Dec 7, 2016 4 min read

Opioid addiction drove Shawna O’Neal to a “hopeless, desperate place.”

“If I had to steal for (drugs), I would,” said the 27-year-old. “The only thing you care about at that point is yourself. When you’re sick, it’s like the world is ending. You feel like you’re going to die.”

O’Neal, a student at Community College of Allegheny County’s Washington County Center, discussed her addition with fellow students during a panel discussion Monday at the Washington Crown Center campus.

She’s been clean for four years and believes sharing her story can help those affected by addiction.

O’Neal’s English instructor, Christy Kuehn, organized the discussion after the death of her cousin from an overdose in September.

“I felt guilty and like there had to be something I could do,” Kuehn said. “This is what I can do.”

Drew Hilk, a criminal justice instructor at the college and South Strabane police sergeant, and Kira Lopresto, an outreach specialist at Greenbriar Treatment Center, discussed the legal repercussions and treatment options related to addiction.

Hilk discussed the most recent developments in dealing with the opioid epidemic from a police standpoint.

The number of thefts related to drug addiction is “staggering,” he said, and while departments are being criticized for making arrests instead of getting perpetrators into recovery, officers have to consider the victims of crimes. And if addicts aren’t arrested for their crimes, he said, there is no way to push them toward recovery.

“If they’re in the system, they have the full weight of the justice system to deal with their addiction,” he said.

Lopresto said a vast majority of the time, an external factor, such as an arrest, pushes addicts to get help.

“Nobody gets clean because they wake up one morning and feel like it,” she said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, there are external motivators.”

So the belief that an addict won’t get clean until they are ready is untrue, she said.

In her seven years with Greenbriar, Lopresto has seen the majority of clients change from men over 35 years old with alcohol addiction to 18-to-24-year-olds with opioid addiction. The reason for the epidemic, she said, is a combination of initial pharmaceutical claims that drugs like oxycontin weren’t addictive, and pain being added as a vital sign in medical assessments. As a result, doctors began prescribing the medications liberally.

“If you take (opiates) four days in a row, your body becomes addicted,” Lopresto said. So when someone takes an opiate for a few months and tries to stop, “You get sick. You can’t get up and go to work or class because you need to get the next one.”

Unfortunately, she said, the step from prescription drugs to heroin is a logical one for addicts because it’s much cheaper and much more potent.

But addiction is not hopeless.

“(Addiction) is still highly, highly stigmatized. There’s a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ mentality, so people don’t hear the success stories,” said Lopresto. “But there are success stories.”

As for the belief that addiction is a choice, it is and it isn’t, said O’Neal.

“My head makes me believe it’s not (a choice),” O’Neal said. “My head makes me think I have to do this.”

“It’s not a choice. If I don’t do the necessary work on a regular basis, the brain disease can lead me to believe things that aren’t true.”

Kuehn plans to hold another discussion in April, because she believes discussions with addicts and professionals can help eliminate the stigma.

“It’s a subject that affects so many of us, especially in this area,” said Kuehn. “I’m so glad to be in a position to be able to work with people and have this conversation.”