The Cost of Living – Clean –

January 16, 2020 – Megan King had long used drugs casually. But when her brother died of a drug overdose in 2010, her use of opioid painkillers, heroin, and benzodiazepines “just kind of spiraled out of control,” she said. 

King, who is now 34 and lives in Oceanside, California, managed to keep her job in the video game industry through her addiction, but she felt like she was on the brink of collapsing under the weight of her drug use. At the peak, she could blow through $300 worth of opioid painkillers, heroin, or benzos in a day or two — leaving her finances, she said, in “a wreck.” 

But after six years of accelerated drug use, King managed to find a treatment that worked for her: methadone. She went to a methadone clinic, daily at first, to obtain a medication that helped stave off opioid cravings and withdrawal. She’s remained off opioid painkillers and heroin since 2016.

@Vox