On Pills and Needles Read online

  © 2018 by Rick Van Warner

  Published by Baker Books

  a division of Baker Publishing Group

  PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

  www.bakerbooks.com

  Ebook edition created 2018

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

  ISBN 978-1-4934-1279-2

  Some names and details have been changed to protect the privacy of the individuals involved.

  This is a compelling story about the opioid epidemic in our country that continues to claim so many young lives with no end in sight. You need to know how easy it is for teens to get OxyContin and other pharmaceutical opioids and how the spread of these pills has led to a pandemic of epic proportions. We need public outrage to end this problem. Most importantly, we need to do our best to make sure that no other parent ever gets the call we got—that our beautiful eighteen-year-old daughter, Victoria, had died from a drug overdose. If only we had known what we know today, this tragedy might have been prevented.

  David Siegel, president and CEO of Westgate Resorts, founder of Victoria’s Voice Foundation, and father of Victoria “Rikki” Siegel

  Rick Van Warner is a wonderful storyteller. His book reads like fiction and captures the angst in families where addiction and its collateral damage impact loved ones. In this compelling and honestly disarming family memoir revolving around his son’s addiction to synthetic opioids, Rick exposes the excesses and deceptions created by Big Pharma and shows a different path to treatment and recovery than conventional wisdom allows. His contribution to the field is significant, controversial, and a real page-turner.

  Mark S. Freeman, PhD, psychotherapist and counselor

  This is a brutally honest account of a father’s plea to a desperate son in his descent into a hell of drug addiction. This searing narrative of abiding love amid tales of pain, anger, and despair is an inspiration for all who have known the heartbreak of children stumbling down destructive paths.

  Walter J. LaCentra, professor emeritus of philosophy and author of The Authentic Self

  When OxyContin and its relatives were first introduced to my oncology practice in the late 1990s, everyone was excited by the claims of reduced-addiction risk, long duration of action, and morphine-like potency. It was only years later that we realized the information provided by the pharmaceutical reps was misleading and that this drug was highly addictive. On Pills and Needles shows how one family (and by extension, society) was affected by Big Pharma greed and ignorance. This is an excellent read, and I highly recommend it to everyone, not just those affected by the ongoing opioid epidemic.

  David K. Smith, MD, medical oncologist

  I’ve known Rick and his family for more than twenty-five years. I saw firsthand the ongoing, gut-wrenching trials and tribulations they went through to save their son. On Pills and Needles tells the disturbing story of how prescription opioids were marketed as nonaddictive and allowed to flood the nation for more than a decade before lawmakers began recognizing a major problem. Through sharing his family’s fight to save their son, Rick paints a sad portrait of a national epidemic that continues to kill thousands each year. This book is a story about a national darkness, personal courage, and a family’s perseverance and refusal to give up on their son in the face of heartbreaking challenges.

  Richard Walsh, CEO, The Knob Hill Companies

  How Rick and his family survived their son’s heartbreaking and gut-wrenching addiction to opioids is a story that is nothing short of horrific, yet ultimately inspirational. It is one man’s blind determination as a father to save his son. This is the story today’s politicians should be reading.

  David Katz, CEO, Elvis Duran Group

  Rick Van Warner is a loving father and a gifted writer. I have known him throughout his journey with his son’s addiction, and he has done everything possible to help. I am excited that he has now written a book to share his moving story and considerable learnings. It has the potential to save many people from going through the agony Rick’s family has endured.

  Kim Lopdrup, CEO, Red Lobster Seafood Co.

  Anyone wanting perspective on the toll opioid addiction takes on the entire family and the epic struggle to overcome the devastation it causes will find Rick’s book compelling. Rick writes in an open, honest, and often vulnerable way in detailing the emotional turmoil for himself, his family, and his addicted son. He discusses, in his frank way, the numerous treatment centers and therapeutic approaches that seemed to offer hope but too often turned into sources of despair. Helplessness and powerlessness were a given. Yet somehow Rick’s, his family’s, and his son’s heroic struggles bore fruit. As a psychologist, I use the term heroic because that’s what they were and still are.

