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'Pill Head' On Prescription Drug Addiction

Journalist Joshua Lyon decided to investigate the phenomenon of online pharmacies. Drugs such as Valium, Xanax and Vicodin arrived in the mail.

Pill Head is the story of Lyon's subsequent hard core addiction to the medications. After a year of steady abuse, he realized that he needed to quit after a surgical procedure. He received morphine to manage his pain, and because of the tolerance he'd built up, it did nothing to help him feel better.

Lyon then made a six-month break from the drugs, but later resumed his habit. Finally, a friend intervened and he quit, but he still suffers from memory loss as a result of his addiction.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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