This week marks 3 years that New Bedford's Nick Correia, 35, has kicked his heroin habit.  We caught up with Nick, who now serves as a guest speaker about opiod addiction, to talk about how he conquered his demons.

It seems like everyday brings a new heroin horror story to the Southcoast.  The opioid crisis is very real.  It's brought on new debates about narcan and when and how often it should be used.  But how did these addicts fall into this lifestyle.  Presumably they weren't always desperately looking for their next hit.  So what was it?  What caused them to make choices that isolated them from friends and family...and put their lives at risk?

We caught up with Nick Correia at his new, healthier addiction...Crossfit Dartmouth.  Nick told us that his life changed when he blew out his knee playing basketball.  He was coaching football at New Bedford High, AAU Basketball and Basketball at UMass Amherst.  Nick was building houses and playing both of those sports. When he blew his knee out he was handed a script for 120 pain pills and was told he had to stop everything he was doing.

After Nick was taken off of the medication, he struggled with pain.  He wanted to play sports again, so he began to abuse pecocets to manage the pain. His addiction progressed and he went from an occasional percocet to cocaine and heroine.

Hear him share his story in the video above.

 

 

 

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