When I met Nicky, a 33-year-old mom of two, and a recovering addict, she told me she’d been a cheerleader, sang in her church choir, and always held a job. But Nicky’s life took a downward turn early on. She started smoking marijuana when she was 11, moved on to using inhalants with her friends, and eventually began shooting heroin. When I interviewed her, she was committed to recovery, but she told me that every day was still a struggle. Her journey was not easy. Addiction, Drug Overdose on The Rise Although these topics have not been getting as much media attention as they did pre-pandemic, both addiction and drug overdose are on the rise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 81,000 people died from drug overdoses between May 2019 and May 2020, the highest number of overdose deaths the CDC has ever recorded in …