  David Carter, psychologist

  Every branch in my family tree has addiction hanging like kudzu from it. And this plague is not only present today but goes back as far as I can decipher from the letters and records of my ancestors’ lives. So I opened Rick’s book with some concern that I would once again be battered by memories past and situations current. Instead, I found a fellow traveler, a friend who, instead of offering solutions, lent me another perspective. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever had a connection to addiction. Rick’s net point, that “love and presence conquer all,” may be as old as the sacred writings but is brought up-to-date in suburban Orlando.

  Tim McCarthy, founder of The Business of Good Foundation and author of Empty Abundance

  Has there ever been a more timely publication of what will surely be a lifesaving book? Rick Van Warner not only takes us through the dangerous back streets of opioid addiction in America but also through the inner chambers of a loving parent’s heart. I found myself holding my breath until the very last page, and when I finished I felt like I’d forever be a better person, parent, and friend. I learned a lot about opioid addiction but much more about love.

  Bill Shore, CEO and founder of Share Our Strength

  This book has opened my eyes to a world that I knew existed but had no understanding of. As a parent, I am frightened by the influences my child faces and the strength he needs to avoid being lured into the world of drugs and dependency. As a professional, I am now wondering who is silently suffering from dependency in my organization. We definitely plan on using Rick as our guide to navigate through these issues, help those in our care and employ who are struggling, and keep them from succumbing to the influence of opiate painkillers and drugs.

  Jim Crystal, founder of The Revelry Group

  This riveting tale tells about the struggle and emotional toll addiction takes on not just its victims but also their families and friends. In one of the most vivid, in-depth ways ever told, Rick Van Warner provides an absolute must-read for anyone who has dealt or is currently dealing with the realm of addiction.

  Brandon Steiner, CEO and founder of Steiner Sports Marketing

  This story is so powerful that, as the father of three girls, I found it challenging to read. This issue is in front of us every day, and to know that this actually happened to one of my close friends and associates is staggering. Working in the nonprofit community, I feel it’s so important for people like Rick to share their stories so that families can better support each other and help identify serious issues before they become deadly. Kudos to Rick for sharing, for reaching deep within himself to bring this story to life to he
lp others.

  Scott Pansky, cofounder of Allison+Partners

  On Pills and Needles is a must-read for every loving parent, with important insight into how kids become addicts and how families might fight and love their way to survival. This is a story as harrowing as it is ultimately hopeful. As our nation grapples with opiate addiction, this brave father shares his family’s story with brutal honesty—one family’s road map out of hell. It is fast-paced, beautifully written, and incredibly moving.

  Roxanne Donovan

  The story Rick tells is immensely personal, but it also touches every family in America. The scourge of prescription drug abuse and the tragic consequences it too often sadly leads to for both teenagers and adults need to be addressed with courage and commitment. As hard as it may be to start, we all need to read this powerful message and join the fight to save our families and friends. Thanks for your strength, Rick.

  Christopher Muller, PhD, friend and business colleague

  In writing On Pills and Needles, Rick Van Warner has provided us with a compelling and unique perspective of the opioid epidemic in the United States. Over a decade of his and his family’s life has been focused on his dear son’s addiction, dealing with self-doubt, strains on marriage, balancing the needs of other children, financial considerations, and much more. Moreover, as a medical professional, I cannot help but be impressed with the depth of research and truth this volume has provided for myself, my colleagues, and the lay public. It is no less a journey of unconditional fatherly love and discipline, a roller-coaster ride accompanied by unfathomable pain and resentment shifting to forgiveness, acceptance, and encouragement as key scaffolds in the bridge to a sustained recovery.

