Shows
Drugs Did ThisPaul Sanders (In Recovery/Works in Recovery)Send us a textPaul Sanders carried his years-old addictions with him to college, where they blossomed. He got the boot from school but when granted a second chance, he earned a degree. Unfortunately, his substance use continued through it all. Eventually, drugs robbed him of his wife, family, and a six-figure career. He has lived under a bridge, in a homeless shelter, and in prison, when he spent 18 1/2 years for crimes committed to support his drug use. He found sobriety via a 12-step program.
2025-11-131h 06Drugs Did ThisJohn Kelly (In Recovery/Works in Recovery)Send us a textJohn Kelly will mark 13 years in recovery in December 2025. At the age of 16, in an effort to fit in with his peers, he smoked marijuana for the first time. A year later, he was in prison. Until he was 53, using drugs to escape reality seemed like the solution to his problems. Then, he checked into rehab. Now, he credits his higher power, his sponsor in a 12-step program, and his focus on giving back to others suffering from the disease of addiction bringing him a better life than he ever could have imagined.
2025-11-041h 22Drugs Did ThisRachel Price (Works in Recovery)Send us a textBoth of Rachel Price's parents and her first husband battled addiction. When Rachel's first child was 6 months old, her mother died after an overdose. She learned to be strong and stand on her own two feet out of necessity, and for a long time did not understand how trauma had impacted her life. Eventually, she decided she wanted to be a cop, in large part to help people whose alcohol and other drug addictions brought them into contact with law enforcement. Someone at Randolph Community College in Asheboro suggested she take a look...
2025-10-281h 11Drugs Did ThisBlake Easley/Part 2 (In Recovery/Works in Recovery)Send us a textA California native, Blake Easley smoked marijuana in high school, then drank cough syrup to achieve a buzz (almost every day) until his mother found a stash of empty cough syrup boxes hidden in their house. She marched him over to the 99-cent store where he was buying the over-the-counter cold medication and made certain they would never sell her son cough syrup again. He moved on to other drugs and eventually into an active addiction so severe that it led to him living on the streets for many years. Today, he works...
2024-11-0850 minDrugs Did ThisBlake Easley/Part 1 (In Recovery/Works in Recovery)Send us a textA California native, Blake Easley smoked marijuana in high school, then drank cough syrup to achieve a buzz (almost every day) until his mother found a stash of empty cough syrup boxes hidden in their house. She marched him over to the 99-cent store where he was buying the over-the-counter cold medication and made certain they would never sell her son cough syrup again. He moved on to other drugs and eventually into an active addiction so severe that it led to him living on the streets for many years. Today, he works...
2024-11-031h 04Drugs Did ThisAmber Poe (In Recovery/Works in Recovery)Send us a textAmber Poe was in her late 20s until she experienced her first-ever buzz from drinking alcohol. The unexpected intoxication was linked to how her body metabolized alcohol following weight-loss surgery. She liked the way alcohol made her feel, but over time her alcohol consumption increased to an unmanageable level that led to consequences she did not like. She lost jobs. She lost her driver license and faced the prospect of jail time.
2024-10-2537 minDrugs Did ThisTreston Dickerson (Recovery Story)Send us a textGrowing up in West Virginia, Treston Dickerson struggled with his self-image. The first time he smoked marijuana, at 12 or 13, he felt better. Through his abbreviated years in high school, Dickerson thought he and his buddies who used drugs were cool. School and drugs were not compatible. He dropped out. His mother took him to his first 12-step meeting to help him reclaim his young life. Today, he says the program and its principles saved his life. He is 18.
2024-10-1738 minDrugs Did ThisErik Kuykendall (Recovery Story)Send us a textErik Kuykendall has always had the ability to look on the bright side, even when his life was grim due to poor choices on his part -- and there have been plenty of those times. For 20 years, Kuykendall ingested and injected a laundry list of substances -- alcohol and other drugs -- in an effort to numb his feelings. These days, he does not have to try as hard to find sunshine: That's because he has been drug-free since December 2021. It's a different world.
2024-10-101h 08Drugs Did ThisCapt. Bradley Cooper and Sgt. Jason Burgess (Randolph County EMS)Send us a textCapt. Bradley Cooper and Sgt. Jason Burgess know one aspect of how drugs impact Randolph County: They are employed with Randolph County Emergency Medical Services, and county EMS personnel responded to 784 overdose calls across the county in 2022. Cooper and Burgess talk about how dramatically overdose calls have increased since 2008 and what happens after someone calls 911 to report an overdose.
2023-02-0142 minDrugs Did ThisBob Shackleford (Family)Send us a textDr. Bob Shackleford says he did not understand anything about the disease of addiction when his son went to treatment for the first time. He still did not understand much when his son left that 28-day program. Years later, he is still learning. In this conversation, he talks about some of the myths about addiction and how a loved one's substance use affects the family.
2023-01-1950 minDrugs Did ThisScott Smith (Recovery Story)Send us a textBy the time he was in the fifth grade, Scott Smith was drinking most weekends with his buddies. Several of them were years older. But his future addiction did not involve alcohol. It was opioids that ensnared the Asheboro native and eventually led to a period of IV drug use, even though he never learned how to give himself an injection.
2023-01-1548 minDrugs Did ThisJames Michael Martin (Recovery Story)Send us a textJames Michael Martin drank his first beer at the age of 15. Twenty-three years -- and the ongoing use of alcohol and a laundry list of other drugs -- later, he had lost virtually everything save his life. And he did not care whether he lived or died. This is his story of addiction and recovery.
2023-01-051h 08Drugs Did ThisDavid Mabe (Recovery Story)Send us a textDavid Mabe stopped using drugs while working to get himself in shape to go to bootcamp. After he entered military service though, addiction reclaimed its grip on the young man. Struggles with substance use followed him back into civilian life. Eventually, drugs robbed him of everything but his life. Today he is a peer support specialist who uses his life experience to help others.
2022-12-1545 minDrugs Did ThisAmber Mabe (Recovery Story)Send us a textAmber Mabe was almost 29 years old and operating a thriving graphic design company when addiction took hold. She lost her business. She lost her children. She lost herself. This is her story of reclaiming her life.
2022-12-081h 162022-12-081h 15Drugs Did ThisSusan E. Hunt First podcastSend us a text Susan E. Hunt is a co-founder of Keaton's Place, a recovery resource center in Asheboro, N.C., which was established to make a difference for individuals and families living with addiction and to honor the memory of her son, Keaton Scott Hunt. She shares Keaton's story and journey with drugs before he died after a fentanyl overdose in the summer of 2019 at the age of 20.
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