Heroin How I Used Heroin in Medical School and Still Became a Doctor

[red22]

In this powerful episode, Louis Essig and Aaron Garnes sit down with Dr. Nicole Labor to hear a story that challenges everything people think they know about addiction, recovery, and redemption.
Nicole grew up in a strict household where drugs were something to fear and avoid. But like many stories of addiction, the path didn’t begin where anyone expected. What started with heavy drinking as a teenager eventually led her into the counterculture world of the Grateful Dead scene, where she became a devoted “Dead Head” and began experimenting more deeply with substances.
Despite her growing substance use, Nicole pursued an ambitious path into medicine. While studying and preparing for a career as a physician, her drug use escalated—eventually leading to an addiction to powerful opiates. In a shocking turn, Nicole entered medical school already struggling with addiction. What began with prescription pills quickly progressed to Oxy 160s and ultimately to heroin. At one point, she was traveling to New Jersey to cop heroin while simultaneously trying to maintain the life of a future doctor.
In one of the most gripping parts of the conversation, Nicole opens up about injecting heroin while attending medical school and somehow still managing to graduate. She candidly describes the moment she admitted to her school that she was addicted, the painful cycle of detox and relapse, and the crushing weight of living a double life as a doctor battling heroin addiction.
But Nicole’s story doesn’t end there.
After hitting bottom, she eventually found recovery—and today she has 17 years of documented sobriety. Now a physician specializing in addiction medicine, she dedicates her life to helping others escape the same disease that nearly destroyed her.
Nicole also shares how her journey brought her to Akron, Ohio—the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous—and how personal tragedy, including the loss of her husband after his struggles with addiction and incarceration, further shaped her mission.
In this deeply honest conversation, Dr. Labor explains why addiction is truly a disease, how it works in the brain, and why people struggling with it deserve treatment, compassion, and understanding rather than shame.
This is the story of a woman who shot heroin in medical school and still became a doctor—and who now uses that experience to save lives.
A raw, eye-opening conversation about addiction, resilience, and the possibility of recovery no matter how far someone has fallen.

⏱ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Title of First Chapter
00:02:30 – Childhood
00:04:45 – First Time Drinking (14 Beers at 14)
00:13:00 – Meeting the Deadheads & Entering the Culture
00:19:00 – Studying Medicine While Doing Drugs
00:21:00 – Starting Medical School Addicted to Opiates
00:26:00 – Peer Pressuring a Guy in Recovery to Drink → Getting Oxy 160s
00:28:00 – Transitioning From Oxy to H3roin
00:29:00 – Buying H3roin in New Jersey
00:30:30 – In Medical School While Using IV Heroin
00:32:00 – Admitting to Her College She Was Addicted to H3roin
00:34:30 – Going Through Detox
00:37:00 – Leaving Detox and Using Again Immediately
00:43:00 – How She Now Has 17 Years of Documented Sobriety
00:45:00 – Getting Into Addiction Medicine
00:48:00 – Ending Up in Akron, Ohio
00:50:00 – Husband’s Addiction, Prison, and Overdose
00:56:00 – Why Addiction Is a Disease
01:01:00 – How Addiction Actually Works

Expect emotion. Expect truth. Expect hope.

Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more powerful stories on addiction, recovery, and resilience.

Get a Grip Podcast Social Media: Find our TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio links, a more on our Link Tree below!

Get a Grip Social Media Links: ⁠https://linktr.ee/officialgetagrippodcast

For Collaboration and Business inquiries, please use the contact information below:

Email: [email protected]

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

#getagrip #redemptionstory #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #addictionrecovery #recoveryjourney #trauma #childhood #oxy #dealer #soberlife #wedorecover #childhoodtrauma #healing #inspiration #awareness #kingpin #trafficking #hustle #opioidcrisis #neardeathexperience #fyp #prison #bar #mistake #change #survivor #survival #tv #television #inspire #parole #officer #school #teacher #students #study #student #changinglives

 

[streaM Freak]

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

I don't advise using heroin.

Next.

 

[Dr. John Thackery]

wow what a unique and rare thing for doctors and scientists to use narcotics. *sarcasam*

she thinks this is special or rare? lol.

 

[streaM Freak]

wow what a unique and rare thing for doctors and scientists to use narcotics. *sarcasam*

she thinks this is special or rare? lol.

Yeah I agree - when the video is dropped with spam slop afterward and no real context it's hard to understand what the point is.