  Kerry M. Schwartz, MD, FACC, FACP, clinical and interventional cardiologist, Orlando, Florida

  On Pills and Needles is a brilliantly written account of one family’s life-and-death battle with opioid addiction. Rick Van Warner maintains the fast-paced intensity of a Grisham novel as he unravels this personal journey through the swirling path of his son’s addiction. We’re not just along for the ride; we’re riding shotgun as we discover the pandemic reach of this addiction—the loss of more than ninety American lives every day and the impact on countless others. We’re both informed and inspired as we see the heartbreak that opioid addiction has brought on his entire family. Rick’s battle becomes a bigger war, as he discovers the stranglehold that greedy Big Pharma and their lobbyists maintain, thus blocking any meaningful legislation that could end this atrocity. I highly recommend that you and everyone you know read this book. Share it with your family, friends, and neighbors. You might change a life, or at least educate a community, and help solve one of the biggest problems out there.

  Richard G. Rosen, chief architect of convergence marketing, speaker, and author of Convergence Marketing: Combining Brand and Direct for Unprecedented Profits

  To my son Tommy,

  whose courage, resilience, wit, and huge heart continue to inspire me.

  Contents

  Cover 1

  Title Page 3

  Copyright Page 4

  Endorsements 5

  Dedication 9

  Acknowledgments 13

  Introduction 15

  1. The Vanishing 21

  2. Despair aboard the Oxy Express 37

  3. Hunches and Heartaches 47

  4. Coping with Chaos 61

  5. Fighting Inside and Out 74

  6. Out of Sight, Out of Mind 84

  7. The Transporter 91

  8. Boomerang of Agony 99

  9. Cheating Death 105

  10. Rise of the Opioid Kids 108

  11. The Abduction 116

  12. Pill Mills, Police, and Pain 122

  13. Planning the Funeral 132

  14. Fleas, Fiends, and Fractures 138

  15. Groundhog Day (The Movie) 149

  16. Beyond Twelve Steps: The Business of Recovery 160

  17. Back to the Brink 171

  18. Breakthrough 178

  19. Dangerous Demons Return 190

  20. Death and Discovery 206

  21. Collect Memories, Not Stuff 222

  22. The Path to Acceptance 227

  23. Battleground Musings 240

  24. Twenty-Four and So Much More 249

  25. The Flow 257

  Notes 265

  About the Author 269

  Back Ads 271

  Back Cover 273

  Acknowledgments

  With tremendous gratitude, love, and thanks to my beautiful wife, Mary, whose pioneer spirit, love for her family, and unwavering support and belief in me made this book possible. The love of my life has been our family’s rock—through all the good times and the bad—and has been an incredible mother, partner, and friend. Your caring nature and determination have always sustained me.

  A special thanks to our three incredible young men and awesome daughter, who each day bring light into our lives and the lives of others. I love each of you more than you will ever know.

  Heartfelt thanks to my brother, Ron, who selflessly took our son under his wing on several occasions and provided endless hours of support and encouragement along the way. Thanks also to my mother, Isabel, who offered love and encouragement to her grandson during the periods he lived under her and his uncle’s roof.

  Special thanks to my mother-in-law, Donatella, who took our son in several times during periods when he had nowhere else to go and who was a constant source of love and support for her grandson, even though his parents often disagreed with her decisions.

  Thanks to my friends Bobby C. and Mike and all of my other brothers in life, men who were always there to offer encouragement and perspective. The friendships and bonds we continue to share are truly remarkable and have positively transformed my life. Thanks also to the many other friends who stepped up over the years to lend their love and support to Mary and me during challenging times.

  Thank you to my therapist and friend, Dr. David C., whose wise counsel and insights have enhanced my life and whose sense of humor has shown me that not all shrinks are full of it!

  Sincere thanks to my dear friends Ed and Edye, Brian and Rachel, Jan, and Bobby C., who generously afforded me the opportunity to find solace and draw inspiration from gorgeous mountain, ocean, and lakeside views while writing from their various abodes.

