Overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids have increased more than any other category of opioids. The largest increase was in the number of deaths involving fentanyl and drugs similar to fentanyl, which led to a tenfold increase in synthetic opioid overdose deaths between 2013 and 2016. Said Dewey:“I don’t think most people wake up at any point and say,‘You know what? I can’t wait to be a heroin addict.We’re having kids in high school and middle school” with addiction issues.
Heroin is the drug of choice is because it’s so cheap and readily available.
And Dewey said many times it starts with “some kind of pills.”
One reason heroin is the drug of choice is because it’s so cheap and readily available.
“It’s everywhere,”he said.“I live in a little town the size of Rantoul (Chatham). I’m well aware of at least six places at least a mile from here that have it. It’s becoming the level of problem that no town, no village is becoming immune from.” Dewey said he began treatment March 5, 2012. His step toward a new life continued when he enrolled in Lincoln Land College, Springfield. He was later asked to be the commencement speaker.
“They wanted me to tell my story from addiction to that date,” Dewey said.
It is a story of hope.
From there he enrolled in classes at the University of Illinois at Springfield, where he earned a bache- lor’s degree in psychology and is now working toward a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling. Dewey said in April, the U.S.Attorney’s Office in Springfield was working to assemble community residents to work toward combating the opioid crisis.They approached one of Dewey’s professors, who pointed them to Dewey.
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