Content note: This episode includes strong language, discussion of opioid/heroin and crack use, overdose, stroke, withdrawal, arrest/incarceration, and suicidal hopelessness. Listener discretion advised.
At 27, Scott Jenkins woke up thrashing in a bathtub—his left arm dead, his vision blown out—after days of speedballs and Agatha Christie marathons. Doctors later confirmed he’d had a stroke, but even that didn’t stop the obsession: “I want to get high, I want to get high… It’s all you can think about.” What began with pain pills after routine procedures spiraled into years of heroin and crack, arrests, and a jail-cell detox that finally forced a choice: surrender or disappear. In this raw, unvarnished account, Scott traces the path from the early opioid boom to the economics of switching to heroin, the surreal comedy of being “stuffed to the brim with sausage biscuits” during an arrest, and the moment he decided to let other people help. He rebuilds—six months in rehab, twelve-step work, service, and, eventually, a thriving plumbing company staffed by people in recovery. It’s a story about obsession, consequence, and the quiet miracle of a craving that never came back.
If you or someone you love is struggling, you’re not alone. In the U.S., dial or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Story Producer: Nicholas Tecosky
If you have a transformative near-death experience to share, we’d love to hear your story! Please email us at aliveagainproject@gmail.com We’d love to hear your story!
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