The surprising path from student athlete to heroin addict, When Robert King was a top academy wrestler, he bankrupt his bottom and doctors assigned him Percocet to advice affluence the pain. But he became absorbed to the affliction medication, and aural a few years he confused on to a cheaper alternative: heroin.
"Once I started demography pills I never absolutely stopped," King told CBS News.
The now 24-year-old is now a convalescent aficionado and disturbing to get aback on track.
King's adventure is not an aberrant one. As the heroin catching continues to acerbity throughout the country, top academy athletes are falling victim to addiction in alarming numbers.
A 2013 abstraction appear in the American Journal of Public Health begin that boyish athletes are 50 percent added acceptable to corruption painkillers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn't tracked addiction a part of athletes but says the adolescent developed age accumulation has been hit hard. A part of 18- to 25-year-olds, heroin use has added than angled in the endure decade.
Jack Riley, Deputy Administrator at the Biologic Enforcement Administration (DEA), emphasized that addiction cuts beyond every demographic group.
"Heroin never discriminates, and athletes are no different," he said. "This alarming biologic has become a able weapon of accumulation abolition for biologic addicts, some of whom are athletes who aboriginal became absorbed to painkillers while rehabilitating from sports injury."
Jason Ruggeri is addition above apprentice amateur convalescent from heroin addiction. He started demography painkillers afterwards abasing his knee during academy football practice. Ruggeri said his doctor did not acquaint him how able the drugs can be.
That medication led him to heroin, which led to an adventitious overdose.
"It aswell larboard me absolutely abandoned and on the street," Ruggeri said.
Both he and King accept begin analysis at St. Christopher's Inn in Garrison, New York, which runs one of the a lot of acknowledged adjust programs in the state.
Director David Gerber said about a division of the shelter's association are athletes.
"These medications affectation the affliction but do annihilation to amusement the injury," he said. "So it generally worsens the injury, authoritative the charge for added medications, and they become addicted."
King's brother was aswell an addict. Two weeks ago, he died of a heroin overdose.
"He was aggravating to advice me," King said. "And he did. He got me to get into accretion in the aboriginal place."
He said his brother's afterlife is now his afflatus to break clean.
"Once I started demography pills I never absolutely stopped," King told CBS News.
The now 24-year-old is now a convalescent aficionado and disturbing to get aback on track.
King's adventure is not an aberrant one. As the heroin catching continues to acerbity throughout the country, top academy athletes are falling victim to addiction in alarming numbers.
A 2013 abstraction appear in the American Journal of Public Health begin that boyish athletes are 50 percent added acceptable to corruption painkillers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn't tracked addiction a part of athletes but says the adolescent developed age accumulation has been hit hard. A part of 18- to 25-year-olds, heroin use has added than angled in the endure decade.
Jack Riley, Deputy Administrator at the Biologic Enforcement Administration (DEA), emphasized that addiction cuts beyond every demographic group.
"Heroin never discriminates, and athletes are no different," he said. "This alarming biologic has become a able weapon of accumulation abolition for biologic addicts, some of whom are athletes who aboriginal became absorbed to painkillers while rehabilitating from sports injury."
Jason Ruggeri is addition above apprentice amateur convalescent from heroin addiction. He started demography painkillers afterwards abasing his knee during academy football practice. Ruggeri said his doctor did not acquaint him how able the drugs can be.
That medication led him to heroin, which led to an adventitious overdose.
"It aswell larboard me absolutely abandoned and on the street," Ruggeri said.
Both he and King accept begin analysis at St. Christopher's Inn in Garrison, New York, which runs one of the a lot of acknowledged adjust programs in the state.
Director David Gerber said about a division of the shelter's association are athletes.
"These medications affectation the affliction but do annihilation to amusement the injury," he said. "So it generally worsens the injury, authoritative the charge for added medications, and they become addicted."
King's brother was aswell an addict. Two weeks ago, he died of a heroin overdose.
"He was aggravating to advice me," King said. "And he did. He got me to get into accretion in the aboriginal place."
He said his brother's afterlife is now his afflatus to break clean.
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