{"id":2717,"date":"2011-02-08T03:56:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T08:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=2717"},"modified":"2011-02-17T00:34:51","modified_gmt":"2011-02-17T05:34:51","slug":"recovering-drug-addict-scared-of-what-heroin-did-to-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2011\/02\/08\/recovering-drug-addict-scared-of-what-heroin-did-to-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Addict: Heroin hardest to get off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This is the final part of a two-part series on heroin. Today’s article is an interview with a longtime drug addict who talks about what being addicted to heroin is like.<\/em><\/p>\n

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Recovering heroin addict Joey Moore in a local restaurant. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it comes to drugs, Van Wert resident Joey Moore has seen it all \u2013 and done it all. A crack addict for 16 years, although now clean for two years, the 30-year-old Moore has also taken a variety of prescription drugs, including Oxycontin, and was also on meth for awhile.<\/p>\n

But nothing compares to heroin, he says, when it comes to its addictiveness and the withdrawal symptoms you have to overcome to get off the drug.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also one of the reasons the drug is gaining a big foothold in the Van Wert community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first did heroin, it was like \u2018now I know why people shoot up heroin\u2019,\u201d Moore said of the first time he injected the drug into his system. \u201cIt\u2019s the highest you ever get.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem, he added, is that first high is the best you\u2019ll ever have on heroin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent the next week chasing that first high, but never got there again,\u201d Moore said, adding that he progressed from there to just trying to keep from feeling sick from withdrawal symptoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the worst sickness you\u2019ll ever have,\u201d the longtime drug addict said. \u201cHeroin ain\u2019t no joke, man, it\u2019s bad.”<\/p>\n

That\u2019s coming from a guy who lived on the streets as a crack addict and ate out of dumpsters.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel like your bones are breaking, like when you\u2019re getting the flu, but 10 times worse,\u201d Moore said of heroin\u2019s withdrawal symptoms. \u201cYour muscles hurt, your back hurts, you feel awful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moore credits Van Wert Police detectives Jeff Blackmore and Mike Freeman for turning his life around.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose two really saved my life,\u201d he said, adding that, because of the two officers, he feels he has a real life again. \u201cWhen I was on heroin, I had zero dollars; now I have a truck, money in the bank and I got my kid back.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t easy, though, for a guy who has spent more than six years in prison and jail because of his drug addictions: either for possession, drug trafficking or charges related to stealing money to buy drugs, such as receiving stolen property.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou become a slave to heroin,\u201d Moore added. \u201cYou don\u2019t use<\/em> heroin, you become<\/em> heroin. It gets so bad, you\u2019ll sell the meat in your freezer to a dealer to get the drug.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moore said he knows people who have sold their kids\u2019 diapers and forced their wives to prostitute themselves all to get enough heroin for the next fix.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou spend your life chasing this drug,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

As a recovering addict \u2013 he\u2019s been off the drug for six months now by using methadone instead \u2013 Moore knows all the tricks addicts use to get heroin and then use and\/or sell the drug.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s selling heroin,\u201d he said. \u201cThey go to Dayton and buy a gram for $100 and come back here and make $450 on that gram.\u201d<\/p>\n

After buying the drug in Dayton, dealers go to the local Walmart and buy vitamin capsules, take out the vitamins, and put either powder or tar heroin into the capsules for sale to users. Addicts shooting up the drug also take the Walmart route to get syringes, buying diabetic syringes from the store pharmacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just have to sign your name to get them,\u201d Moore said, adding that some addicts also go to pain clinics or local doctors complaining of back pain and other painful ailments to get prescriptions for pain medication, which they then sell to buy heroin.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoctors and clinics need to tighten up their act and stop giving painkillers to everybody,\u201d the recovering addict noted.<\/p>\n

The heroin problem has become so bad in Van Wert, Moore said, that it\u2019s now harder to find other drugs here. \u201cThe people who were selling weed ain\u2019t selling weed any more, they\u2019re selling heroin; the people who were selling dope are selling heroin,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Trying to get off heroin is harder than any other drug, Moore said, because it makes you think you can\u2019t beat it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeroin gives you this interpretation that it\u2019s impossible to get past it,\u201d he explained, adding, \u201cIt\u00a0is<\/em> possible to get past it and it\u2019s well worth it; you get your natural happiness back \u2026 you get your life back.\u201d<\/p>\n

After six months off the drug, Moore can now hold down a job \u2013 something he couldn\u2019t do when he was on heroin and other drugs. \u201cWhen you\u2019re dope sick, you\u2019re not going to make it to work,\u201d Moore explained.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also paying his rent \u2013 a first in a long time \u2013 and working on his other bills.<\/p>\n

Moore is a big believer in methadone. While the drug gets a bad rap sometimes, Moore said he feels it\u2019s a good tool to beat heroin if a person gives it an honest try and doesn’t just use it as a substitute for a heroin high. Suboxone treatment is also highly touted as a way to get off heroin, but is extremely expensive.<\/p>\n

The problem with methadone, though, is the nearest clinic is in Fort Wayne, Ind., which causes a problem for addicts who don\u2019t have reliable transportation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need a methadone clinic here in Van Wert,\u201d Moore said, adding that he hopes some local agency will look at providing one here. \u201cI think a lot of people would try methadone if we had a clinic here.\u201d<\/p>\n

And compared to what it costs to maintain a heroin habit, Moore said methadone is a no-brainer. “If you can find $300 a day for heroin, you can find $13 for methadone,” he added.<\/p>\n

Moore also said he thinks local police need more money and a task force to combat the heroin problem.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, drug laws are fairly lenient, he added, noting that many of those arrested for heroin possession or trafficking either request treatment in lieu of conviction \u2013 which they usually violate \u2013 or are placed on community control. Some are eventually given prison time, when all else fails, but that often is just a few months.<\/p>\n

But even if it takes going to prison, Moore said those using heroin need to get off the drug, while they still can.<\/p>\n

He also readily admits, though, that even prison sometimes isn\u2019t enough to get some people away from the drug. \u201cI know guys who work out while in prison to get their veins strong so they can shoot up again when they get out,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

Moore said he isn\u2019t one of those. He\u2019s scared of the drug. \u201cI don\u2019t want anything to do with it,\u201d he said of heroin, adding that he now avoids old friends he used to get high with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve finally got a real life again, and I don\u2019t want to lose it,\u201d Moore said with conviction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This is the final part of a two-part series on heroin. Today’s article is an interview with a longtime drug addict who talks about what being addicted to heroin is like. DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor When it comes to drugs, Van Wert resident Joey Moore has seen it all \u2013 and done it all. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 10:46:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2717\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}