Nick Ferguson grew up in the inner city of Miami, known as the projects. Within his neighborhood and even his own family, he was aware of the negative effects of addiction from an early age. With the influence of two of his teachers and his mother, he went down a different path and decided to use his God given talent as an athlete to pursue professional sports. After 10 years in the NFL, he is working to educate youth about the dangers of drugs. He is the host of 1043 - "The Fan" in Denver.

In his just released book "Pharma", a meticulously documented expose of decades of fraud, incompetence, conspiracy and avarice, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Gerald Posner traces the heroes and villains of the trillion-dollar-a-year pharmaceutical industry and uncovers how those once entrusted with improving life have often betrayed that ideal to corruption and reckless profiteering—with deadly consequences.

James Brown has his own addiction story. It's not dissimilar to stories we've told about children starting on alcohol or marijuana. But James' story has so much tragedy - the loss of his siblings - that it's a wonder that he survived and has been clean and sober for more than a decade. Not only is he clean and sober but he's written three semi-autobiographical books in an effort to hell his story and help others recover from loss and addiction.

Running a rehab center might not be first and foremost on your list of professions you want to pursue. However, Fabian Padro - with a background of entrepreneurship and business - became the Executive Director of the most exclusive Narconon on the planet. He is dedicated to helping individuals get clean and sober and he's been doing a great job at it. His is a story about helping others with their addiction and being successful at it.

Philip Markoff is an online influencer and thought leader on addiction education; he is known as his alias "CG Kid" and obtained a large audience primarily on YouTube as a vlogger and journalist. He has his own story of addiction and recovery and uses that to educate others, those in addiction or family and friends so that they can take steps to recovery.

Melissa's story is different than pretty much any other we've told on this podcast. She was prescribed Ativan when she had her second child and couldn't sleep. As the dosage was upped, she experienced seizures and when she tried to cut down on the medication, she had strokes. After a year of decreasing the dosage, she finally was able to stop taking most of the drug but to this day is on a very low dose of Valium.

From selling his first business at age 19 to building a multimillion-dollar A- list talent agency, Darren Prince has experienced what life is like in the celebrity world. He also saw the dark reality of addiction through his own personal struggle. After over 11 years of sobriety, Darren has become a sought-after speaker on addiction recovery and mental health. He specializes in helping high functioning addicts and at-risk executives to identity and avoid the pitfalls of addiction. His book "Aiming High" details his challenges.

Michael is an ex-offender and former addict and gang member. After 12 years in prison he finally had his "point of no return", he became determined to ensure that no other child in America "turned out like me". He has since presented drug education and prevention in all 50 states in over 700 schools throughout the US. Michael is on a mission to educate youth and parents on the dangers of drugs. In this interview he takes a deep look into the dangers of vaping.

Marshall Faulk was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons, both for the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams. In 2011, Marshall was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017. Now he is the National Spokesman for "The Foundation for a Drug Free World", a nonprofit public benefit corporation that empowers youth and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions and live Drug-Free.

Dr. Cali Estes has her own history with addiction involving food. But dealing with that and studying the whole area of addiction made her much more able to deal with her rock musician husband - Tim - when he became addicted to heroin. He's clean and sober with the help of his wife and both are giving back to people in need.