The Other End of the Needle
How a Group of Rebels Are Taking on America’s Addiction Epidemic
America’s ongoing overdose crisis has thoroughly gripped the attention of politicians, thought leaders, and big media, yet overdoses continue to skyrocket in the face of bipartisan support, sympathetic awareness campaigns, and tireless advocacy. Drug hysteria and panic has clouded our response to this public health catastrophe. “The Other End of the Needle,” brought to you by a former heroin user turned journalist, is a series of stories that will challenge the narrative of America’s addiction epidemic.
In 1983, three months before Justin Kunzelman was born, his dad, an alcoholic, died. Kunzelman grew up in Clewiston, Florida, a small village on the southwest edge of Lake Okeechobee. Row after row of sugar beets encircle the lake. After every harvest, the sucrose-rich roots are driven by the truckload to a sugar refinery in Clewiston, earning its motto, “America’s Sweetest Town.” But Kunzelman’s childhood was more bittersweet.
He has memories of his mom, lethargic from a medley of pills she often took, falling asleep at the refrigerator door. One time, she fell asleep while smoking a cigarette, and her chair ignited.
A lack of structure at home caused a seven-year-old Kunzelman to act out in school. He was…
