It was a cold night in Watertown’s Thompson Park. The sun had already set and the park closed by the time Betsy Rogers and her mom arrived. They were there for what felt like a bittersweet celebration: Betsy’s 30th birthday.
She knelt on the ground shivering, trying to light a paper lantern. It had a red number 29 painted on its side. Darlene, Betsy’s mom, stood trying to shield them from the wind. For Betsy, the ritual was about more than turning 30 — she was also celebrating six months clean.
The wind was too strong, though, and lantern refused to light, but Betsy sent it floating anyway. “Good riddance!,” she yelled, saying goodbye to a decade of birthdays she had been too high to remember.
“I became addicted so young. I never realized who I was,” said Betsy. “In your twenties you’re becoming an adult, learning who you are. [Instead] I was addicted to heroin.”
Betsy’s not alone. Two and a half million Americans are addicted to opioids, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Communities across the country are grappling with how to prevent addiction and save lives.
Here in New York state, there aren’t enough rehab centers to meet the demand for addiction treatment. Space is limited.
A Familiar Tale
Betsy’s addiction story reads like so many we’ve heard before. She grew up in Alexandria Bay and calls it a “party town.” She started experimenting with drugs when she was in high school. At 15, she remembers having “access to pretty much anything.”
Betsy stayed close to home during college when she started using painkillers. Then, she switched to heroin. It was cheaper and easy to find. But still, Betsy held down a job, went to classes and helped her mom around the house on weekends.
Darlene, Betsy’s mom, says though they’d always been close she didn’t see what was happening. But, she did “miss the money.” Betsy started asking for help to pay rent, utilities and for textbooks.
Betsy was eventually fired from her job for stealing money for drugs. That’s when she came clean to her mom. Darlene was in shock.
“I couldn't understand why she couldn't just stop," Darlene said.
Betsy couldn’t get into a local treatment program, so she detoxed at her mom’s house. But detoxing alone wasn't enough to cure her addiction. Soon she was stealing again. First, it was her brother’s headphones and mom’s jewelry. Eventually, she took Darlene’s debit card.
Darlene had had enough. She told Betsy to leave, to go find help on her own. Darlene remembers that day clearly.
“I was standing in the kitchen crying while Betsy went through the house taking anything that was valuable.”
Betsy found a ride to Syracuse where she reached a new low in her addiction. She was shooting as many as 50 bags a day. She stopped eating, kept stealing and slept on the streets.
“I was in my 20s sleeping under the bridge on Hiawatha Boulevard. I had a backpack and that was it,” she remembers.
Seven Days Isn’t Enough
After going in and out of jail and surviving two overdoses, she checked herself into a Syracuse rehab center. But, without insurance, she could only stay for seven days. Her counselor was concerned. They told her, “If you leave today you’re going to end up using.”
Monika Taylor, head of addiction treatment at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, says she often has to say goodbye to patients after only a week of treatment.
“How can anyone truly benefit from treatment in 7 days?” she asks.
She notes that for individuals who have been using opiates, the first three or four days of treatment are spent solely managing withdrawal.
Betsy needed more time. So, she agreed to a shot of Vivitrol. It’s a drug that blocks the euphoric feeling brought on by opiates. “It was amazing that I didn’t think about heroin,” remembers Betsy.
After the shot, Betsy had just 30 days to find counseling or treatment that would help her stay clean. She headed back to Watertown, where she found a place to live and signed up with an outpatient program.
Monika Taylor, the addiction treatment specialist, says that when it comes to addiction medications like Vivitrol or Suboxone, no drug is a cure-all.
“One of the things that we’ve found is [Vivitrol] works really well for some highly motivated people,” said Taylor.
Betsy got lucky. She found treatment that worked.
Staying Clean
Betsy and Darlene are now members of a church focusing on addiction recovery. Every Thursday night they go to a church service and support group for recovering heroin addicts. And, Betsy’s 30th just happens to fall on a Thursday. Darlene showed up with a cake.
Recovering is Betsy’s job now. Though, Darlene, she still worries about whether or not Betsy will relapse. But, it seems that she’s more afraid of that than Betsy. “Are you okay? Are you okay?” Betsy chimes in, giving her mom a hard time. “You always ask me that. Yes, I am okay.”
The mood was happy and light, but the hard times aren’t that far in the past. Looking her daughter in the eyes, Darlene reminds her, “I remember, Bets, back when you were using, trying to get really close to check your eyes and see if they were dilated. It sucked.”
Betsy says things are better now than they’ve ever been, but everything is still a work in process. Both Betsy and Darlene are focusing on the healthy roles they can play in each other’s lives. They’re both starting over.
