FSN Packages Feed: PKG: From police lieutenant to drug addict - one man's story as the US tries to fight its spiraling opioid epidemic

INTRO:

As tension rises once again between the US and China, it's easy to forget recent cooperation - in the battle against America's spiraling opioid addiction.

In December China promised to crack down on fentanyl - the synthetic opioid that can be up to a hundred times more powerful than morphine.

US authorities say China is the primary source of illegally produced fentanyl, which killed 20,000 Americans last year.

But will these efforts change much in the fight against addiction in communities across America?

Kate Fisher has been speaking to a former police officer who's reliance on opioids led him from investigating crimes, to stealing drugs.

SCRIPT:

<<Dan & daughter walking into park>>

UPSOT

"Come on, come on, show me the way"

VO1: Dan Gosnell believes his daughter Emily really has helped him find his way.

SOT <<covered by park playing pictures>>

"My child, my daughter is my absolute everything and she is the reason for my existence right now."

<<more park pictures>>

V02: As he strides around the park it's hard to imagine that just 18 months ago he was taking drugs at his desk as his life spiraled out of control.

SOT: DAN GOSNELL, recovering addict

"Here I am in a pair of surgical gloves and a surgical mask opening this evidence bag that's got fentanyl capsules in it and then tapping out the size of a match head onto my desk in the police station and then snorting it."

<<interview cutaway, eyes close-up>>

VO3: His addiction began after he was prescribed painkillers for a neck and spine injury.

SOT: DAN GOSNELL, recovering addict

"It wasn't until the prescription ended that I discovered I was addicted to these things and I had no idea how to resume my normal life without them."

<<b'roll of the drugs turn-in bin outside the police station>>

VO4: First Gosnell stole pills left by the public in a prescription drug turn-in program. When they ran out he turned to the evidence room.

SOT: DAN GOSNELL, recovering addict

"I then ran through every opiate that I could get my hands on in that evidence room. That included fentanyl. So when's there's an overdose case and it tells you right on the lab report, this is 100% fentanyl, it's a choice that you make."

<<interview cutaway; police station, town b'roll>>

VO5: Eventually he was caught - losing his job and gaining a criminal record. No longer able to be a police officer, he found a new job at an addiction recovery centre.

STAND-UP: Kate Fisher, Aberdeen, Maryland

Opioid addiction affects communities like this one across the United States, but it's not just an American crisis. It's global. In 2016 the World Health Organization says that 27 million people were affected by opioid disorders."

<<interview cutaway>>

VO6: In 2017, in the US, more than 70 thousand of them died -according to the Centers for Disease Control. Dan says there needs to be a new strategy to tackle the epidemic

SOT: DAN GOSNELL, recovering addict

"This isn't a problem you can arrest your way out of. It's only going to get worse. The strategy absolutely has to change."

VO7:

<<playground pictures. Dan and daughter going round and round on roundabout>>

VO7: President Trump has declared opioid abuse a national public health emergency and US lawmakers passed bipartisan legislation last year to toughen up the punishment for fentanyl distribution and trafficking. But Dan says that's not enough. He says there needs to be radical change - like the legalisation of drugs - before there's any chance of ending the cycle of addiction. Kate Fisher, Aberdeen, Maryland.

Monday, February 4, 2019

PKG: From police lieutenant to drug addict - one man's story as the US tries to fight its spiraling opioid epidemic