Opioid Companies Ruined My Life

I, as an individual, would like to sue in the opioid lawsuits.

I've been in the Suboxone treatment program for several years, off and on now. I occasionally have to quit going because it's so expensive I can't always afford it.

I had been in touch with an attorney and was doing the paperwork when the correspondence just stopped and all I heard about was the state and the counties winning settlements.

It's great that states will have the funding to offer help to all addicts. I truly hope many lives will be saved, as they should be.

However, I also believe that those of us who have suffered directly should also be compensated. After all, it was our lives that were ruined. To me the opioid settlements aren't just a part of our nation's history. The opioid settlements are a personal part of my life. I didn't just read, learn, or hear about the damage caused by opioids. I lived through it. I suffered through it. I felt it and it will always be a part of me. I still feel it; as I always will

Anyone directly affected should be compensated before the states or counties. It was us, the addicts they created, and the NAS babies, born without the choice, who paid the price. It's our lives that were sacrificed. We are the ones who wake up each day and don't have the choice of whether or not we want to think about the opioid companies. We are the opioid companies. We are their creations. We will forever be what they have made us. Why? Because unlike the counties and states who are in charge of the settlement funds, we have no choice. It is who we are.

I was going to a general doctor when oxycontin first came out. Little did I know at the time, I would have a starring role in the movie that would someday document the history of opioid addiction. I would be playing "Me".

Since then my life has undergone a significant amount of change. I have raised two children with my also addicted husband of 36 years, been arrested many, many times, lost cars, changed jobs, lost homes, almost been divorced, lost more loved ones and friends than was ever meant to be, caused damage to all my relationships, paid an astonishing amount of late fees, gone many lengthy spells without electricity or water, spent many hours wondering why I was even put on this earth, put myself in more dangerous situations than a person has the right to, broken countless promises, spent countless hours praying for God to take me and just as many begging him to change me, seen more heartbreak in a child's eyes than God ever intended us too, and watched every goal and dream I ever had fade into nothingness. I've had to accept the person I will never be and learned to deal with the person that I am. I have even had to forgive myself for not dying and forgive God for making me live.

Living with the disease of addiction has been anything but easy. It is actually more tiring than anything I know. It's not like I chose it. I just get to accept it. Then of course I also get to accept that the people in this world who were blessed not to be addicts blame me for being who I am. ( And they think I'm stupid) They're supposed to be the smart ones. And they think I chose this life. They think I just got up one day and chose to be somebody who couldn't function without a drug and didn't want to be able to feed myself or pay my bills because I just wanted to live without power or water. Yeah it was all by choice.

Thank you for listening. I think the people who did this should pay.