Maybe the point was to lessen the guilt we feel about using? That's a constructive thing to talk about

 

[fuckabout89]

In this powerful episode, Louis Essig and Aaron Garnes sit down with Dr. Nicole Labor to hear a story that challenges everything people think they know about addiction, recovery, and redemption.
Nicole grew up in a strict household where drugs were something to fear and avoid. But like many stories of addiction, the path didn’t begin where anyone expected. What started with heavy drinking as a teenager eventually led her into the counterculture world of the Grateful Dead scene, where she became a devoted “Dead Head” and began experimenting more deeply with substances.
Despite her growing substance use, Nicole pursued an ambitious path into medicine. While studying and preparing for a career as a physician, her drug use escalated—eventually leading to an addiction to powerful opiates. In a shocking turn, Nicole entered medical school already struggling with addiction. What began with prescription pills quickly progressed to Oxy 160s and ultimately to heroin. At one point, she was traveling to New Jersey to cop heroin while simultaneously trying to maintain the life of a future doctor.
In one of the most gripping parts of the conversation, Nicole opens up about injecting heroin while attending medical school and somehow still managing to graduate. She candidly describes the moment she admitted to her school that she was addicted, the painful cycle of detox and relapse, and the crushing weight of living a double life as a doctor battling heroin addiction.
But Nicole’s story doesn’t end there.
After hitting bottom, she eventually found recovery—and today she has 17 years of documented sobriety. Now a physician specializing in addiction medicine, she dedicates her life to helping others escape the same disease that nearly destroyed her.
Nicole also shares how her journey brought her to Akron, Ohio—the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous—and how personal tragedy, including the loss of her husband after his struggles with addiction and incarceration, further shaped her mission.
In this deeply honest conversation, Dr. Labor explains why addiction is truly a disease, how it works in the brain, and why people struggling with it deserve treatment, compassion, and understanding rather than shame.
This is the story of a woman who shot heroin in medical school and still became a doctor—and who now uses that experience to save lives.
A raw, eye-opening conversation about addiction, resilience, and the possibility of recovery no matter how far someone has fallen.

⏱ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Title of First Chapter
00:02:30 – Childhood
00:04:45 – First Time Drinking (14 Beers at 14)
00:13:00 – Meeting the Deadheads & Entering the Culture
00:19:00 – Studying Medicine While Doing Drugs
00:21:00 – Starting Medical School Addicted to Opiates
00:26:00 – Peer Pressuring a Guy in Recovery to Drink → Getting Oxy 160s
00:28:00 – Transitioning From Oxy to H3roin
00:29:00 – Buying H3roin in New Jersey
00:30:30 – In Medical School While Using IV Heroin
00:32:00 – Admitting to Her College She Was Addicted to H3roin
00:34:30 – Going Through Detox
00:37:00 – Leaving Detox and Using Again Immediately
00:43:00 – How She Now Has 17 Years of Documented Sobriety
00:45:00 – Getting Into Addiction Medicine
00:48:00 – Ending Up in Akron, Ohio
00:50:00 – Husband’s Addiction, Prison, and Overdose
00:56:00 – Why Addiction Is a Disease
01:01:00 – How Addiction Actually Works

Expect emotion. Expect truth. Expect hope.

Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more powerful stories on addiction, recovery, and resilience.

Get a Grip Podcast Social Media: Find our TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio links, a more on our Link Tree below!

Get a Grip Social Media Links: ⁠https://linktr.ee/officialgetagrippodcast

For Collaboration and Business inquiries, please use the contact information below:

Email: [email protected]

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

#getagrip #redemptionstory #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #addictionrecovery #recoveryjourney #trauma #childhood #oxy #dealer #soberlife #wedorecover #childhoodtrauma #healing #inspiration #awareness #kingpin #trafficking #hustle #opioidcrisis #neardeathexperience #fyp #prison #bar #mistake #change #survivor #survival #tv #television #inspire #parole #officer #school #teacher #students #study #student #changinglives

Must be the reason doctors are so shitty. I seen some many mentally unstable psych doctors and they end up taking their trauma out on their patients.

 

[Dr. John Thackery]

Must be the reason doctors are so shitty. I seen some many mentally unstable psych doctors and they end up taking their trauma out on their patients.

should’ve stayed on heroin that would be a chill doctor

 

[fuckabout89]

should’ve stayed on heroin that would be a chill doctor

No actually I prefer a big booty psychologist who smokes meth then I might be able to loose my virginity.

 

[red22]

Must be the reason doctors are so shitty. I seen some many mentally unstable psych doctors and they end up taking their trauma out on their patients.

Doctor sued for locking up patients to bill their insurance!

"An Arkansas psychiatrist, Brian Hyatt, is being sued by 26 former patients and counting alleging that he locked them up against their will as part of an insurance fraud scheme! They say the hospital, Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, Arkansas, was being run like a prison. The plaintiffs are accusing the hospital staff of mistreatment ranging from breaking their ribs, having fistfights with patients, forcibly sedating them if they asked to be let out, and lying and threatening to get them to sign forms that turned out to be voluntary commitment forms."

