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Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: Prescription opioid and heroin abuse is an epidemic in America.

During Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week, the FBI and its partners held a screening of Chasing the Dragon. The FBI-produced documentary chronicles how drug abuse devastates the lives of users and their families.

The FBI stands in support of those touched by this crisis, like Gina Woodward, whose son Tyler abused pills and heroin.

Gina Woodward: When I looked into my sons eyes, I knew it wasn’t my son. He had become his addiction.

Halpern: Tyler died while under the influence of heroin last August. He was 19 years old.

Woodward: This is the most horrific journey to walk. No parent ever wants to lose a child. The only way I can explain it is it’s the most unbearable, unimaginable pain that anyone can ever, ever experience.

Halpern: Gina says she doesn’t want other parents to walk her journey. So she shared her story at the Chasing the Dragon screening in Washington, D.C.

Woodward: I want to be his voice, and I know because of his heart that he would want me to help other people.

Halpern: Chasing the Dragon is available on www.fbi.gov. I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau with FBI, This Week.

• Livestream (archived) - FBI Director Participates in Panel on Opioid Addiction
• Story - Raising Awareness of Opioid Addiction: FBI, DEA Release Documentary Aimed at Youth
• Video - Chasing the Dragon: The Life of an Opiate Addict