
On Pills and Needles
The Relentless Fight to Save My Son from Opioid Addiction
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $16.92
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Traber Burns
-
By:
-
Rick Van Warner
About this listen
When Rick Van Warner found himself searching abandoned buildings and dangerous streets looking for his missing son, he had no idea that the synthetic, pill-form heroin that had snared his teen was already killing so many. In the years of pain and heartache that followed, as he tried to save his son from opioid addiction, Van Warner discovered what the American public is just now becoming aware of: Opioids prescribed for even minor pain relief are so addictive that even a few days of use can create dependency. On Pills and Needles is a memoir that also serves as a wake-up call and crash course in opioid addiction. Through his harrowing personal story, Van Warner exposes the common causes of opioid addiction, effective and ineffective ways it has been treated, and how families can walk alongside loved ones who are dealing with the daily realities of addiction.
©2018 Rick Van Warner (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
High Achiever
- The Incredible True Story of One Addict's Double Life
- By: Tiffany Jenkins
- Narrated by: Tiffany Jenkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With heart-racing urgency and unflinching honesty, Jenkins takes you inside the grips of addiction and the desperate decisions it breeds. She is a born storyteller who lived an incredible story, from blackmail by an ex-boyfriend to a soul-shattering deal with a drug dealer, and her telling brims with suspense and unexpected wit. But the true surprise is her path to recovery. Tiffany breaks through the stigma and silence to offer hope and inspiration to anyone battling the disease - whether it’s a loved one or themselves.
-
-
I Get it, You Were an Addict
- By Jim Thompson on 10-16-19
By: Tiffany Jenkins
-
Scar Tissue
- By: Anthony Kiedis, Larry Sloman
- Narrated by: Rider Strong
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As lead singer and songwriter for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Kiedis has lived life on the razor's edge. Much has been written about him, but until now we've only had his songs as clues to his experience from the inside. In Scar Tissue, Kiedis proves himself to be as compelling a memoirist as he is a lyricist, giving us a searingly honest account of the life from which his music has evolved.
-
-
Not A Favorite
- By The Kruels on 08-16-11
By: Anthony Kiedis, and others
-
Smacked
- A Story of White-Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy
- By: Eilene Zimmerman
- Narrated by: Eilene Zimmerman
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Something was wrong with Peter. Eilene Zimmerman noticed that her ex-husband looked thin, seemed distracted, and was frequently absent from activities with their children. Yet in many ways, Peter seemed to have it all. So begins Smacked, a brilliant and moving memoir of Eilene’s shocking discovery, one that sets her on a journey to find out how a man she knew for nearly 30 years became a drug addict, hiding it so well that neither she nor anyone else in his life suspected what was happening.
-
-
Fantastic and captivating.
- By Julie Vandenheuvel on 03-12-20
By: Eilene Zimmerman
-
Strung Out
- One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me
- By: Erin Khar
- Narrated by: Jayme Mattler
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This deeply personal and illuminating memoir about her 15-year struggle with heroin, Khar sheds profound light on the opioid crisis and gives a voice to the over two million people in America currently battling with this addiction. Growing up in LA, Erin Khar hid behind a picture-perfect childhood filled with excellent grades, a popular group of friends and horseback riding. After first experimenting with her grandmother’s expired painkillers, Khar started using heroin when she was thirteen.
-
-
Surface material
- By blythe mayfield on 03-06-20
By: Erin Khar
-
Beautiful Boy
- A Father's Journey through His Son's Meth Addiction
- By: David Sheff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Sheff's story is a first: a teenager's addiction from the parent's point of view, a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope.
Before meth, Sheff's son, Nic, was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets. With haunting candor, Sheff traces the first warning signs, the attempts at rehabilitation, and, at last, the way past addiction. He shows us that, whatever an addict's fate, the rest of the family must care for one another, too, lest they become addicted to addiction.
-
-
Been There
- By Happy Reader on 11-26-12
By: David Sheff
-
The Fifth Vital
- By: Mike Majlak, Riley J. Ford
- Narrated by: Mike Majlak
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mike Majlak was a 17-year-old from a loving middle-class family in Milford, Connecticut, when he got caught up in the opioid epidemic that swept the nation. For close to a decade thereafter, his life was a wasteland of darkness and despair. While his peers were graduating from college, buying homes, getting married, having kids, and leading normal lives, Mike was snorting Oxycontin, climbing out of cars at gunpoint, and burying his childhood friends.
