Pills/Opioids Episodes

Taylor Cavanaugh grew up in San Diego with drugs and alcohol in the house from early on. His father had substance problems and financial instability, and Taylor was eventually kicked out of high school for dealing ecstasy and somas. At 18, after getting mixed up in a stolen property situation, he checked into what turned out to be a lockdown psych ward in El Cajon — sharing a floor with old women with dementia and a Marine detoxing off heroin. He moved to Boston, where arrests and DUIs kept st...

Jessica's childhood fractured early. Her alcoholic father went to prison for a DWI, and by the time she was six, her parents had divorced. Her mother remarried, folding the family into a blended household with an adopted stepsister who had split personality disorder. That stepsister would go on to accuse both her own father and Jessica's stepfather of molestation, and eventually began self-harming in front of the family. When the situation became untenable, they cut the stepsister off and fled ...

Craig “Bubba” Norton was first exposed to addiction when his mother died from alcoholism in 1982. His father later entered treatment, and during a family program Craig realized at age 20 that he was also an alcoholic. After moving from North Carolina to Texas, his drinking escalated, leading to three DWIs and jail in 1987, where he decided to seek help. He found early stability through work and AA but later stopped going to meetings, believing he was cured. Although he stayed abstinent for a ti...

Nikki grew up in a small town with a mother who struggled with alcoholism and periods of abuse but was also loving and devoted. As a teen, she began using substances like weed, pills, and whippets. At 19, she sought help from a doctor but felt dismissed, and at 21, she entered her first treatment program. Three months later, she met Curtis at an AA/NA club. Both had histories of alcohol addiction and drug use, along with legal issues. They married in 2015 and ran several businesses together, in...

Richard Galvan began stealing, getting arrested and drinking vodka alone in sixth grade. He snorted and sold his Ritalin, stole his mother’s pills and drank cough syrup. By his early teens, he was selling pills, using meth, and became well known to the police. Born in 1982 in the San Fernando Valley, by 10th grade, he started using heroin and spending time downtown near Skid Row. He was kicked out by both parents, lived with relatives, friends, and on the street, and entered juvenile hall at 16...

Born and raised in East Texas, Randy Grimes grew up in church with an older brother and sister and played football and baseball. He attended Baylor University, where he had a strong football career and met his future wife on his first day. They married after his junior year. In 1983, he was drafted in the second round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and moved to Tampa with his wife in a U-Haul. He soon began taking large amounts of opiates from a team drug safe to manage injuries. By 1990, he exper...

Jenifer grew up in a home marked by physical and verbal abuse, which shaped how she viewed trust and relationships. She got pregnant at 18 and had her son, Hunter, at 19, raising him mostly on her own. At 28, she married, but the relationship was unstable and ended in divorce due to her husband’s alcoholism. Jenifer built a 20-year career as a dialysis nurse but battled major depressive disorder. She developed an alcohol addiction and turned to alcohol to cope, which led to a drunk driving acc...

Seeing him on this podcast for the first time in 13 years, Matt admits to his old friend Austin York that he robbed him during the chaos of their using days in Southern California. Like Matt, Austin got into trouble very young, fighting in school and using drugs at a young age. His parents sent him away several times to try to get him back on track. He bounced around multiple high schools but never graduated, spending most of his teen years in juvenile rehabs like Phoenix House in San Diego and...

Chris grew up in Odessa, Texas, in a home where alcohol and drugs were part of everyday life. At 15, he altered his birth certificate to work in the oil fields. By 19, he was drilling, and by 25, he was running crews—building a successful career. Drug addiction resulted in four incarcerations, and by his last conviction he faced a potential life sentence. In prison, he began seeking faith and direction but his addiction destroyed his family. When an 86-year-old lawyer offers to take Chris’s ca...

Growing up in Spring, Texas, Jordan was a standout student and star athlete. Raised in a supportive, yet strict household, he excelled in sports and academics, graduated near the top of his class, and was inducted into his high school’s Hall of Fame for football. While attending Cornell University on a football scholarship, sports injuries shifted his focus from athletics to cocaine, ketamine, and marijuana. After graduation, he moved to Miami for law school and a master’s in sports administrat...

At the age of 17, Robert entered treatment for the first time for heroin addiction, painkillers, and Dilaudid. Over the next few years, he cycled through nearly 60 detoxes and programs across the country, spending several years in and out of institutions. At 19, he moved to California for a fresh start—attending trauma therapy, enrolling in college, and playing football at Santa Monica College—until a fractured femur ended his athletic goals and he literally ended up homeless and living on Skid...

Candice grew up surrounded by addiction and loss. Both parents drank heavily, and by 11, she had lost her mom. Her dad died soon after, and by 19, most of her family was gone, including her sister, who was killed in a murder-suicide. She became a single mother at 16, and by 21, she had three kids. After her third child, heroin addiction and painkillers took over her life. She lost custody—her daughters went to live with an aunt, and her son entered the court system—while she lived with dealers ...

Raised in a solid, loving family, Danny was a standout athlete with a full ride to UCLA for golf. His future was golden, but the lure of partying and a fast lifestyle spiraled into meth and heroin addiction, multiple jail stints, and years of chaos. Danny’s last relapse was the breaking point. Detoxing himself at his mother’s house after a dangerous encounter involving fentanyl, he surrendered and asked God for help. Facing his mounting court cases, he was sentenced to 90 days in treatment at ...

Scott’s last relapse ended with him withdrawing in jail, where for the first time since age 13 he made it past five days sober. Facing probation, restitution, treatment and childhood trauma, he found purpose through service work, community support, and helping others just starting their recovery. Ironically, a broken leg led him to a role supporting newcomers—work he excelled at and that launched a career dedicated to helping others heal. Today, Scott’s life is proof of what’s possible. He wen...