Hear From Man Who Overdosed In Bathroom Of Skokie Courthouse

SKOKIE, IL — Opioids now kill more people in Cook County than gun violence or traffic crashes, according to the sheriff's office. Overdose deaths last year were up 83 percent over two years, with about one in five people currently held in Cook County jail reporting opioid abuse.

In the past four years, one 24-year-old man has overdosed 14 times. He said he started using opioids when a doctor prescribed him painkillers for a weightlifting injury.

In May, he was discovered unresponsive on the floor of the bathroom at the Skokie Courthouse. The incident was captured on bodycam (see below) and widely-shared after being released by authorities.

Now, the man is the first guest on a new monthly podcast produced by the Cook County Sheriff's Office called, "Breaking Free: Dispatches from the Opiod Crisis." It's part of an new opioid crisis awareness program launched last year by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

“This crisis touches the lives of so many – almost everyone knows someone struggling with an opioid addiction,” Dart said in an announcement accompanying the first episode. “An important step to fixing this crisis is understanding those who struggle with it. I hope this podcast opens eyes and minds to how easily an opioid addiction can happen and how hard it can be to stop.”

In a 16-minute interview, the man gives a candid account of his struggle with an opioid addiction, which grew from hydrocodone, to Oxycodone, Fentanyl and Xanax and eventually heroin – and the bodycam footage from being revived by naloxone on a bathroom floor.

The man said his painkiller use turned into abuse after the first doctor stopped prescribing medication and he went to another who prescribed Oxycodone and began increasing the dosage.

"It feels like you have not a worry in the world and you're surrounded by a really warm blanket and intense euphoria," the man said. He had been in college and planned on pursuing pharmacology, but ended up dropping out as his addiction worsened.

"It's like another entity inside of you that's asking you to feed it and nothing else matters besides you feeling better," the man said. "So when I'm in that position, where I"m not feeling like myself and that disconnection is going on, it's impossible for me to form a connection with someone else, especially family members or friends."

The man encourages family members of people abusing opioids not to give up on their loved ones – and to prioritize a treatment plan that gets people off of fentanyl-laced street drugs

The Sheriff's Office said the interviewee currently receiving drug treatment through the Cook County Department of Corrections and asked to remain anonymous. A doctor who improperly prescribed him some of the drugs he describes in the interview has been sanctioned, according to the podcast, and the man has settled a related civil suit.

Watch the video:

Listen to the podcast:

The Sheriff's Office also provided the following resources for people seeking help for themselves or loved ones. More information about the signs of an overdose and where to obtain naloxone is available from the website of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) or by calling the agency’s 24-hour treatment referral hotline at 800-662-HELP (4357).

Earlier: Cops Save Heroin Overdose Victim In Skokie Courthouse Bathroom »