Go into surgery and you expect to come out, if not as good as new, at least on the way to becoming better.
But at a time when Americans consume 80 percent of the total number of opiates produced in the entire world, the quest to stop pain is increasingly becoming the start of a life-altering addiction.
In the Western, Massachusetts town of Ludlow, Tom Foye had it all: a wife, three daughters and, after twenty-two years on the local force, a good shot at becoming chief of police.
Instead he spent eight months behind bars here at the Hampshire County Jail. He is still in custody, but able to live at home monitored by an electronic ankle cuff. We met in the jail conference room:
Foye lived a life heavy on achievement, selected for leadership training at the FBI Academy. In his off hours he coached his kids, competed in triathalons. So how does a guy like this, end up in jail? It started with a single oxycontin, prescribed to ease the pain after shoulder surgery.
“I just remember this whoosh,” said Foye. “All my pain was gone I felt great and it hit me this little spark went off and the statement in my mind was , wow, I can see how somebody can hooked on this stuff.”
But soon he needed surgery on his other shoulder, and then his hip. Each time he received more opiate painkillers. He quit cold turkey, suffered through a painful withdrawal, and went back to work. But one day, feeling pain, he took a leftover pill.
“And then another one and then another one, and then it would be a few weeks later and I would blink and I would go, wow, where am I? I’ve been taking these things every day for a few weeks,” said Foye.
And when Lt. Foye ran out of drugs he had easy access to more. The evidence room at the Ludlow police station. Each time he stole he told himself the same thing this day would be the last.
His arrest ended his police career. But Foye says it also saved his life.
“I remember saying to myself, my god, this is finally over, this is finally over it’s going to come to and end now because I had tried, I had struggled, I could not beat this on my own.”
Even as he serves his time, Foye is increasingly in demand as a speaker. At this forum in Waltham he is sharing his story with law enforcement and medical professionals. His goal is to let others know that if he can become an addict, simply by taking prescribed painkillers, so can anyone else.
“The pain I experienced physically through surgery is nothing compared to the pain is nothing compared to what I’ve been through” said Foye. “Nothing at all.”
Foye will be released on parole later this month. He can’t go back to work as a police officer, but he does hope in some way to help others.
