Ep126. From Heroin to Healing - A Musical Prodigy's Journey Out of Addiction - Benjamin LernerEp126. From Heroin to Healing - A Musical Prodigy's Journey Out of Addiction - Benjamin Lerner
The Truth About Addiction
Ron Isherwood talks with musician and recovery advocate Benjamin Lerner about his journey from IV fentanyl and heroin addiction to faith, family and piano-rap storytelling. Their conversation focuses on using pain as fuel for change, respecting many paths to recovery and living one day at a time.
46:49•28 Jun 2026
From Piano Prodigy to IV Fentanyl: Benjamin Lerner on Pain, Purpose and Recovery
Episode Overview
- The same fear, pain and cravings that drive substance use can be redirected into recovery efforts.
- Your recovery path doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s; different approaches and faiths can still lead to freedom.
- Time stacks up one day at a time, whether you have 10 days or 10 years, so focus on today’s actions.
- Authenticity matters more than clout; if your life feels emptier when the phone is off, it’s time for deeper work.
- Service to others and staying humble help keep long-term sobriety grounded and meaningful.
“The same pain pushing you towards the bag, the needle, the spoon, the pipe can push you towards recovery.”
Curious about how others manage the pull between talent, trauma and addiction? This conversation between host Ron Isherwood and guest Benjamin Lerner hits that tension head-on with raw honesty and surprising humour. Benjamin, great-grandson of legendary composer Irving Berlin, talks about going from a classical piano prodigy playing full concerts at 14 to an IV fentanyl, heroin and crack user whose day revolved around bundles and abscesses.
He admits, "Validation was my first drug of choice," and explains how alcohol and drugs quickly became both his solution and his identity – the bottle and the bag doing the talking when he felt he couldn’t. He walks through the slow collapse: stealing over $100,000 from his mum, crashing cars, failed rehabs, and finally that terrifying moment when three bags of fentanyl-laced dope didn’t touch him emotionally anymore.
That, he says, was worse than overdoses and gunpoint threats, because "my chemical solution wasn't a spiritual solution anymore." From there, the focus shifts to what actually helped: asking for help with a needle still in his arm, staying in treatment when he wanted to run, and learning to turn cravings and anxiety into fuel rather than a reason to give up.
His piano-rap “clean jam” style grew out of recovery, merging the scared kid at the piano with the street addict he once tried to glamorise: "The piano rap came out of my healing." Ron weaves in his own story – decades clean, cancer, gangsters, gangs in New Zealand, and a deep shift from fear to faith. Both men have strong Christian beliefs, yet repeatedly stress that any honest path to recovery and any faith (or none) is welcome.
This chat is especially useful if you’re early in recovery, feeling stuck with cravings, or wondering whether your pain could ever become purpose. What might change if you treated your discomfort as energy to build a different life, just for today?
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