Fentanyl addiction survivor shares story
Justin Smith of West Virginia talks to 'The Story' about his road to recovery as border-smuggled drugs reach Mountaineer State.
St. Louis resident Justin Smith had been using narcotics since age 14, but has now been clean for over a year after most recently being addicted to fentanyl, he told Fox News in a Wednesday interview.
Smith told "The Story" he also has a young son who is currently in the custody of the Department of Family Services due to his prior addiction.
As Fox News reported, the open-border drug crisis has essentially turned states like West Virginia into a border state, as a cache of the new "rainbow" fentanyl variety was recently seized by a task force in Monongalia County, south of Washington, Pa.
Smith told Fox News he couldn't recall his exact first usage of illicit drugs, but added that fentanyl and other dangerous substances are being injected into "everything, these days."
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Rainbow fentanyl (DEA)
"It was just so very easily accessible to get it. I could just go to gas stations and get it very easily, and it started coming to a point in my life that I was just [at] my lowest point and I just started using it on a daily basis," he said.
Smith said he utilized a recovery center in West Virginia's capital of Charleston, and also praised an organization featured on Fox News from just down the Kanawha River in Montgomery that is focusing on keeping at-risk youth from becoming the next addicted generation.
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A West Virginia welcome sign greets travelers leaving the East River Mountain tunnel on Interstate 77 near Princeton, W.Va. (Fox News/Charles Creitz)
"That story actually really hit home with me," he said. "[My] recovery program changed my life. The message I would give to your kids is to really just let them know that there's other ways to cope with the struggles that we have rather than turning to drugs and alcohol."
Recounting his own addiction, Smith said at one point the drug pushers at the local service station would go so far as to stuff free drugs in his pocket, which he attributed to the idea that once someone is addicted the dealer in question will have a customer for life after the initial ‘free’ investment.
"I told [the dealer] I didn't want [the drugs]," he recalled. "The guy went back out to his car and got a bag filled with about 10 pills and he just stuck it in my pocket."
Regarding regaining custody of his son, Smith said he has been working very hard to prove to authorities he is able to be a responsible, sober parent:
"I take parenting classes, completed my program. I still am actively in recovery now and I'm just really fighting to have my family back," he said.
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