Not yet free from heroin’s grip, an ‘honest, funny man’ finds his way off the streets
PHILADELPHIA — Shaun Anderson hasn’t slept this late in the day in years. He still wakes up a few times throughout the night — a habit he’s developed trying to protect himself from being jumped while at his most vulnerable. This morning, however, he slept so deeply he didn’t hear his doorbell ring. He wasn’t used to even having a doorbell, or a regular place to sleep — housing is one of many things he’d lost to a decades-long battle with opioid use disorder. “I hate you heroin — you ruined my life,” he writes in his journal. “You took everything from [me]: my house, car, kids, and my wife.”
Anderson’s story is emblematic of what thousands of Americans struggling with opioid addiction go through every day. For many like Anderson who resolve to quit, it’s far easier said than done. Even for people looking to enter treatment, and who find support systems willing to help, basic obstacles like housing, safety, and money can make recovery all but impossible. “I just feel like I’m stuck. I feel like life’s passing me by,” Anderson laments. “All I ever wanted was to be a good husband and father. … Heroin mess[es] with you. I forget who I am — which is a good, honest, funny man.”
