A Doctor Got Addicted to the Drugs He Prescribed — and Became the Real Dopesick Character | Dr. Stephen Lloyd

Dr. Steven Lloyd walked into detox with 24 people in his phone. He was the only one who went to treatment. Twenty-three went back to the street. He never got over it.

Before he became Chief Medical Officer at Cedar Recovery, President of the Tennessee Medical Board, or Drug Czar for West Virginia — he was a practicing doctor who got addicted to the drugs he prescribed. He checked into detox anonymously. Nobody knew who he was.

His story was so compelling that Beth Macy, author of the New York Times bestseller Dopesick, worked with him for years. When Hulu turned the book into a series, a character built from his real life ended up in the show.

Now 22 years sober, Dr. Lloyd is in rooms with national leaders — including RFK Jr., who has been in recovery from heroin for more than four years and still attends seven AA meetings a week — working to build a national care system where recovery is accessible to everyone, regardless of circumstance.

His one piece of advice for anyone still out there: as long as you're alive, it's not too late.