodin. It's night and day. It's a stunning statistic. When her prescription ran out, she wanted more. I went to a doctor and I made up an ailment. I said, 'I have terrible migraine headaches. I think I'm allergic to it. We'll prescribe something different. I think he was fairly new in the field, early 30s. For a couple of years, it worked. He never once said, 'This is a problem. Like the poster child PTA mom that everybody looked up to and everybody wanted to be. I felt like I was a better mom, a better person, easier to be around. It made me feel like I was functioning on a higher level. But then one day, Cari ran out of pills. Nobody ever told me, 'Now that you're taking these pills, you can't just stop. You're going to get ill. It made me want to talk. It made me want to reach out. So I asked my ex-husband to help me. You're gonna have to wean her. I left there feeling rather ashamed and like I had done him wrong. But she couldn't. I even went to real estate open houses and then asked to use the bathroom to obtain pills. I have to pick up her script. We called the doctor. This is fraudulent. They came to the house. Well, put them on the computer downstairs. We're not gonna arrest you if you'll go and turn yourself in. And as a result of that, I went into in-patient treatment. As it turns out, that was a lie, and a deliberate one. Portenoy, publicly expressed regret. But it was outdated. There's a lag of two years. So it's like driving by looking in the rear view mirror, okay? The only thing that was getting worse was deaths from opiates. Everything else was getting better. Birth defects, neonatal abstinence syndrome. Hepatitis C and HIV. This is an unusual and horrific phenomenon. It's an emerging problem This is an epidemic. Look at all these people dying. This is like the early parts of AIDS. We need to really ramp up concern about this. This is killing lots of people. I mean, prescription opiates is heroin prep school. The inevitable thing is gonna be a reduction in the availability of those. Some happen, some don't. It was not the main thing for the Obama administration. They had a few other tiny little problems, like the Affordable Care Act. America's still reeling from the bank collapse and real estate collapse and all that. Little things. She eventually started a new relationship and began a new life. But then one day, she ran into an old friend from high school. She said, 'I'm supposed to be too. And it went from there. She would start abusing meth, but would return to opiods. I went in there to do it. I came out. Get me some more. It wasn't long before she began living in this house, now renovated, with 20 other addicts. Oh, man. The animals weren't taken outside to relieve themselves. We were living with animal feces. It was a very filthy environment. And before long, that was my home. It was never like a place I've ever been before. And I was seeing people pretty much overdosing in other rooms. It was, like, people's eyes were rolling in the back of their heads. Like, 'How's your day been? And this was the point where I was like, 'You're not even trying anymore. You're not even trying to pretend that this isn't happening anymore. It gets very weird. During that time, I lost it all, and it really didn't matter to me. As long as I could get high, it was okay. They call them stores. Kids like Marah Williams. Ballet lessons. A close-knit family. We lived in a beautiful bedroom community in Seattle. I had a great job. We were a very tight foursome, my husband and I and our two children. It was a great middle America life, very happy. Her father was a stay-at-home dad who doted on his girls. The neighborhood was safe. We never locked the door. Marah was a very happy child. By this time, she'd been diagnosed with ADHD. It was clear she had some eating disorder issues. We were just trying to find the right mix of therapy, meds. Marah's turn to do the star! I always kinda kept a close eye. I was looking under the bed. Are there bottles? I don't know, I was always looking. Careful, don't fall on the tree. I think I was making her bed or something and I found a locket, and I opened it. I thought, 'Oh, this is interesting. It was cocaine. The program they chose followed a model of strict abstinence. Marah spent 90 days in intensive rehab, three times longer than the average patient's stay. She looked good. She looked healthy. She seemed determined to live more responsibly. And for a long time, she did pretty well. But this is the thing about treatment: it's not a magic bullet. A few months after Marah got out, she started using OxyContin. Her mother found out after Marah was caught stealing pills. But that was only the beginning. One day, Marah's father got a call. And I was like, 'Oh my God. So when we talked to her about it, she didn't deny it. She goes, 'I'm in trouble. I need help. First off, I gotta thank you guys. I definitely wouldn't be here without you, and you guys gave me a fourth chance. And I'm really, really, incredibly