 

[fuckabout89]

Doctor sued for locking up patients to bill their insurance!

"An Arkansas psychiatrist, Brian Hyatt, is being sued by 26 former patients and counting alleging that he locked them up against their will as part of an insurance fraud scheme! They say the hospital, Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, Arkansas, was being run like a prison. The plaintiffs are accusing the hospital staff of mistreatment ranging from breaking their ribs, having fistfights with patients, forcibly sedating them if they asked to be let out, and lying and threatening to get them to sign forms that turned out to be voluntary commitment forms."

You ever hear about doctors that have cut the wrong leg off?

 

[chippermonk]

I had a friend from high school who became a doctor. We drifted apart so I don't know details, but he ended getting an opioid habit, stealing drugs I gather. He got busted and lost his license, which was especially hard because his father was a doctor. He ended up killing himself. He had never seemed naturally depressed but people have secrets of course.

 

[notsmokeymcpot42088]

Sorry to hear that man^

wow what a unique and rare thing for doctors and scientists to use narcotics. *sarcasam*

she thinks this is special or rare? lol.

^This -- ya won me back over.

Here is the story --- they umm never got caught during medical school while passing medical school. My father was a Dr -- not so much a heroin guy but certainly liked a good buzz. Not an MD so not special I guess but yea common tale - a friend of mine's dad was a doctor, user, and a source.

 

[notsmokeymcpot42088]

I don't advise using heroin.

Next.

Whatt -- my takeaway was IF I STARTED HEROIN I WOULD BECOME A DOCTOR?? Is this not the case.... haha

 

[chippermonk]

Well, I guess starting heroin could give you more incentive to become a doctor, as long you are alright with settling for legal opioids. Just don't end up like my friend

 

[TheFunkeeJunkee]

I got my BSc and MSc while I was absolutely plastered on smack. Laboratories, exams, group projects, research project, all of it.

I don't know if I would've been able to handle university without something on board.

 

[Featherfall]

I got my BSc and MSc while I was absolutely plastered on smack. Laboratories, exams, group projects, research project, all of it.

I don't know if I would've been able to handle university without something on board.

of what i hear about the "functional" period of opioid addiction/use it might genuinly make people work REALLY well for a bit lol, you can prolly see it best with kratom users

 

[Featherfall]

of what i hear about the "functional" period of opioid addiction/use it might genuinly make people work REALLY well for a bit lol, you can prolly see it best with kratom users

i mean shit the thai were chewing kratom on the field for a reason i imagine, prolly similar to the coca leaf and old poppy tea use

 

[cnnka]

Doctors use always the best drugs period.

 

[notsmokeymcpot42088]

of what i hear about the "functional" period of opioid addiction/use it might genuinly make people work REALLY well for a bit lol, you can prolly see it best with kratom users

I think you are underestimating people. I have known people who are high salary professionals in a few fields who been hooked on dope for DECADES. (Not so much heroin since fentanyl) but REAL opiates.
/
Ask the wallstreet people --- or the corner boys (especially those that do mornings). People from all walks of life have and have been having habits they have learned to control (Not abuse?) Splitting hairs?

 

[Featherfall]

I think you are underestimating people. I have known people who are high salary professionals in a few fields who been hooked on dope for DECADES. (Not so much heroin since fentanyl) but REAL opiates.
/
Ask the wallstreet people --- or the corner boys (especially those that do mornings). People from all walks of life have and have been having habits they have learned to control (Not abuse?) Splitting hairs?

yeah no i agree actually, i just imagine its easier with some opioids than others to "function"

 

[4DQSAR]

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) in the US, you must graduate from an accredited 4-year osteopathic medical school, complete residency training, and pass licensing exams (COMLEX-USA)

Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. (FASAM) It is a designation recognizing addiction medicine specialists in the United States who have demonstrated extensive knowledge, experience, and commitment to the field of addiction medicine.

Note the latter has no licenced exams.

I am ALWAYS suspicious of the motives of someone who ''bears their soul' in such an interview. But then, it's a free ad and check out the prices the two places in Akron she apparently works for. Just last week a frind sent me a book called 'Free Repeats' and again, a MD who lost their licence and wrote a book about it. Now they specifically work with clinicians who are addicts.

I just seems odd that there is a career path for people who, lets face it, abused their position of trust. In that case they got their licence back, and have gone down that same career path. Who knows if when high, they didn't kill patients?

Of course, in the UK we had Harold Shipman who was caught writing pethidine prescriptions for himself, got his licence back after six months and murdered who knows how many of his patients? He was charged and found guilty for fifteen specimen offences but the public enquierty suggest he killed 215 with some saying 250.

It IS a huge problem but IF doctors can see a career path even if they get caught, will that result in more or fewer cases of clinicians stealing drugs?