-
-
Book is straight fire
- By Amazon Customer on 03-04-21
By: Mike Majlak, and others
-
High Achiever
- The Incredible True Story of One Addict's Double Life
- By: Tiffany Jenkins
- Narrated by: Tiffany Jenkins
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With heart-racing urgency and unflinching honesty, Jenkins takes you inside the grips of addiction and the desperate decisions it breeds. She is a born storyteller who lived an incredible story, from blackmail by an ex-boyfriend to a soul-shattering deal with a drug dealer, and her telling brims with suspense and unexpected wit. But the true surprise is her path to recovery. Tiffany breaks through the stigma and silence to offer hope and inspiration to anyone battling the disease - whether it’s a loved one or themselves.
-
-
I Get it, You Were an Addict
- By Jim Thompson on 10-16-19
By: Tiffany Jenkins
-
Scar Tissue
- By: Anthony Kiedis, Larry Sloman
- Narrated by: Rider Strong
- Length: 14 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As lead singer and songwriter for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Anthony Kiedis has lived life on the razor's edge. Much has been written about him, but until now we've only had his songs as clues to his experience from the inside. In Scar Tissue, Kiedis proves himself to be as compelling a memoirist as he is a lyricist, giving us a searingly honest account of the life from which his music has evolved.
-
-
Not A Favorite
- By The Kruels on 08-16-11
By: Anthony Kiedis, and others
-
Smacked
- A Story of White-Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy
- By: Eilene Zimmerman
- Narrated by: Eilene Zimmerman
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Something was wrong with Peter. Eilene Zimmerman noticed that her ex-husband looked thin, seemed distracted, and was frequently absent from activities with their children. Yet in many ways, Peter seemed to have it all. So begins Smacked, a brilliant and moving memoir of Eilene’s shocking discovery, one that sets her on a journey to find out how a man she knew for nearly 30 years became a drug addict, hiding it so well that neither she nor anyone else in his life suspected what was happening.
-
-
Fantastic and captivating.
- By Julie Vandenheuvel on 03-12-20
By: Eilene Zimmerman
-
Strung Out
- One Last Hit and Other Lies That Nearly Killed Me
- By: Erin Khar
- Narrated by: Jayme Mattler
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This deeply personal and illuminating memoir about her 15-year struggle with heroin, Khar sheds profound light on the opioid crisis and gives a voice to the over two million people in America currently battling with this addiction. Growing up in LA, Erin Khar hid behind a picture-perfect childhood filled with excellent grades, a popular group of friends and horseback riding. After first experimenting with her grandmother’s expired painkillers, Khar started using heroin when she was thirteen.
-
-
Surface material
- By blythe mayfield on 03-06-20
By: Erin Khar
-
Beautiful Boy
- A Father's Journey through His Son's Meth Addiction
- By: David Sheff
- Narrated by: Anthony Heald
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Sheff's story is a first: a teenager's addiction from the parent's point of view, a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope.
Before meth, Sheff's son, Nic, was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets. With haunting candor, Sheff traces the first warning signs, the attempts at rehabilitation, and, at last, the way past addiction. He shows us that, whatever an addict's fate, the rest of the family must care for one another, too, lest they become addicted to addiction.
-
-
Been There
- By Happy Reader on 11-26-12
By: David Sheff
-
The Fifth Vital
- By: Mike Majlak, Riley J. Ford
- Narrated by: Mike Majlak
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mike Majlak was a 17-year-old from a loving middle-class family in Milford, Connecticut, when he got caught up in the opioid epidemic that swept the nation. For close to a decade thereafter, his life was a wasteland of darkness and despair. While his peers were graduating from college, buying homes, getting married, having kids, and leading normal lives, Mike was snorting Oxycontin, climbing out of cars at gunpoint, and burying his childhood friends.
-
-
Book is straight fire
- By Amazon Customer on 03-04-21
By: Mike Majlak, and others
-
In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts
- Close Encounters with Addiction
- By: Gabor Maté MD
- Narrated by: Daniel Maté
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this timely and profoundly original book, best-selling writer and physician Gabor Maté looks at the epidemic of addictions in our society, tells us why we are so prone to them, and what is needed to liberate ourselves from their hold on our emotions and behaviours.
