AKRON, Ohio — Joe Valenti describes his bout with drug addiction as switching seats on the Titanic. ADVERTISING AKRON, Ohio — Joe Valenti describes his bout with drug addiction as switching seats on the Titanic. “No matter what seat you
AKRON, Ohio — Joe Valenti describes his bout with drug addiction as switching seats on the Titanic.
“No matter what seat you take,” he said, “you’re still on a sinking ship.”
But Valenti, 32, eventually took a seat on a lifeboat — sobriety — 3 1/2 years ago. He suspects the sinking ship will loom in the back of his mind the rest of his life, but he’s vowed to never board it again.
At the height of their struggle with addiction, he and his wife — 31-year-old Stephanie Valenti, a fellow addict in long-term recovery — lost everything: their home, their children, their cars and each other.
Today, the Stow, Ohio, couple has reformed their life together. They’ve regained custody of their three children, they run a painting company together and they attend support group meetings several times a week to help other addicts, and each other, stay sober.
The story of the Valentis’ struggle with addiction isn’t uncommon. According to Summit County data, 20-somethings are the most likely to seek publicly funded drug treatment in Summit County.
In addition, residents 25 to 34 account for more than a third of the county’s overdoses so far this year. Adults ages 35 to 49 are the next most at risk, the data show.
Despite this, a perception exists that minors are most at risk of drug abuse and overdose. Social media users talk of the prevalence of drugs in schools and perpetuate the stereotype that addicts are mostly school-age.
MINORS USING PILLS
Valenti said he suspects minors might indeed be using drugs, but they haven’t reached the level of risk-taking drug addicts reach in their 20s and 30s.
“These kids are using pills,” he said, referring to prescription painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin. “It’s not until later that they start using the more dangerous stuff.”
About 16 percent of Summit County high schoolers reported they’d used prescription pills that weren’t meant for them, according to a study published by the Summit County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADM) Board in 2014. The same study found 4 percent reported heroin use, 5 percent used methamphetamine and 6 percent used cocaine.
While those numbers might be alarming, data from Summit County Public Health show minors make up about 2 percent of the county’s overdoses so far this year.
Jerry Craig, ADM’s executive director, said that’s because drug addiction is described as a “progressive illness,” meaning it gets worse as time passes.
“The addiction gets deeper and deeper,” Craig said. “The consequences that land them in the system happen much later from the time they start experimenting.”
Most often, Craig said, today’s addicts were prescribed painkillers for legitimate reasons like treating injuries or pain from surgeries. Using the medications changes the brain’s chemistry for some people, leading to painful withdrawal symptoms if they go without using.
Craig said when prescriptions run out, addicts might attempt to coerce doctors into giving them the drugs, or they might purchase them illegally from street dealers.
ADDICTS GETTING SOBER
But illicit painkillers are expensive, and efforts by pharmaceutical companies to make their pills less desirable for addicts have led to more switching to heroin, which provides a similar high for a lower price.
“This is the first time they might not even know what they’re injecting,” Craig said.
Heroin’s potency varies wildly, but the dose an addict takes generally remains the same or even rises as tolerance grows. Couple that with drug dealers mixing in more dangerous drugs, like the deadly fentanyl and carfentanil, and the rate of overdose skyrockets.
Valenti said his path was similar to the norm. He started drinking alcohol as a teenager, which awakened his addiction, and pills that weren’t prescribed to him followed. It wasn’t until he was 25 that he started using heroin.
“I’ve always had it in me,” he said, referring to addiction. “All drugs did was set it off.”
He said he felt he was destined to be an addict.
“It’s a disease. They say it’s free will, but that’s not the case,” he said. “Maybe I needed this experience so I could help people.”
For Joe and Stephanie Valenti, recovery was a matter of coincidence. They sought treatment together, but a series of events out of their control led to Joe getting sober first.
It’s a good thing, too. Experts say addicts should not have romantic relationships while they’re getting clean.
“He got to work on himself before he got better,” Stephanie said, “so when I saw how he got sober, I thought maybe I could do that too.”
Joe’s been sober since April 20, 2013. Stephanie got clean a few months later, on Aug. 11. They lived apart for a full year before getting back together, and eventually they got their kids back too.
The couple said recovery is hard, but the children — now ranging in age from 5 to 12 — make it worth every second.
“Instead of looking at them like burdens, I can see that they’re blessings,” he said. “I’m looking at them through different eyes.”
His wife agreed.
“We can go to bed at night and think about all the things we did that day to make our family better,” she said. “We have the tools to make our lives better and manage them. We don’t need drugs and alcohol to make it better anymore.”
And their lives continue to improve. The couple is now expecting their fourth child.
The baby is the first they’ll have while leading sober lives.
