MUSICAL EXPRESSION –

May 7, 2021 – Lerner enrolled in the Frost School of Music  at the University of Miami to study hip-hop. But college brought its own pressure, and Lerner began to self-medicate, turning to alcohol and marijuana. After a wisdom tooth extraction, he developed an addiction to oxycodone, and then to cocaine and heroin.

At the same time, Joshua Sherman, a physician based in Vermont, was working with addicts and speaking out about the opioid addiction problem. In October 2018, Sherman, who also owned Old Mill Road, a Vermont-based media company, was building a recording studio in Arlington. A month later, he was invited to speak at a panel hosted by Fed Up Vermont, an organization raising awareness about opioid addiction in Vermont.

“One elderly person stood up and said, ‘I’m 80 something years old, I’ve got three damaged grandkids that I’m now raising. I don’t have the health for it, and I don’t have the money for it, and what am I supposed to do?’” said Sherman.

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