-
-
Gabor should have been the narrator
- By Stacey on 08-16-19
By: Gabor Maté MD
-
Saving Jake
- When Addiction Hits Home
- By: D'Anne Burwell
- Narrated by: Morgan Hallett
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
D'Anne Burwell's smart, athletic son - raised in a loving and prosperous home - begins abusing OxyContin as a teenager, and within a year drops out of college, walks out of rehab, and lands homeless on the streets of Boulder. Struggling with fear, guilt, and a desperate need to protect her son, D'Anne grapples with her husband's anger and her daughter's depression as the family disease of addiction impacts them all. She discovers the terrifying links between prescription-drug abuse and skyrocketing heroin use.
-
-
An honest look at a mother’s journey into her son’s addiction battle
- By Amazon Customer on 07-16-20
By: D'Anne Burwell
-
If You Love Me
- A Mother's Journey Through Her Daughter's Opioid Addiction
- By: Maureen Cavanagh
- Narrated by: Maureen Cavanagh
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Maureen and her ex-husband Mike see their daughter Katie’s needle track marks for the first time, it is a complete shock. But, slowly, the drug use explains everything - Katie’s constant exhaustion, erratic moods, and all those spoons that have gone missing from the house. Once Mike and Maureen get Katie into detox, Maureen goes to sleep that night hoping that in 48 hours she’ll have her daughter back. It’s not that simple. Like the millions of parents and relatives all over the country, Maureen learns that recovery is neither straightforward nor brief.
-
-
I cried, I laughed, beautiful book
- By Lynney on 08-27-19
By: Maureen Cavanagh
-
Sanity Lost & Found
- A True Story of Brainwashing and Recovery
- By: Tarra Judson Stariell
- Narrated by: Tarra Judson Stariell
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sanity: Lost & Found is a memoir that unfolds like a novel. Using the story of the author's life as the backdrop, she offers a better understanding of how our childhood experiences impact us, how we become shame-based, and what can happen when we do, and how resiliency, compassion, and forgiveness are what it takes to heal from the vicissitudes we all face in life.
-
-
An amazing true story of overcoming terrible thing
- By Anonymous User on 07-27-22
-
Hidden Valley Road
- Inside the Mind of an American Family
- By: Robert Kolker
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their 12 children perfectly spanned the baby boom: the oldest born in 1945, the youngest in 1965. In those years, there was an established script for a family like the Galvins—aspiration, hard work, upward mobility, domestic harmony. But behind the scenes was a different story: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the 10 Galvin boys, one after another, were diagnosed as schizophrenic.
-
-
A story you've never heard before
- By Kelley Cox on 04-19-20
By: Robert Kolker
-
The Pale-Faced Lie
- A True Story
- By: David Crow
- Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Growing up on the Navajo Indian Reservation, David Crow and his siblings idolized their dad. Tall, strong, smart, and brave, the self-taught Cherokee regaled his family with stories of his World War II feats. But as time passed, David discovered the other side of Thurston Crow, the ex-con with his own code of ethics that justified cruelty, violence, lies - even murder. A shrewd con artist with a genius IQ, Thurston intimidated David with beatings to coerce him into doing his criminal bidding. David's mom, too mentally ill to care for her children, couldn't protect him.
-
-
Best new release I’ve read!
- By A. Deal on 02-17-20
By: David Crow
-
Dopesick
- By: Beth Macy
- Narrated by: Beth Macy
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this extraordinary work, Beth Macy takes us into the epicenter of a national drama that has unfolded over two decades. From the labs and marketing departments of big pharma to local doctor's offices; wealthy suburbs to distressed small communities in Central Appalachia; from distant cities to once-idyllic farm towns; the spread of opioid addiction follows a tortuous trajectory that illustrates how this crisis has persisted for so long and become so firmly entrenched.
-
-
Useful, but recommend Dreamland instead
- By Sarah on 08-27-18
By: Beth Macy
-
Tweak
- Growing Up on Methamphetamines
- By: Nic Sheff
- Narrated by: Paul Michael Garcia
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nic Sheff was drunk for the first time at age 11. In the years that followed, he would regularly smoke pot, do cocaine and ecstasy, and develop addictions to crystal meth and heroin. Even so, he felt like he would always be able to quit and put his life together whenever he needed to. It took a violent relapse one summer in California to convince him otherwise.
