Story of a Pittsburgh area cop who moved from pain killer addiction to Heroin: 'American tragedy'

James B. Johnson V’s arrest exemplifies what his attorney says is a modern “American tragedy” ”” an injury leads to painkiller addiction which, in turn, leads to heroin use.

“Local kid gets injured, gets hooked on opioids and can’t get off of them,” attorney D. Scott Lautner said Thursday. “This clearly shows the drug epidemic problem in the United States right now, that it affects everybody of different ages, sexes, religions and occupations.”

In this case, the addict is a police officer.

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