ABC Tulsa Interview

by Tyler Butler, the KTUL staff

Monday, August 26th, 2019

Todd Huston, a motivational speaker, and author, was prescribed one round of painkillers after an accident and another when things got worse; Monday, August 26, 2019 (KTUL)

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Todd Huston was many things as a young man: a football player, an eagle scout, and a patient.

“I was behind a boat when I was 14, on Lake Tenkiller here in northeastern Oklahoma, when the boat slipped into reverse, and I got caught in the propellers,” Huston said.

He was rushed to the hospital.

“I actually flatlined on them twice that day,” he said.

He was prescribed one round of painkillers after the accident and another when things got worse.

“I had to have my lower leg amputated because of complications, and I had to go through another round of painkillers to deal with that situation,” Huston said.

That is when Todd started down another path.

“It’s very innocent, how you can get addicted to these things,” he said. “It’s not like you go out and say, ‘I’m gonna get addicted to these things.’ What happens is you get prescribed the medication, you need it. You can be in a lot of pain. You start taking the medication, and it helps.”

But occasional doses quickly turn into taking the medications all the time. Huston was self-aware enough to one day quit the pills cold turkey. He hasn’t had an opioid in years, even when he’s had access to them.

“Last week, I had some dental work done, the doctor prescribed oxycontin to me,” Huston said.

Huston says today’s verdict is promising if the money makes it to the right places to get people to help, but willpower is the most valuable tool.

“We will never, no matter how much money we get, we will never kick the drug addiction problem in Oklahoma until the people in Oklahoma decide they don’t want to be drug addicts.” Click here for Orginal Story