This interview could have been conducted with my niece and her husband. I say could have been...because they are both deceased. I would like to say, up front, that I am also a therapist and addiction's counselor in another state. I have a secondary relationship with Buckwalter because he is the one who prescribed an unthinkable amount of drugs to my niece who was the survivor of an automobile accident. She had a legitimate need for limited pain medications and muscle relaxers. She had also sustained brain damage in that accident which affected some of her cognitive abilities, including the part of the brain that affects impulsiveness and emotional regulation. This "doctor" put an extraordinary amount of drugs in her hands. He also over prescribed to my nephew-in-law who had a back ache. Both of these kids are now dead. Did they have some responsibility? Of course. But people who become addicted to pain meds lie. They lie to their loving and concerned parents who questioned them. They lie to their loving, knowledgeable, aunt who questioned them. They lie to the grandmother who adored them. They minimize their use to those who love them as their world gets smaller and their denial and secretiveness grows by leaps and bounds. It is the way of addiction.
For those writing in pithy quips about this important article... I lost my only niece, the love of my life, in part, to the greed and lack of regard for human life to this "doctor." I pray that justice is done he is removed.