Journey to Recovery

KET addresses opioid epidemic with Journey to Recovery documentary

Opioids – including heroin and prescription opioids such as oxycodone and hydrocodone — killed more than 33,000 people in 2015, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deaths due to opioid overdoses claim the lives of 91 Americans every day.

As families touched by addiction know all too well, our nation is in the midst of an opioid epidemic. In an effort to address the epidemic and provide information about treatment options available in Kentucky, KET presents Journey to Recovery, a new documentary that explores personal stories of triumph over addiction using various recovery programs.

Journey to Recovery, narrated by Grammy-nominated recording artist and Kentucky native Sturgill Simpson, airs Monday, Feb. 13 at 8/7 pm on KET.

The documentary examines an array of treatment and recovery programs offered across the state, including abstinence-only programs – such as faith-based and 12-step based programs – as well as medication-assisted treatment programs. The program also interviews many of the nation’s top experts on addiction, including Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and Dr. Robert DuPont, a former NIDA director and former White House Drug Chief who continues to advocate for a reduction in illegal drug use through his role as founding director of the Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc.

Journey to Recovery is part of KET’s ongoing Inside Opioid Addiction initiative, funded in part by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. The initiative’s website, KET.org/opioids, includes archived KET and national programs addressing America’s growing opioid problem.