  Thanks to my agent, Leila, for taking a chance and opening my eyes to a path I hadn’t initially recognized, and to my friends Dave A., Ernie, and Anya, who helped guide me toward her doorstep. And thank you to my dear, longtime friends Dave K., Roxanne, Mary Ellen, and Suzanne and to my new friend Susan K., whose encouragement and insights helped me to overcome nagging insecurities and to complete this book.

  Finally, thanks to God for opening my eyes and ignoring my stubbornness while patiently reminding me of the purpose he has always had for my life.

  Introduction

  We found him curled up in a fetal position on the concrete floor of an abandoned, multistory military barracks, alone except for the broken glass, empty medicine bottles, and lurid graffiti covering the walls. A disillusioned, broken teenager, he was barely breathing, the hood of his black sweatshirt hiding the pain and confusion lying deep behind inflated black pupils that nearly blotted out his hazel eyes. Through the drug-induced haze of his fourth escape from reality in as many days, he lay motionless, staring straight ahead, not even recognizing the sound of his older brother’s voice.

  How could this possibly have happened, I wondered in relief, sadness, and terror. How had the most gentle and caring of our three sons, the laid-back boy with the easy smile and open heart, been reduced to an emotionless runaway, the self-inflicted lighter burns on his body a testament to an indifference to pain, living, or dying? How could this sixteen-year-old, who less than a week earlier had left home on a typical Friday morning for school, now be flirting with death by overdose?

  Much has been written and many parental hands wrung over the perils of growing up in a digital world
in which incessant Snapchats and selfies seem to have replaced interpersonal connections or conversations, even when both parties are in the same room. What has been lost when teenagers no longer have the patience or courage to drop their social media personas long enough to share face-to-face conversations about their insecurities and challenges with others going through the same thing? Meanwhile, constant digital access has created a false expectation within many businesses of 24/7 availability, further reducing time for focused interpersonal interactions within families.

  This current state of human impatience and dysfunction has made our world tougher than ever before, especially for teens and young adults searching for their identity and niche. But the plague of addiction claiming a growing number of our kids stretches far beyond the pervasive influence of digital media, disconnected parents, and typical teen angst.

  Since the dawn of the new millennium, an unprecedented prescription pain pill and heroin epidemic has been claiming American lives—including a disproportionate number of teens and young adults—at an alarming rate. Spawned by big pharmaceutical corporation greed and deception, this growing epidemic kills over ninety Americans per day, the CDC reports, eclipsing auto accidents as the nation’s leading cause of accidental death. With the possible exception of methamphetamine, no substance can create dependency and ensnare a user in its deadly grip more quickly than oxycodone—the primary ingredient in OxyContin and copycat drugs—and its older cousin heroin. Even those experimenting just a few times, perhaps idolizing such media-celebrated heroin heroes as Kurt Cobain, can quickly and unexpectedly find themselves stuck in the powerful web of addiction. Sadly, death or jail is often the only way heroin or synthetic heroin’s grip can be broken for many addicts. Those who can afford rehabilitation programs or seek recovery through state-funded centers typically do so repeatedly, only to relapse again and again.

  How this deadly public health crisis grew to today’s epic proportions is maddening, particularly for those of us grappling with the agonizing journey of trying to keep a loved one alive. Similar to the nation’s financial crisis from 2007 to 2009, lax oversight by government regulators beholden to powerful corporate lobby interests allowed the addictive pain pill problem to grow unchecked for more than a decade. For years Big Pharma lobbyists threw millions of dollars at politicians and regulators to look the other way, and it wasn’t until staggering numbers of teens and twenty-somethings began overdosing and dying that officials finally took action, inadvertently worsening the problem by pushing it from pharmacies into the alleys. Street dealers were more than happy to serve this new generation of opiate dependents, providing inexpensive heroin and copycat oxycodone pills, both often cut with deadly chemicals. This shift from Mom’s medicine cabinet to the street has mostly just poured gas onto a spreading wildfire that shows no signs of abating.