S22.E10: Elizabeth

[PrincessPurrsALot]

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Elizabeth's single mother suffered from depression and alcoholism, and committed suicide when she was 8. She was shuffled in and out of foster homes before her father decided to try and raise her. In high school, she turned to alcohol to cope with her feelings of abandonment and isolation. Eventually Elizabeth began dating a drug dealer and replaced alcohol with opioids. Now 22 and hooked on a deadly combination of fentanyl and cocaine, Elizabeth sells drugs to fund her nearly $400/day addiction. Her father and half-sister are hoping an intervention will save Elizabeth from following her mother's path to an early grave.

Original are date 2021.05.10

[Enero]

The show has profiled several addicts this season who are addicted to fentanyl. I’m just wondering how are these people still walking around? We’ve all heard the horror stories about even a pinch of the drug can kill you and how EMTs, fire and police officers have to wear gloves etc. when dealing with potential fentanyl cases because even getting it on your skin can cause sudden death  due to its potency. Is this just an exaggeration? This drug being 100x more dangerous than other opioids? Or are these addicts being profiled getting a very “watered down” version of the drug which of course is diminishing its potency, and thus danger, significantly?

Anyway, I did feel bad for Elizabeth. She had a rough childhood. Seems like the dad could’ve done more, and I think he knows that, but unfortunately what’s done is done. And now he and the rest of the family are dealing with the result of decisions made when she was a child.

It’s amazing the differences in she and her sister who grew up with the same challenges but how their lives veered down completely different paths. Perhaps the older sister faired much better because she was older and of course a different personality. Some people can go through hell and still go on to live productive lives without relying on vices to cope, while others can experience the same hell and fall into addiction as a result. Elizabeth definitely has abandonment issues, which I think is a big part of what’s driving her addiction in addition to the abuse she experienced in foster care. I thought a lot was missing from that story, about what happened during the short time she was with that foster family. 

I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t stay in treatment.  She had to be coerced into going and though she seemed to want to live a life other than the one she was living, she just wasn’t ready to face what she needed to face to start her recovery. Hopefully she’ll be able to get there before it’s too late. 

[tljgator]

1 hour ago, Enero said:

The show has profiled several addicts this season who are addicted to fentanyl. I’m just wondering how are these people still walking around? We’ve all heard the horror stories about even a pinch of the drug can kill you and how EMTs, fire and police officers have to wear gloves etc. when dealing with potential fentanyl cases because even getting it on your skin can cause sudden death  due to its potency. Is this just an exaggeration? This drug being 100x more dangerous than other opioids? Or are these addicts being profiled getting a very “watered down” version of the drug which of course is diminishing its potency, and thus danger, significantly?

I wondered the same thing, Enero! How do you smoke that much fentanyl and not die? 

The whole story was strange and sad, and the creepy teacher was creepy (his wife was rightly none too pleased with him running off to 'save' her in the middle of the night) -- as usual, it felt like we were missing a lot of the story. I did like the interventionist not taking shit from anyone, but of course, the black screen of justice shows that the dad caved in the end anyway. Wasn't surprised that she left treatment (although it felt amusingly Canadian that the first time she said she'd be back in 10 days and...she was, lol), wasn't surprised she got arrested, was a little surprised she wasn't dead yet.

[Pi237]

‘I love animals more than anything in the world.’

...spills fentanyl all over the carpet where the dogs can eat it. 
 

 

[Red Bridey]

This was another puzzler. I really thought this girl would grab treatment with both hands and work her hardest to get sober. She had a horrible childhood and treatment could really have helped her, but she just couldn't get out of her own traumas. Too bad, she was surrounded by people who loved her, even if they had been unable to prevent her demons from overtaking her.

[mythoughtis]

I got the impression that Ami and Elizabeth had different fathers. Ami called him by his first name and it seemed that only a Elizabeth traveled with him on his converted school bus when she was young( before her mom died).  So I am not sure they had similar childhoods after their mom died. 

 

 

[TVbitch]

The rehab was pretty vague about why Ami left the second time. Something like, she didn't like the feedback she was getting and it became clear that this wasn't the right place for her. Huh? You're a rehab and she's an addict. 

I was wondering if the teacher was secretly in love with Ami or something.  I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I just can't these days. How was his behavior not frowned upon by the school? His wife didn't seem to keen on it. 

I like that the Canada episodes still use the black screen and "5 Steps". 

[Enero]

17 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

I got the impression that Ami and Elizabeth had different fathers. Ami called him by his first name and it seemed that only a Elizabeth traveled with him on his converted school bus when she was young( before her mom died).  So I am not sure they had similar childhoods after their mom died. 

 

 

I thought Ami said they were both sent to foster care after their mom died but that Elizabeth was put with a bad family. 
 

4 hours ago, TVbitch said:

The rehab was pretty vague about why Ami left the second time. Something like, she didn't like the feedback she was getting and it became clear that this wasn't the right place for her. Huh? You're a rehab and she's an addict. 

I was wondering if the teacher was secretly in love with Ami or something.  I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I just can't these days. How was his behavior not frowned upon by the school? His wife didn't seem to keen on it. 

I like that the Canada episodes still use the black screen and "5 Steps". 

I took that to mean she wasn’t ready to face her own responsibility in her addiction and perhaps she even had her own way of addressing things that went against their set processes. So she left. 
 

I agree with you and others about the teacher. I was kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, revealing that he had an inappropriate relationship with her. But I guess if that happened he wouldn’t have been on the show. I did find it creepy though how he became so invested in her as a teen and is still the way, almost even more so than her family. And perhaps it’s the fact that he’s a man. If he was a woman I don’t know if I would’ve been so creeped out by him getting so involved in her life. 

[HelloOutThere]

I really like the interventionist in this episode. She has a powerful, mesmerizing presence. I think someone forceful like that is needed to break through the haze of addiction. She won me with “so you want to be an accessory to her death?” (to the friend) and “And who the fuck is going to take care of your dog when you’re dead?” Love her. Hope we see her more. 

Edited May 15, 2021 by HelloOutThere

[pasdetrois]

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creepy teacher

Immediately I thought: "cash for BJs"

At eight years old your mom kills herself and you are immediately dumped into a stranger's home and sexually abused. Then your big sis - your mom substitute - goes halfway around the world. I never, ever would have left my beloved younger siblings behind in a situation like that.

Dad didn't hold his bottom line.

Maybe Elizabeth will get busted for selling drugs and that will be the start of her desire for recovery.

Great interventionist.

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by pasdetrois

[tvfanatic13]

On 5/12/2021 at 8:45 AM, Pi237 said:

‘I love animals more than anything in the world.’

...spills fentanyl all over the carpet where the dogs can eat it. 
 

 

That upset me so much. 

[sara416]

I'm really curious about what they were talking around when they said that she "didn't like the feedback that she was getting". It could be that she wasn't ready to hear that she was not in control of this, it could be that she was told she had to give up more than just using, but the rest of her lifestyle too and she wasn't ready for that. I think another possiblity was that they wanted her to do trauma work and she just wanted to get clean and not think about her trauma. There's no way she could have stayed sober without touching on that though. Trauma literally changes the makeup of your brain, just like druigs do. I didn't feel like her heart was really in it when she said yes, but I was shocked that she came back when she left the first time. Sounds like she started to get something out of it.