Rob’s Story: Your Parent’s Medicine Cabinet and Dirty Doctors (Episode 1 Part 2)

Rob’s Story: Your Parent’s Medicine Cabinet and Dirty Doctors (Episode 1 Part 2)

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This episode of Facing Fentanyl follows Rob, who shares how a few pills from a friend’s parents’ medicine cabinet led to years of dependence on prescription opioids, heroin and fentanyl. Rob talks about being 12 or 13 when he first tried Percocet and hydrocodone, not from a doctor, but from leftover prescriptions at home. Friends would say, “No, dude, you feel really good.

Take two or three,” and the casual attitude made it feel harmless. He explains how quickly physical dependence set in, describing how going just 8–12 hours without opiates left him “literally” sick and willing to “do anything” to avoid withdrawal. The conversation moves into how fentanyl began to replace heroin on the streets, with Rob recalling dealers saying, “I don’t have any heroin right now, but I do have this fentanyl,” and how desperation overrode fear of its strength.

He stresses that people see addiction as something that happens to “someone homeless, someone not doing well,” but says, “You can’t put a face on opiate addiction,” pointing out that nurses, lawyers and people in suits can be quietly dependent. Rob also talks about harm reduction and treatment, describing methadone and Suboxone as lifesaving tools rather than shortcuts.

Without medication, he says, he’d leave detox and “do everything in my power to get high again.” With them, he explains how people can work, stop stealing, and “start to create a pattern of being a normal, functioning human being.” This episode suits anyone curious about how prescription pills can spiral into fentanyl use, or anyone supporting a loved one in opiate recovery.

It offers an unfiltered look at addiction, stigma and the very real role of medical support in staying alive. How might Rob’s honesty shift the way you see opiate use and treatment?