I Was Shooting Heroin and No One Had Any Idea | 18 Years Sober

I Was Shooting Heroin and No One Had Any Idea | 18 Years Sober

From Rise Above with Kevin Lanning by Kevin Lanning

August 31, 2026 · 1h 12m

About this episode

Justin Gurland shares his journey from addiction to recovery and his work in behavioral health.

Justin Gurland grew up the oldest of four in a close, loving New Jersey family — family dinners every night, a dad who was a doctor and coached his teams, a childhood that looked idyllic from the outside. But Justin always felt a little different, a little black-sheep-ish, and from the very first time he drank at 13, he'd found the feeling he didn't know he was missing. By college at the University of Vermont, the partying had curdled into something darker. His whole crew got hooked on opiates, and Justin moved seamlessly from OxyContin to heroin. He moved to New York City telling himself the problem was geographic — that he'd learn to "drink like a gentleman" — and instead spent the next few years in the darkest, most isolated stretch of his life, secretly using IV heroin while keeping up appearances just enough to avoid the alarms. It all came down when his sister walked into his bedroom and found his works out in the open, and weeks later, when his doctor father spotted the abscess on his hand. In one of the most powerful scenes he shares, Justin describes grabbing his dad by his white coat and telling him he needed him more than he ever had in his life. He detoxed that night…

People in this episode

Host: Kevin Lanning

Guest: Justin Gurland

Topics covered

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Maze

Places: New Jersey, University of Vermont, New York City

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