grateful to you guys. And my beautiful family. Look at all of them hanging out. I love you guys. I'm sorry about all the crap I put you through. We're just really like-minded in that way, and just kind of goofballs together. We just had a good time. We were both sober and living that life. It was at the forefront of our relationship and what we did. A lot of it was based around that, being sober and being healthy and proactive. They were working their AA program together, going religiously, working the 12 steps. She'd say, 'I really like sobriety. I like the way I feel. I can't believe how clean and clear my brain is. She was doing a great job. Marah managed to stay off for a year and a half. There's no way that can be happening,' you know? I didn't believe it. And then I asked her, and she's like, 'Yeah, I did once,' you know what I mean? But I'm like, 'But you're not continuing to do that. You're gonna get help and we're gonna deal with this, right? Had to have happened really fast. You pick up again and take a hot shot and that's that, you know? It's too much, and you die. It happens all the time, you know? She was an amazing girl. I love her very much. As a big part of my soul and my heart. She's always there, you know? And a grenade, you know? College kids, white kids, high school kids. Kids in suburbs were dying of this, not the sort of stereotypical heroin user. A rising number are middle-class or wealthy. And so yeah, there's an element of truth, there's an element of truth to that. The kind of place where the epidemic took hold early on. The towns bathros were clogging up with used need. I mean, we just started to see it wash over this county. It used to be nobody knew somebody that was on heroin. Then all of a sudden, I knew 50 people that had an issue with heroin. An opiate is an opiate, you know? I was just smoking it at first. And by better, I mean worse. Five to ten minutes I'll be leaving here. He had already tried to quit and it hadn't worked. It's just not worked for me. So I knew I needed to do something because I certainly couldn't take care of myself. How am I supposed to take care of somebody else? It's certainly worked in my favor ever since. It has been a long time since I've even seen a syringe. They cannot prescribe it for addiction medicine. That's what methadone clinics can do. Alarmed by the growing epidemic, he approached the mayor about starting a clinic. He said it was anyone that had a normal life that had gone through an addiction to heroin. I think I didn't realize how much controversy would be generated. I didn't look at any other unintended consequences. So we moved forward in that capacity. One day, the owner of a gas station approached Robert Parker. We had a lot of drug-addicted people that were just kind of hanging out. There were taxis coming from all over the region at the taxpayers' expense. It was absolutely shocking. Good evening, Mayor Lent. Welcome to the Bremerton City Council meeting. Even the location, in Bremerton's red light district, was not acceptable to the community. But I also wanted to say that, you know, I'm a human, and I'm normal enough. I have a family. I do probably the same stuff they do. Anybody really feel the need Ever since I've been on methadone, I've come farther in life. I own my own home, I raise my son. I don't have any issues anymore as far as going backwards. Methadone treatment is what helped. His son was slipping into drug addiction. The first few times, we went running down to the jail, paid whatever the bail was. He quit communicating with us completely. I was extremely conflicted about the clinic. I had my son, and at that point, I knew that he may be one of the patients that needed it. The long campaign against the clinic had swayed Bremerton's Council. In , the council put a halt to the methadone clinic. Meanwhile, the epidemic continued to spread. The degree today that we have drug addiction is more than I ever anticipated. Like in many communities, we see the same people go in and out of jail. There is little that we seem to do as a society to eliminate that revolving door. And I see people who have died because of this. We lost the methadone clinic, which this community needs. What we didn't have, and we got the hard way, was the education along the line. And it's been a hard lesson for all of us. One in three people referred to drug treatment come in through the criminal justice system. Green is in custody. The idea caught on. And drug courts do a wonderful job. You don't just refer them to treatment, you require them to go to treatment. You gotta use that stick to get people in there and get them to stay there so they get well. Holmes is here to ask for another chance. If they fail the program, they're at the mercy of the court. They have given up their right to challenge the evidence. All that happens is the judge reads the police report and then sentences them to the crime. You can't say, 'Gee, I want to change my mind. To treat people as