baby applesauce - Zaxbys - Sauces by Sophia

One addict's story of prescription drug dangers

22.05.12

Jennifer Smith first took oxycodone pills 20 years ago when she was 18 years old. She said she did it because she hated her life.

"I started out drinking (alcohol), and the older I got, the heavier that became," she said. "I ended up having a baby at 17 and was, of course, 'Woe is my life.' My sister had some oxycodone and offered them to me. I took two of them and they actually made me very ill. As time progressed, my life, I felt, got worse. I was in an abusive marriage. To medicate myself was the only way to go. The next big step was when I had my tonsils out and they gave me liquid codeine. That was it; I was hooked because I liked the way it made me feel."

Smith said she initially got high with her husband by taking prescription narcotics like Percocet and Dilaudid. She often got the drugs by going "doctor shopping" at physicians' offices and medical facilities around the region.

"You would say to the doctor, my thing was if I say I don't want the narcotics, it will be even easier for him to think I'm not addicted. So he'd say, 'I can give you some oxycodone for that.' And I'd be like, 'No, I don't think so. Do you think I need it?' He's like, 'Well, it's up to you.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, I guess I'll try it.' So I would kind of (work the system) very well."

Source: North Country Public Radio