Hope After Heroin: The Epidemic in Our Backyard

Hope After Heroin explores the opioid crisis and the widespread impact of heroin use across Western Pennsylvania. This WQED documentary features people who have faced addiction—either personally or through someone they love—sharing their experiences of loss, stigma, and the realities of living through it.

As the stories unfold, Hope After Heroin shows how widespread the crisis has become, affecting communities across all backgrounds. At the same time, it highlights a shift as more people begin speaking openly about addiction, using their experiences to support others and show that recovery is possible.

You can also watch a one-hour follow up panel discussion, Hope After Heroin: Fighting the Epidemic

"Every time I speak, it just takes a little chisel out of the brick wall to reduce the stigma and raise awareness."

"Heroin tricks the brain into thinking the drug is needed to survive. That, combined with intense physical pain, forces people back for more."⁵

"If you just incarcerate a person with addiction and don’t get them treatment, there’s a very, very high likelihood they’re just going to come back out and continue to use."⁶

"We’ve [Sage’s Army] advocated for the Narcan, we’ve advocated for the prescription database, the Good Samaritan Bill … we open our door to anybody that needs help and we try to guide and inspire them to the next step."

"Laura Propst started NOM (Not One More) Pittsburgh after both of her children became addicted to heroin; We have a lot of families, parents, wives, children who are experiencing a lot of loss and grief and they just need a comfortable place to land."

¹ Opioid pharmaceutical marketing, led by Purdue Pharma's 1996 launch of OxyContin, aggressively promoted long-acting opioids for chronic non-cancer pain, shifting from strict, short-term usage paradigms. Misleading tactics—including overstating safety, downplaying addiction risks, and funding biased educational materials—drove widespread prescribing, fueling a major public health crisis, resulting in exponential overdose increases, and leading to billions in corporate settlements.
² Opioid and drug use disorders remain a major and growing public health crisis across the Americas. A 2026 Pan American Health Organization report estimated that 17.7 million people in the region were living with a drug use disorder in 2021, with nearly 78,000 deaths directly attributable to these disorders, including sharp increases linked to opioids and highly potent synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
³ Research has shown that many people who use heroin previously misused prescription opioids, with economic factors often contributing to the transition. Rising prescription and street prices for opioid painkillers have been linked to people seeking cheaper alternatives such as heroin or fentanyl, while illicit drugs also carry increased risks due to contamination and inconsistent potency.
⁴ Opioids such as heroin can produce intense feelings of euphoria, but long-term use also leads to physical dependence and painful withdrawal symptoms. Common opioid withdrawal effects include sweating, muscle aches, stomach pain, anxiety, insomnia, chills, nausea, and diarrhea, with symptoms often peaking within several days after stopping use.
⁵ Opioid addiction and dependence are chronic brain disorders associated with long-term changes to brain reward, motivation, and self-control systems. Research has shown that opioids can disrupt the brain’s natural reward pathways by triggering large dopamine releases, reinforcing compulsive drug use and increasing physical dependence over time.
⁶ Research has shown that substance use disorders are highly prevalent within incarcerated populations, and that relapse and rearrest rates remain high when treatment is not provided. Studies have also found that offering addiction treatment — including medications for opioid use disorder — during incarceration can reduce relapse, overdose risk, and recidivism following release.