At a time when the state of Florida is suing drugmakers over the opioid epidemic, a new center in the Tampa Bay Area says it wants to help those addicted.
"Clean Life" just opened in Largo and it offers detox treatments. 10News reporter Bianca Graulau spoke to one of its patients about his recovery at the center.
"I knew I had to do something or I was going to end up overdosing or killing myself," the patient said.
He asked that I don't show his face for fear of the stigma attached to addiction.
"It started with sports injuries and that's how I got addicted to opiates," he said.
But he wanted me to know he's at a turning point.
"I was losing too many things in my life."
He has tried to get clean before, but addiction had too tight of a grip on him.
"I needed the opiates just to get dressed...just to go out on a date," he added.
Now, he has spent a little over a week at Clean Life in Largo. He says he has been getting medical treatment to detox his body, but also things like meditation and support.
"I can say this place has helped save my life."
And that's exactly what the staff at Clean Life says they want to do for patients. They told us, we're here to help people and give them their lives back.
The center opened just 2 weeks ago.
"Why here? It was really needed in the community."
But it has already had almost 20 patients. Only time will tell if the center can really offer long-term success to its patients.
"I think the biggest struggle is with the patients that already left, what happened with them?"
But at least one of them is hopeful.
"I'm not saying in eight days everything is rainbows, but I've come a long way," the patient added.
The staff says they work with patients to come up with a payment plan they can afford.
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