US: Woman Speaks Out a Year After her Drug Overdose Picture Went Viral

A woman from Indiana US had become the infamous "face of drug addiction" after a photo of her having overdosed on heroin went viral. Now a year later speaks out about her journey.

She was put in jail last October when the police found her unconscious behind the wheels. An empty syringe was in her fingers and her 10-month old son was in the back in a car seat. The medics had to revive her from a heroin overdose.

Erika Hurt, then 25, saw the photo, which went viral, when she was in jail. The photo came on the evening news, as the police in the town of Hope posted the photo showing Erika unconscious behind the wheel to draw attention to heroin abuse. In an interview with NBC news, she says that she was angry when she first saw the picture. “They exposed me and my addiction to the whole world,” she said.

She blamed the police for showing the world her private addiction.

However, a year after the photo, she is happy that the photo went viral. “The fact that I’m able to look back on that picture and see where the addiction had taken me, and I’m able to use that picture now to show others that addicts can recover.”

Moreover, she has even re-posted the photo on her Facebook page, along with pictures of her current life.

https://www.facebook.com/erika.hurt.7/posts/1823834004302649

“I’ve decided to repost the picture simply because it displays exactly what heroin addiction is, she posted... Today, I am able to focus on the good that came from that picture. Today, I am a mother to my son, again. Today, I am able to be grateful to actually have solid proof where addiction will only lead you, and today I am able to say that I am ONE YEAR SOBER!” she wrote on Facebook.

Furthermore, many are calling her story an inspiration.

Source: NYT

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