PHOTO: Fentanyl. Image: Australian Government.
About a year ago, David Farnsworth, from a town somewhere in the southern end of our region, had been prescribed oxycodone after a shoulder operation in the hospital.
“The pain wasn’t really that bad but when I took the ‘oxies’ within about ten minutes I had just this feeling of contentment I hadn’t had in such a long time. The pain in my shoulder meant I had been working, and I hadn’t felt very good about myself.”
“I just felt so relaxed and content, the pills wore off, I took some more, they ran out, and I eventually got onto the dark web. But when I did, I ordered something stronger – fentanyl, and I never felt such a blissful sense of satisfaction. It gave me this almost childhood-like sense of happiness.”.
Soon enough, he was struggling with regular use – and the joblessness and the long days in bed he had tried to escape with his shoulder injury became his life once again…