Heroin's Children: Inside the US opioid crisis | Fault Lines

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Published 2017-10-25

The United States is going through the worst drug crisis in its history. It now claims more lives than gun deaths, tears families apart - and shows no signs of abating.

As US President Donald Trump declares America's opioid crisis a "national emergency," Fault Lines looks at the "invisible victims" of the epidemic - a generation of children who are being neglected, abandoned or orphaned by parents addicted to heroin.

So, how is the opioid crisis shaping the next generation of Americans?

Josh Rushing travels to Chillicothe, a small Ohio town at the centre of the drug crisis, to meet a teenager who lost both her parents to drugs, a mother whose heroin addiction led her to overdose in front of her young son, a grandmother unexpectedly raising four granddaughters, pregnant women struggling with addiction, and police and firefighters responding to harrowing overdose scenes.

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All Comments (21)

@kaelinoel3927 5 years ago

After 10 years of opiate addiction, I am celebrating 2 and a half years of sobriety. I don’t drink, I don’t use caffeine, I don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs. I decided I loved my children SO MUCH MORE than I loved drugs. And here I am. I thank God every day.
@JessTalkingLikeaCat 6 years ago

Hearing the phone calls of those children just crushed me.
@Notcoolmom 5 years ago

Having an addict for a parent is one of the most traumatizing things a child can go through.
@nikkinice100 5 years ago

Thank you to grandparents everywhere that open their homes back up, that sacrifice their retirement, and do the hardest job once again. You deserve many blessings for your kindness for assisting and loving the youth left behind do to absence of parents.
@AlexA-dg4yf 6 years ago

Hearing these young children on the phone breaks my heart .. they should NOT have to go through that.
@Love-ju3bv 5 years ago

Thinking of a baby going through withdrawals is truly heart breaking
@Pikahopp 5 years ago

"Why didn't they love me enough to stop doing what they were doing? Why wasn't I worth it?" Wow, that hit closer to home than expected :/
@QueenB_Jade 5 years ago

4 1/2 years clean here. We DO recover. ✝️
@AJeanie 5 years ago

16 months clean from heroin. It is possible! I thought I'd never be able to say I'm sober, but thanks to God I beat it. All the ones still suffering, stay strong! Find God, get help, reach out, you CAN do it
@mikerose51 5 years ago

I’m 4 years clean, very proud of myself... I seen someone on the train and they said seeing me turned around gives them motivation to also get better 😁✌️
@debadev2179 5 years ago

The children sound so old and so young at the same time beyond sad for them. Nanna deserves a house and help
@kiara198923 5 years ago

Those 4 girls are so beautiful. I have so much respect for the grandmother. Someone should set up a go fund me for them!
@Sharkfighter13 6 years ago

"your waitress, yard guy" dude it's ANYONE from school teachers, cops, DOCTORS! This is not a problem just for the working class.
@steph8703 6 years ago

"maybe the first time was a choice, MAYBE the second time was a choice, but after that, the demon has possessed them." That's the most true statement I've heard a cop say about heroin addicts. 💔💔💖💔💔
@deannamcdaniel2941 5 years ago

I love that grandmother she is an amazing woman God bless her..
@dreamweaver7797 5 years ago

Those 4 little girls are ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL
@louloubelle1330 6 years ago

You can’t take drugs have an addiction and have children. Drugs come first, second and last before anything, jeeze. Poor children this is horrendous
@shinningstar-gv7dw 6 years ago

I was a child in the 60's who's father was a heroin addict who turned my mother on to it. I spent most of my childhood in and out of foster care back then. Thank you hippy generation, this is your legacy.👎😒 I stopped that cycle and my kids are productive adults in society with beautiful families of their own. None of my kids ever did drugs because we were very involved in every aspect of their lives! Even though they are in their 30's , I'm still all up in their business making sure everything's going good in their lives. We probably over patented, but I don't care. I didn't want my kids to go through the things I had to as a kid.
@davebow5646 5 years ago

Al Jazeera is no longer aired in the USA...yet their journalism is more honest and truthful about USA than Fox News.
@LaylahandOlivia 5 years ago

When I think about how I was a heroin addict and what I put my children and other family members through I'm disgusted in myself and the guilt I feel is overwhelming... I'm so glad I've been clean for nearly 9 years and have my kids back!