Suburban Junky: From Honor Roll to Heroin Addict

Jude Hassan was an ordinary, all-American kid. He had two amazing parents who gave him everything, especially a loving home. At fourteen, Jude's family moved from their home in the city to a beautiful suburban town on the outskirts of St. Louis. Suddenly, Jude was faced with being the new kid for the first time in his young life. He struggled to find his way in his new surroundings but continued to make straight A's and excel in sports. When a fellow student approached him about attending a party, he was apprehensive but eager to experience his first social gathering. Unfortunately, that was the night that Jude was introduced to marijuana. Within weeks, Jude was experimenting with harder drugs, including prescription pills. Eventually, he was introduced to heroin as a sophomore and his life was never the same. Slowly but surely, he lost everything. It took multiple stints in rehab, two enforced jail detoxes, his father's cancer diagnosis, and a looming multi-decade prison sentence to bring him back from the black hole he found himself in.

A letter from the author:

"When I first wrote Suburban Junky, the United States was in the midst of a relentless heroin epidemic. Ten years later, it pains me to say that things have only gotten worse. Heroin has taken a back seat to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid one-hundred times stronger than morphine and fifty times stronger than heroin. In 2021, drug overdose deaths topped 100,000 for the first time on record. That amounts to one overdose death every five minutes. To make matters even worse, counterfeit pills have flooded the streets. Illegal pill presses are churning out fentanyl-laced Percocets and Xanax bars at an alarming rate. In turn, these pills are then pushed to unsuspecting teens and addicts all across the country. It's a toxic combination that has led to incredible pain and suffering and far too many deaths.

I hope that my story will help bring awareness to the perils of teenage drug use. I hope that my story saves the kid out there who might be lost, or stuck at a crossroads like I was. Finally, for those already suffering, there is life after drugs. It is beautiful and achievable."