West Virginia's new drug czar, who was once addicted to opioids himself, is now dedicating himself towards fighting the opioid epidemic within his state.
Dr. Stephen Lloyd has been sober for two decades and has since treated patients who suffer from afflictions similar to the one he suffered from. Lloyd's personal experience are a large part of what motivate him in his profession, with him seeing his work as "the biggest driver of my own personal recovery."
"I feel that the longer I do this, the more I don't mind the guy I see in the mirror every morning." said Lloyd.
As a chief resident at East Tennessee State University hospital, Lloyd struggled to manage his 100-hour work week. He began taking 5 milligram hydrocodone pills, eventually graduating to 500 milligrams of oxycodone.
"Back then, would I steal from you? Yes," said Lloyd. "I would do whatever I needed to do to get the thing I thought I would die without."
He realized he had developed an addiction when he began to feel incredibly ill without pills in a moment he described as "devastating".
In 2004, he went to a detox unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and then joined a treatment program. He noticed that, out of the 24 people on his floor, he was the only one referred for treatment for his addiction while the other patients were released.
"I get a pass because I have MD after my name, and I've known that for a long time," he said. "And it's not fair."
Lloyd has been incredibly transparent about his own journey and struggles with addiction. AP News reported that Lloyd was even the inspiration for a character played by Michael Keaton in the Hulu series "Dopesick", where Keaton plays a doctor who becomes addicted to prescription drugs.
In 2005, Lloyd was a witness in a case, helping prosecutors convict a pill mill doctor for the first time in the state of Tennessee. He has also assisted in trials forcing U.S. opioid manufacturers and distributors to admit their culpability in the ongoing opioid crisis, delivering settlements across the nation. Lloyd believes he has a "moral and ethical responsibility" to make proper use of the near $1 billion settlement his state was awarded to combat and prevent addiction and support recovery.
"It's what drives me," said Lloyd. "The great paradox is you get to keep something by giving it away. And I get to do that."
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
