The Opioid Chapters: Chapter 2 - Jackie

Jackie was addicted to Percocets for many years. She is now no longer on them. In the future, she hopes to help others in a similar situation.

A neighbour got prescribed Percocets. One day she crushed a bunch, lined them up and asked if I wanted to try them. I’d had experience with cocaine before so I said, “Sure, why not?” That was about seven years ago. I didn’t think too much about it. I thought it would just be a one-time thing. But it became this really bad cycle.

In this small town, there’s not much to do, and a lot of people do that stuff. I had almost 10 people I would buy Percocets from. They would get prescribed about 100 a month. The day they got their pills, I would buy them. I was snorting 30 a day. They cost about five to six bucks a pill, so it was expensive.

It got to where I wasn’t even getting high anymore—I was just taking the pills so I wouldn’t be sick. I maxed out our credit cards and cleaned out our bank account. I’ve paid for people’s trips to Cuba from buying pills off them. The Percocets were the one thing I thought I had control over, but they got way out of control.

Read Jackie's story on The Opioid Chapters

The Opioid Chapters is a collaborative project by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN) and Healthy Debate: Faces of Health Care. This project was created to release a special edition series of interviews and multimedia content with individuals across Ontario who have lived experience with opioids, as well as other perspectives from physicians, community workers and family members.