Introduction
Hope After Heroin delves into the opioid crisis and the widespread impact of heroin use in Western Pennsylvania. This WQED documentary features people who have faced addiction—either personally or through someone they love—as they discuss their experiences of hardship, stigma, and loss. Yet, through their stories, they also reveal how their pain became a driving force for change, offering hope and inspiration to others.
Heroin’s grip on the nation is undeniable and Western Pennsylvania is no exception. Today, there isn’t a single town, community, or county in the region untouched by the epidemic. It transcends generations, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and has become so widespread that overdoses are occurring in public spaces.
Stigma has long silenced the conversation. But that is beginning to change. More and more people are coming forward, breaking the silence, and sharing their journeys. These voices, and those in Hope After Heroin, are helping others realize that recovery is possible—at any stage, for anyone.
Quotes from Hope After Heroin
“It started with the dramatic rise of prescription pain medicines, the opioids, the OxyContin’s, the Vicodin’s, the hydrocodone’s. There was also heavy marketing of pharmaceutical companies with some misleading information that these substances are not addicting, are safe. And a lot of well-meaning doctors started prescribing more and more of these with good intentions. But we’ve now learned that the pendulum swung too far.”
“There are more people addicted to heroin, more families devastated by it, and more people dying from heroin than any time in our history.”
“When the pill habit becomes too expensive, users turn to the cheaper option – heroin. They go from pills to snorting heroin and then, after a couple of months, to get more for their money, they switch over to needles.”
“Heroin, in the beginning, made me feel euphoric. But whenever I didn’t have the heroin, it was the worst sickness that I could ever imagine in my life. Everything on you hurts. You can’t move, you can’t eat, you can’t sleep, you’re hot, you’re cold.”
“If anyone knows about breaking free, it’s Ashley. She’s now 30 years old and in long-term recovery … Ashley shares her story often at public hearings, drug summits, in schools.”
“Every time I speak, it just takes a little chisel out of the brick wall to reduce the stigma and raise awareness.”
ASHLEY POTTS
“Heroin tricks the brain into thinking the drug is needed to survive. That, combined with intense physical pain, forces people back for more.”
“If you just incarcerate a person with addiction and don’t get them treatment, there’s a very, very high likelihood they’re just going to come back out and continue to use.”
“We’ve [Sage’s Army] advocated for the Narcan, we’ve advocated for the prescription database, the Good Samaritan Bill … we open our door to anybody that needs help and we try to guide and inspire them to the next step.”
“Laura Propst started NOM (Not One More) Pittsburgh after both of her children became addicted to heroin. ‘We have a lot of families, parents, wives, children who are experiencing a lot of loss and grief and they just need a comfortable place to land.’”
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