mental-health survivor Brittany Laricchiuta shared her story on overcoming mental-healthduring a features on “Lawrence Jones Cross Country” Saturday.
Laricchiuta’s decision to come forward is at a time when the number one leading cause of death in 18-to-45-year old’s in the United States is fentanyl overdoses, killing upwards of 40,000 Americans between April 2020 and April 2021.
The deadly substance takes the lives of more Americans in that age bracket than car accidents, suicide, and COVID-19.
DRUG OVERDOSES AMONG YOUNG AMERICANS TRANSLATE INTO OVER ONE MILLION YEARS OF LOST LIFE, STUDY FINDS
Laricchiuta told Lawrence Jones she first started using hard drugs when she was 14 years old. What began with smoking marijuana as a teenager eventually led her down the dangerous path of pills and fentanyl.
“I started off with just weed… I didn’t like it, though… And then when I was 14, I tried Vicodin… I really liked how it made me feel,” she admitted. “But I had no idea what was going to happen after that.”
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Laricchiuta revealed one of the most dangerous situations she had been in while trying to score fentanyl.
“When I was living in South Florida, I went to a motel to get drugs… And I went up the stairs and I got tricked by a group of drug dealers. They told me they had them (drugs), but they didn’t have it, and they locked the door. So I had to make up a lie to get out of the room. When I got out of the room, I didn’t realize that there were actually 10 or 15 of them.”
When asked how she was able to escape, Laricchiuta said, “I just ran. I ran, but they kept looking for me, that was the problem. And I went to a Wendy’s, I had to ask the manager to let me in, so I could hide in the bathroom.”
Laricchiuta reached her breaking point soon thereafter when she became pregnant with her child.
“I was 10 weeks pregnant with my first child and I overdosed,” she told Jones.
“I just didn’t want to do that to my own child.”
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Laricchiuta, who is in recovery, offered an inspiring message for those struggling to overcome addiction:
“Keep fighting. Don’t give up… You just have to keep trying.”
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“But tomorrow might never come,” she warned, “so you got to do it now.”
