Mike Emery, the re-entry outreach law enforce- ment coordinator for the U.S.Attorney’s Office of Central Illinois, said Dewey’s story is so impactful that it needs to be heard. It took “a lot of courage” for Dewey to get up in front of a room full of people and tell his story, Emery said.“Andrew was fantastic on both counts as a speaker and making his point. I know for a fact that his talk made an impact. “I worked for law enforcement for 33 years. I needed to hear what Andrew had to say.When I was active in law ... that’s all I did was enforce the law, make the arrest and not see the end result of people having the addiction.”
Dewey’s goal:“I knew from day one when I walked out in 2012 (having completed treatment) that this was what I was going to do. I had a goal in mind at that time — that if I can just save one person, all of it’s worth it. I think in the bigger picture, that’s what sometimes we do looking out at the problem, is forget these are people.We want to stigmatize, demonize, but this is a person.”
Heroin is different. It’s affecting blue-collar middle class families. it’s the housewife next door to you.
There is a relationship between opioid prescription drugs and illegal substances, Dewey said.
“I think that heroin is a substance of choice because it is an opioid. (Addicts) can’t break that cycle of addiction without treatment,” Emery said. “Andrew is a perfect example of having the strength to break that addiction. It’s a horrible struggle.”
Opioid addiction is both a physical and psychologi- cal addiction, according to Dewey.
“It’s the sensors in the brain that are calling for the addiction of the opioids,” he said.“It’s breaking down that mental barrier.You do that by backing off a little bit at a time.” A full-time grad student who is raising a son, Dewey works at NPR radio in a graduate assistant program that helps pay his college bills. He also works two days a week as an intern at Gateway Addiction Treatment Center.
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