Los Angeles Times

Commentary: How I fell for OxyContin

In 2000, when I was 19 and having an existential and Adderall-fueled nervous breakdown, I came home from college for a long weekend and sobbed in my mother's arms. She held me and shushed me, and then - feeling like she was out of options, she'd tell me later - took out a fat, round, green pill from a bottle on her night table and bit off a small chunk. "Here," she said as she pulled me close, "Maybe this will calm you down." It did.

I didn't even ask what it was before I swallowed it, but as soon as it kicked in, I

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times4 min readCrime & Violence
Robin Abcarian: Criminalizing Homelessness Is Unconscionable, But Is It Unconstitutional?
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about whether a small Oregon city can cite and prosecute homeless people for sleeping in public places when they have nowhere else to lay their heads. If the case reveals nothing else about the state
Los Angeles Times8 min read
Bit By A Billionaire's Dog? Or A Case Of Extortion? A Legal Saga From An LA Dog Park
LOS ANGELES -- A dog-bites-woman story usually isn't much of a story at all. But an incident in one of L.A.'s wealthiest enclaves has become something else entirely. What began in a Brentwood park on a summer day in 2022, when a dog owned by billiona
Los Angeles Times5 min read
Kevin Baxter: How Former Galaxy Player Eddie Lewis Became A Soccer Training Tech Innovator
LOS ANGELES — Eddie Lewis played his final soccer game at the age of 36, old for a midfielder but young for just about everybody else. So with more than half a lifetime ahead of him, he had plenty of time to build a new career. Yet like many former p

Related Books & Audiobooks