Out of the Gutter: Howard Heathcote’s Story - Part 1

Howard Heathcote grew up in a house of addicts. Out of 2 parents and 9 children, only one, an older sister of Howard’s, miraculously avoided drugs and alcohol completely. Aside from that miraculous exception, fate was all but sealed for the rest of the family.  

There was never a shortage of alcohol, pills, and cocaine at Howard’s home. He became addicted at the kitchen table, with his parents, before his Mom passed away when he was only 10 years old. As Howard shares his life story during this 2-part series, you’ll hear of one shockingly unfortunate occurrence after another. 

By just 13 years old, Howard was a full-blown alcoholic. He remained that way until 7 years later when he was no longer an alcohol addict, but a heroin addict. His lifestyle inevitably led him to crime, and that led him to spend nearly a decade in prison, beginning in 1997. Howard is 53 now. And while life isn’t without challenges, he is clean and doing well.

He runs a website and Facebook page with over 6000 likes, called The Opiate Report, which is used to explain opiates in detail, their history, facts about detox, triggers, and more, attempting to be a light at the end of the tunnel for this epidemic.  

Host: Karla Stephens-Tolstoy

Editor and Co-Producer: Joel at East Coast Radio Creative 

This episode contains music used under the CreativeCommons license: Mary Brett Loroson - Theme From Whatever

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