individuals. Creasia, and she's represented by Ms. She could either face trial or agree to the conditions of the court. For four months, she had been running drugs to support her habit. I would run drugs, and I eventually was selling it in large quantities. As I became a trusted part of this network, I graduated to that level. I built a reputation. She's really nice. She shows up on time. She puts smiley face stickers on her baggies. Facing certain conviction, Cari decided to opt in. And for some reason, something just clicked inside of me. And I told myself, 'Take this and run with it. Do it. They're gonna help you get clean. She was in withdrawal. The court suggested she start taking methadone. I think if I dose right at Like Trevor Mercer in Bremerton, she would have to commute a long distance to get her dose. I have to go every day in order not to use. That's pretty serious. And I never forget. Like, my sobriety's too important to me. I don't want to bleep that up and go through that first 14 months again. It is a disease. You have to get treatment. You don't just put it down. If it were that simple, there wouldn't be an addiction problem. And some people think that's odd. I don't. As the result of a drunk driving accident, I was offered a choice by a judge. With its toll on low-level offenders, especially minorities. They are strict, and they can be extraordinarily difficult to get through. But for those who succeed, there is the real prospect of a productive future. I wanted to try to highlight alternatives to this emphasis on incarceration. And I didn't feel comfortable doing it. That ought to be a goal that we set for ourselves as a nation. Is that clear? He was charged with four counts of delivery. And I guess the question is, who are we really looking for? However, I know he would like to address the court. Can I read it to you? Thank you, and sorry for wasting your time. He is one point away from looking at 60 to months if he picks up another point. So I think he needs to stay right where he is and finish his business. I can't. I cannot screw up. It's not worth it. I also know you have a disease. This is a brain addiction. I don't know what will happen if I release you right now. But he relapsed and soon found himself back behind bars. He had given up on drug court and was angry. Each time he's out, he goes right back to using. That right there, that's bucks' worth. This is some A-1 stuff right here. This'll make a lot of people O. All right, I need a cooker. Oh my God, good job. What is the solution that we offer people? What can we do differently from sending people to jail? This is what we call 'The Blade. Just open-air drug trafficking. You can clean it up, and you can go back 20 minutes later and it's filled. It's just quicksand. We spent a year following cops, counselors, and addicts, seeing how the program works. So instead of taking you to jail today for drug possession, we're going to help you out. You don't have a violent history, so you are a perfect candidate for the program. With LEAD, we stop them from what they're doing. We take the drugs away from them, we take the syringes or the crack pipe away from them. We are police officers. You can go into treatment. Are you interested in a methadone or Suboxone program? What do you think would help you? There are now over addicts in the program. She was just in the office. She's Christine's client. She went to treatment. I've been to jail. And I think that my personal experiences help me with this job. I can relate to the clients. If you see him, like, tell him Mikel would really love to see you. I thought you'd be done by your birthday. It's really that simple. And that means if somebody is shooting heroin every day when we meet them, that's okay. Not everybody is ready at that moment to change their life. They are willing to put you on a day contract. You are going to have a curfew. You are going to have to go to meetings every day for 30 days. Can you do that? That makes me a little concerned. She could change her mind, so I don't want you to lose your housing. That doesn't seem right. So not allowing them to use is absurd. What interrupts that cycle? Not for use. The goal is to reduce overdose, to reduce theft, nuisance, trespassing, reduce recidivism. So I know Chris is advocating for you, even if you haven't connected with him. Hey, Johnny. He said that he wanted to go to treatment or methadone. Those were his words. And I said, 'Well, which would you rather do? A day is a miracle. Eight months is a big deal. But the medication doesn't work for meth, which was his new drug of choice. I don't come out until I look like Frankenstein. My addiction sort of makes the decisions for me when I'm actively in it. I know that I don't wanna do any drugs right now. That's never my intent. I kind of hate myself a little bit for the situation I put myself in. It's when my ex-wife and I were still together. Did I really go from that to this? She'd always have this really good, fluffy smelling hair. And I think about what kind of shoes my son has on and if he's behaving at school. I haven't seen my kids since Christmas Eve I'm kinda scared. It's life or death for me, and it's real. I'm not saying that because I want somebody to feel sorry for me or something. It's because I'm scared that Even though he's a hardcore heroin addict, he mixes anything he can get. Boom, you're in handcuffs, you're in jail. It's nice and clean. LEAD's not clean. LEAD's gray. She's not gonna be warm and fuzzy. Like, her life experiences, she's not gonna play nice with anyone she doesn't trust. Her newest is year-old Kristina Block. They could tell that she had an active addiction. Okay, you know you have a pending charge right now. Which is a felony charge. Feel free today to just share as much as you feel comfortable with. You could mess up a thousand times and the door here would still be open. And so for us, we start with the relationship building. So where typically can we find you? Are you dealing? Are you borrowing from people? I sometimes do dates. Um, I steal, I boost. It's pretty crappy right now. Are you interested in treatment right now? It's a hard turn from her childhood in a middle-class neighborhood in Seattle. It was here that her addiction began while she was still a teenager. Breaking into cars, breaking into houses with these junkies, you know, at 17 on a school night. Sometimes I wonder, you know, 'Should I have had more conversations with her? He's, like, cried so many times. I've just totally shattered every dream and hope that he's had. I'm really excited about LEAD. I'm hopeful, I guess. Do I have it? I have it I don't have it. I don't plan on being like this forever. Like, I want things in life, you know? Thank God. And many of the citizens were just tired. Open your mouth! They're decriminalizing the use of heroin, and meth, and crack cocaine? And suddenly you're gonna say, 'No, no, no, that was all wrong. And an unprecedented experiment in American drug policy was born. Heroin, meth and cocaine, taken off the street. And dozens of suspects arrested. However, many may never see the inside of a prison. I think that we created a lot of momentum. Will you please arrest me and put me in your program? A new study will soon be released. Can I just get like two bags? Right now, I think I'm kind of, like, at a like standstill. Yeah, but I mean I already gave you guys like two bags. Like I Like my parents ask me why I don't put my all into getting clean. It's really not that I don't want to. It's really just that I'm not there yet. She was still doing heroin and relying on meth to keep her going. Because I've got a few people that need something. Like paycheck to paycheck, you know? Jail is the worst place on Earth. I wouldn't wish jail on my worst enemy. It's a completely negative experience. She's not out harming people. She's doing something that people have decided is illegal, and not a health issue. And so she winds up being a criminal, when she's not actually a criminal. The thing that the LEAD program does for her is it keeps her out of jail, basically. But if you're not tackling the root issue, then what are you really accomplishing? I can only kinda hope that she finds a resource within herself and pulls herself out of it. It's been going on for a long time. You can't live life thinking like that. You just can't. I've never OD'ed. And I would've thought that would be a wake-up call. And that didn't get her to change her behavior. All I can kinda do is love her as much as I can and help her as much as I can. No, you didn't. We shared our rinses together. I can't answer that right now. I know everybody thinks they're special, I know everybody thinks they're different. And maybe it's just a lie that I have to tell myself, just to make myself feel better. And I'm only And how many times more is it gonna be until I actually get it? What exactly is happening inside her brain? Nora Volkow says all addictions have a strong genetic component. The younger you are, the greater the likelihood that you will become addicted. The easiest metaphor is driving a car without brakes. You may very well want to stop. If you don't have brakes, you will not be able to do it. You know, you're not the only one. The brain is too complex. I mean, and the problem is that we have this magical thinking about treatment. You say you put someone into treatment for one month and they are going to be cured. And that's why I make this emphasis: we do not cure addiction, we treat it. And no matter how hard I try, it's not going away. I just wish that there was something available to help me. Again and again, Mikel has struggled to find a place that will take Johnny. It's very difficult to get somebody into detox. So Johnny goes to inpatient treatment on the 16th. So it's just this hoping he makes it to the 16th. That's where we are right now. And he's lucky he only has to wait 11 more days. Because there's a lot of people that don't even have