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Transcript/ScriptKILLER FENTANYL: RECOVERY (Part 5 of 5)
HEADLINE: Fentanyl Addiction Treatments Offer New Chances
TEASER: Public health adviser says fentanyl enters and leaves people’s systems more quickly than other drugs and has harsher withdrawal symptoms
PUBLISHED AT: 05/07/2023 at 5:42 pm
BYLINE: Natasha Mozgovaya
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Auburn, Washington
VIDEOGRAPHER: Natasha Mozgovaya
VIDEO EDITOR:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Mia Bush, Reifenrath
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 2:46
VID APPROVED BY: Jepsen
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES: This is the last of a five-part series on fentanyl to rest in HFR ahead of combined release.))
((INTRO))
[[The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says America’s leading cause of overdose deaths is synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, which can be up to 50 times stronger than heroin. U.S. law enforcement says illicit fentanyl is cheaply made from chemicals mostly coming from China, trafficked through Mexico, and then smuggled into the United States, says U.S. law enforcement. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya looks at fentanyl in a series from the state of Washington that concludes by showing how breaking free from addiction can be a lifelong journey.]]
((NARRATOR))
Mia Pridemore was 15 when she started abusing prescription drugs.
((Mia Pridemore, Recovering Addict))
“My parents were drug addicts, and my whole family was drug addicts, and it was accepted. It was so — it was just it was almost expected, and it was like it was just the way of life.”
((NARRATOR))
Pridemore says she was a functioning methamphetamine addict until she started smoking fentanyl.
((Mia Pridemore, Recovering Addict))
“It takes you over. It's like you don't care about anything else but your next fix. You know, I had a nice car, and I had, you know, we had a home, and it's like I lost all those things because all I cared about was my next fix.”
((NARRATOR))
Public health adviser Brad Finegood says fentanyl goes in and out of people’s systems more quickly than other drugs and has harsher withdrawal symptoms.
((Brad Finegood, Seattle & King County Public Health)
“After a while, people aren't using because they want to get high. People are using because the withdrawal symptoms are so severe — to keep themselves from getting sick. And so, because that half-life is so short, they have to use more and more often just to not get sick."
((NARRATOR))
The sickness of fentanyl withdrawal kept Thomas Carpino from seeking treatment.
((Thomas Carpino, Recovering Addict))
“Your body aches, your muscles, every bone in your body aches. Your muscles are cramping up, you are throwing up … It's just — it's beyond explaining, it’s the worst feeling in the world."
((NARRATOR))
Seeking treatment away from their addictive environment, Carpino and Pridemore traveled 230 kilometers from Yakima to Auburn, Washington, where the HealthPoint medical team has helped more than 800 people with addictions over the past five years.
Dr. Nathan Kittle says switching to rehabilitation treatment from fentanyl is more difficult than switching from other drugs.
((Dr. Nathan Kittle, HealthPoint))
“With other opioids prior to fentanyl, that switch could happen pretty easily within a day. There's a little bit of suffering and a little bit of discomfort from the person making the switch. But I think it's only gotten harder because of some of the unique properties of fentanyl that kind of linger in people's bodies.”
((NARRATOR))
Kittle says that for some addicts, recovery will be a lifetime of continued medication, akin to insulin for diabetics. Others addicts, he says, make different choices.
((Dr. Nathan Kittle, HealthPoint))
“There are people who can make lifestyle changes, can change their habits, can change the people that are around, can change the environment they're around, and maybe the medicine's good for a year or two. And then they can kind of come off of it, because the rest of their life has improved so much.”
((TEXT ON GRAPHICS: “Opioid addiction relapse rate is between 40% and 60%” [In small type at bottom] Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse))
((NARRATOR))
The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that the relapse rate for opioid addiction is between 40 and 60 percent. Pridemore and Carpino say that it is a relief to be off fentanyl and they are looking forward to getting jobs and staying clean.
((Natasha Mozgovaya, VOA News, Auburn, Washington))
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