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Surviving Heroin Addiction: Inside the mind of a heroin addict

3,523 views · Published 6 September 2016 · 4:05 · Indexed 21 September 2026

Channel: LOCAL 12 · 2016 · News & Politics

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CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Heroin took another life Friday, August 26.

Nine other people were brought back from the brink of death by first responders. The man who died was at Talbert House, a social services agency that helps people overcome substance abuse problems. Heroin was found near his body. He's the fourth person to die since Tuesday, August 23, and the total number of people who've overdosed was more than 90.

On the streets of Hamilton county there was an all-out war against heroin. It's a battle that law enforcement and community leaders can only take so far. To win the fight, the users have to find a way to get clean. One woman who knew that fight first hand was Diana. She struggled with addiction as a teenager and sobered up for a while. But as a 32-year-old, she was looking for an escape from reality.

"I figured what's one little line of heroin? Right? So I got some a small amount and it was over. It was the most destructive drug. It was the one drug I couldn't stop doing no matter how many people I was hurting," said Diana.

Over twelve years, she racked up 14 felony convictions, lost 2 homes and 2 marriages. Still, the urge to keep using was unbearable.

"We don't run out and decide we want to do heroin. We decide that the 1st time, but then we don't have the choice. Coming down off heroin is like having the flu times 20," she shared.

Heroin was physically and psychologically addictive. It's intense effect on the brain's reward system wipes out the natural serotine and dopamine.

Michelle Pritchard runs an education class at the Center for Addictive Treatment in Cincinnati. She said the addicts were not in a moral crisis but have a chronic brain disease.

Pritchard said, “Their brain only wants the heroin, because it hijacks the system. That's the only way they get pleasure and a sense of reward."

Diana knows that first hand. To feel it she was stealing from loved ones, snorting $400 to $500 a day worth of heroin and facing a long jail sentence for all crimes.

"I had 15 years on the shelf. But I'd rather be in prison than dead. My daughter didn't deserve to bury me and this man deserved better. So I wrote a confession letter and told him to turn me into Green Township and that's exactly what he did."

45 days in jail, lead to a 6 month stay at a court ordered treatment center. That was just the first step. Diana said she stayed sober for 5 years by following the 12 step program every day. A life free of heroin has given her a sense of self back.

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