that bed date. I'll talk to Cathy. Let's get you in treatment. I have to do whatever I do to get high, I have to do that to be sober. But more than anything, I don't wanna go another day living like this. Feeling good about it? Hang in there, okay? Was that a smile? It's really nice to see you smiling. Get something to eat, okay? Got about 30 minutes until we get there. I'm excited, I'm hungry. I just want to change. But so much went wrong in that timeframe. We're there in the interim. A lot of people don't make it during that wait. Hi, Shonta, this is Mikel. I'm trying to confirm that a client made it to class. It all starts with funding from the top down. And most communities don't have that yet. And very little information to guide families. You'd lost a son to a drug overdose. You had another son who was in recovery by that time from a drug addiction. And then my son became addicted. And I had no idea what to do. Where do you send your kid for treatment? I didn't know the answer and none of my expert friends knew the answer. And that changed my life. Within 90 days typically of discharge from treatment. But because those medications are addictive, they're highly restricted. There are just whole stretches in the country where clinics are not readily available. It's not And giving them the medication that does that is valid medical treatment. And that's the main reason why I got on it. I think you're stable on three a day. And this is what I see if we don't make some changes. And there's Johnny. And he wants to change. I got all the time in the world for that, because that takes real steel. And there's not anything he wouldn't do to get better. Just daily for two weeks and then two caps daily. But Dr. Capp can only prescribe it to patients per year. I can prescribe enough OxyContin to put half of this city to sleep. That's the current state of affairs. That's 90 days. That's 2, hours. I did all of that. One second. One minute. One hour at a time. Not much. But it's money. And that's my son Johnny and my daughter Leona. And this is right when I first started to use drugs. Kinda sucks, actually. It sucks a lot. I wonder if they love me or not. I've been carrying this around for three years. I bought this for my son's third birthday and I never got to see him for that. So I've been hoping that I could give this to him sometime. But he's six now, he's probably not going to think it's very cool. But I've been saving it for him, yeah. I just have a higher quality of life right now, even though I'm nowhere where I wanna be. I'm still at the bottom. I'm a couple steps below the bottom. And I'm just trying to be a normal person and reintegrate myself back into society. And it's hard because I'm adjusting. I want to get back to my kids. I'm hoping that we can meet up tonight. Can you give me a call as soon as you get this? Umm, yeah. I wanna come by and see you so, thank you. If I don't hear from someone for a while I usually go looking for 'em. So I'm looking for Kristina. I haven't seen her in person in about two weeks. I mean, the time schedule that they're on is really different. Kristina, it's Dev. Or you wonder, like, what they're up to. I've been on this rollercoaster of trying to stay well every day, you know. And that seriously consumes every waking, breathing, functioning moment of my life right now. I got two more tickets now because I haven't. And that's just really hard to do week after week, month after month, year after year. How often? This is the way you need to do it. Thank you so much. I don't think it's gonna be turned around in 15 months. It is also considering relaxing the rules on prescribing medications like Suboxone. They've tried punishments. They've tried to legislate. They've tried religion. They've tried lots of things. The best by far so far is treatment. This month, Cari was set to graduate from drug court. But just days before her graduation, her weekly drug test came up positive for opioids. Her graduation was postponed until June. As for Johnny, A few weeks ago, he got into trouble. He overdosed on synthetic marijuana and ended up in the hospital. He was kicked out of clean-and- sober housing, but he is still enrolled in LEAD. After several weeks in an intensive care unit, she decided it was finally time to quit. Methadone gives us the power to be able to, like, live. And 50 milligrams. I think what sealed the deal for good was the hospital stay. Yeah, for sure. I had two lung surgeries back-to-back, so I was like It was a really bad time. It's that addict brain and my actual brain, just tug-of-war. It feels really good to make my dad smile, make my dad happy. Yeah, it feels good. I'm like really hopeful, but I'm trying not to get my expectations up too high. I'm sorry. That's water under the bridge now. One day at a time. Go to PBS. I wish I never lived here. So am I. To order, visit shoppbs. Frontline is also available for download on iTunes. Interactive 'Who Am I, Then? More News and Public Affairs Shows.