-
-
Painful Journey
- By David on 11-15-10
By: Nic Sheff
-
The Boy in the Cellar
- By: Stephen Smith
- Narrated by: Oliver J. Hembrough
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Smith is the boy who did not exist. Born out of wedlock in the early 1960s, Steve's parents - both devout Catholics - had felt so 'shamed' by their son's illegitimate birth that they hid him away from the world by locking him in the cellar...for 13 years. Apart from a few admissions to hospital as a result of his 'imprisonment', Steve remained in the coal cellar of the family home where he was deprived of daylight, his childhood, school and human contact until he'd reached his teenage years.
-
-
At first I thought this was horror fiction
- By Ruth Malan on 04-11-20
By: Stephen Smith
-
Three Little Words
- A Memoir
- By: Ashley Rhodes-Courter
- Narrated by: Ashley Rhodes-Courter
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ashley Rhodes-Courter spent nine years of her life in 14 different foster homes. As her mother spirals out of control, Ashley is left clinging to an unpredictable, dissolving relationship, all the while getting pulled deeper and deeper into the foster-care system. In this inspiring, unforgettable memoir, Ashley finds the courage to succeed - and in doing so, discovers the power of her own voice.
-
-
Been there, done that
- By Sher from Provo on 01-16-12
-
Playing Hurt
- My Journey from Despair to Hope
- By: John Saunders, John U. Bacon
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Playing Hurt, a leading figure in the sports world - the quintessential "man's man" who seems to have it all - confesses his constant battle with depression. John Saunders welcomes listeners into the heart of his desperate struggle through insights into the root causes of depression and explanations of modern medical and homeopathic treatments.
-
-
A Story That Can Save Lives!
- By Mike on 02-16-18
By: John Saunders, and others
-
This Common Secret
- My Journey as an Abortion Doctor
- By: Susan Wicklund
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In This Common Secret, Dr. Susan Wicklund chronicles her emotional and dramatic twenty-year career on the front lines of the abortion war. Growing up in working class, rural Wisconsin, Wicklund had her own painful abortion at a young age. It was not until she became a doctor that she realized how many women shared her ordeal of an unwanted pregnancy - and how hidden this common experience remains.
-
-
Gripping
- By Scott Schottler on 03-07-18
By: Susan Wicklund
What listeners say about On Pills and Needles
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rita Watson
- 04-16-22
Was Skeptical
As a long term recovering addict with my fate share of therapeutic communities (both expensive & state spin-dries) plus 40 years of off/on AA, I learned a lot listening to this memoir. Yes, the addict was terribly spoiled financially yet love & acceptance won out.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jo-Di
- 02-14-21
Great story..........
A little dragged out, but definitely good. The narrators voice was a little drab, but you get used to it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- B. Douglas
- 09-09-24
He lived
Disliked the reader - he was angry and although the story is a serious one, i didn’t like that. I have brothers with similar backgrounds and I understand the struggle.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alexander D Campbell
- 01-11-21
Vulnerable story
I really am saddened by the stories in this book though I understand the realness is something many families go through. I have never personally been through our witnesses such a repetitive, anxious, vulnerable tale, yet I thank Rick for sharing. The story was repetitive and I have learned that is what the relentless the author was attempting to explain. All the patience in the world I send to the parents fighting the fight Rick explained.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sue
- 05-28-21
Great Story
This book is great for any parent who has struggled with a child in the throws of addiction. A true visual of what it is like to be that parent. the absolute despair and anguish but the overcoming peace that can be found.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- falcon70
- 11-12-20
Drugs effect the whole family
heartbreaking, and a very powerful listen to.
if you have teenagers you might want to listen to this.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- CHRISTIE
- 03-04-22
Ok
Im sorry but I personally did not like the performance of the narrator in this story. 😕
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jessica shanahan
- 12-24-20
Good Honest and interesting
Didn’t love the narrator. He just seemed flat. But a good overall and honest story.We also have four kids and I could relate to feeling torn at times between all their various activities and the middle child often getting smushed...The father was quite amazing though. You can do everything in the world and never know how it will turn out.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- John
- 08-01-22
Great Listen
Shows the struggles a family goes through when a son has a strong addiction. For anyone who knows someone struggling with addiction this is a great read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeffrey Olsen
- 03-19-18
What is more dramatic the codependency and enabling of the father or the son’s addiction?
It’s difficult to decide who is worse the father who thinks he can make his son’s decisions for him or the son who disregards his father’s efforts. Maybe the son is begging to live his own life and bare the full consequences of his own choices and actions. These two are certainly not done yet. This story, of two people trying to figure out their own problems is just beginning. I feel compassion for both of them.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful