People don't understand. People don't understand addiction. And in particular,

opioid addiction is the most misunderstood. All I was doing was prescribing in a

manner that was outside the norm. But nothing I was doing was against any

regulation or rule, certainly not against any law. And yet I have been treated

with no hint of the compassion that I was given before when I was a real

criminal.

You're listening to Love and Radio. I'm Nick Vanneccork. Today's episode, the

Boys will work it out, part two.

I went to medical school through the National Health Corps Scholarship and

then I had to pay back by spending four years practicing in an underserved area.

So I went off to Northwest Missouri. I remember my residency as some of the

happiest years of my life. It was thrilling learning to be a doctor, learning how

to do what I had wanted to do. During that time also I was having a lot of

trouble with drinking. I was mostly in the gay bars then. I was dating a drag

queen. We both wore the same size in lingerie, so we were a perfect couple. I was

drinking either scotch or white wine. And if it was scotch I would drink all a

fifth in a night. If it was wine I would drink one of those four-liter boxes

in a night. I was also self-prescribing diet pills. It was an infetamine like

drug. I had a whole bunch of false names with false addresses. You know I had a

little book with all of the names and addresses on them and went to

pharmacies all over about three counties to fill all the prescriptions. I was

well-known. I was the only psychiatrist for a hundred mile radius and a lady

...