WFLA News Channel 8 reached out to Footprints Beachside Recovery to comment after a Pinellas County woman with a long history of drug-related charges was arrested in St. Petersburg, Florida. Spanning the course of over a decade, this Florida native has been detained over 50 times for a variety of crimes resulting from her severe drug addiction.
Footprints Beachside Recovery featured on WFLA News Channel 8
This story of a woman whose life has been completely taken over by drugs is undoubtedly tragic, but unfortunately very common for Footprints Clinical Director Laura Pasker, who says she sees people like this every single day.
“Most of the time, they know their life has become unmanageable. It’s difficult to find the help and seek the help,” Pasker told News Channel 8’s Peter Bernard. “The thing [they] use to cope has now become the problem.”
While records show this woman has been arrested for a number of different substances, one that seems to stand out is prescription opioids.
“A lot of times, people have gotten addicted due to prescription [painkiller] abuse,” said Footprints President John Templeton. “They actually had a chronic pain, they’ve been prescribed the opioids, the tolerance builds up. They need more and more.”
Drug overdoses are at an all-time high in the United States, especially due to opioids, which prompted President Trump to declare the opioid epidemic a national emergency last summer. And while more and more people across the country have been entering rehab to address their drug addictions, relapse remains a huge issue.
“I like to really think of addiction kind of like a weed, like on your lawn,” said Pasker. “You spray weed killer on it, it grows back. You spray week killer, it grows back, but there’s these underlying roots we don’t always see.”
It’s unknown what caused this Pinellas County woman’s addiction, or whether she’s tried to get help for her problems before. But what is clear is that besides her numerous arrests, drug charges, and stints in jail, addiction still remains a dominant force in her life.
As a young man, Templeton battled his own substance issues and learned firsthand the destruction addiction can cause. He was given a second chance at life and was able to get sober and make the best of it. He and Pasker believe there is hope for everyone, including the Pinellas county resident, to do the same thing and turn their lives around.
About Footprints Beachside Recovery Center
Founded in 2008, Footprints Beachside Recovery Center is a small, private, holistic substance abuse treatment center for adults and is located in Pinellas County, Fla. Footprints provides specialized treatment plans for patients throughout the U.S. Opioid addiction recovery programs at Footprints focus on ensuring safe withdrawals and often combine holistic treatment with medication assisted therapies to reduce cravings and provide more successful recovery outcomes for patients.
If you or a loved one are struggling with an addiction to opioids or any other substance, Footprints is ready to help. Learn more about our holistic approach to rehab, or contact us today to speak with one of our representatives.
