Woman Urges Others To Accept Help

ACCEPTANCE IS THE KEY –

Nov. 17, 2021 – “I was kind of strong-armed into treatment because I didn’t want to do it on my own,” said Merritt. “The phone is real heavy when I would try to ask for help in the right way. But when I had to call the dope man, it was super light.”

Now at 42, she’s been sober for four months.

“I went to a sober living house and that really helped me,” she said. “It was little accomplishments that helped me stay sober, and getting into a routine, And what works for me also is a 12-step program. Changing, of course, people places and things.”

But, those 100,000 people who overdosed in the last year, won’t get the chance to say the same thing.

“I get nauseous. It breaks my heart. You know, it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Leah Hancock, executive director with Inspiration Health Addiction Treatment Center.

Medical Director Dr. Eric Jones told 13News Now people don’t choose to wake up and become addicts.

“It’s kind of scary because the numbers are going up. What we’d like to see is this kind of level-off and the numbers go down, and in order to do that, it’s education and getting people help.”