Lewis “Menace” Wright – A Story of Perseverance, Strength, and Support through Substance Use Disorder and Recovery
Lewis Wright - known to many around southern Ohio as Menace - is a musician, motorcycle enthusiast, father, husband, cancer survivor, and as someone with a lived experience of substance use, an advocate for individuals with substance use disorder. Menace has spent extensive time working at his local syringe exchange, organizing to change laws that are unjust, and most recently, working for treatment providers conducting outreach services – drawing on his lived experience and training as a peer supporter.
Menace began using drugs early in life, and was sentenced to spend 11 years in prison. While he was serving time, his son was` murdered. Devastated and guilt-ridden that he wasn’t there for him, Menace turned to cocaine upon his release. As time passed, he began to feel the effects of his substance use chipping away at relationships and slowly consuming his life. He moved from New Jersey to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he attempted to overcome his dependence on cocaine. He got a job driving semi-trucks and was making progress in his recovery when he was in a life-altering accident. He was rushed to the hospital where they performed emergency surgery, only to have him suffer a heart attack on the operating table. The surgery itself was successful, but to aid in his recovery and treat his pain, Menace was prescribed an opioid.
Given the rising rates of prescription drug use in the US and the mounting pressure doctors face to dole out fewer pain medications, Menace’s doctor stopped filling his prescription. Not having access to the opioids his body and mind had become so accustomed to, he quickly became very ill, which he came to learn was ‘dopesickness’ - a term used to describe the extreme physical side effects of opioid withdrawal. He did what he could to avoid dopesickness. “You become desperate, and once you become desperate, anything to do with common sense or anything to do with right or wrong it’s out the window because you just want to get better. So a lot of time it takes good people and makes them look bad because they have a sickness.” Once again, he felt it put a strain on relationships with family and friends and took a toll on his overall wellbeing. The real driving force to make a change, though, was his daughter, Reny. One day, he looked at her and realized that this was not the life he wanted to lead, and became determined to do whatever it would take to overcome his substance use disorder. He began taking buprenorphine, a medication commonly used to treat opioid use disorder, and never looked back.
“I ended up going to counseling, and they ended up sending me to a buprenorphine clinic…once I got into that clinic there was no turning back…That clinic saved my life, man. God first, but that clinic saved my life.”
He has been on buprenorphine for over a decade, and with the support of his wife, Crystal, his daughters Skiland, Reny, Heavyn, and Amirya, and his faith, has been able to continue in his recovery and live a life filled with love and self-forgiveness. Since I first talked with Menace, he has since welcomed his first grandchild into the world, who he calls his “Little Biker Man” – an homage to his passion for motorcycles.
Menace has felt the crushing weight of stigma for people who use drugs first-hand, and stresses the importance of supporting those who find themselves in active drug use or recovery:
“I used to have people be cool as hell with me until they find out that I used. And then, you can see it in their face, you can see how they start moving around you, that they don’t trust you. You can see how they move around you that they think something else of you. That they don’t think the same about you… Give them a chance to feel love again, because drugs take away that. A lot of us made the mistake thinking that drugs are the answer, and it became a problem. So we lost touch. And people don’t help it when they push you away. They just make you go deeper and deeper and deeper into this dark hole.”
He also espouses hope for others that have been struggling with substance use disorder: “Even though you’ve gone through a traumatic experience don’t mean life is over for you”.
He now uses his story to help individuals who are trying to enter the recovery process. “If I don’t save but one person that’s a good save, because that one person went through the same thing that I just did. It's a domino effect. Nobody says you have to have a whole box of dominos…all you need is the one. The one to tip over. And once it tips over then you can walk on.”
For information about treatment and harm reduction services in Southern Ohio, reach out at dcolston@ohio.edu.
Thank you to Menace for trusting us with his story and for the work he is doing day in and day out. Thank you Appalachia Unite and community leaders integral to efforts to de-stigmatize buprenorphine for health care providers and folks who want to stop or reduce their opioid use.
If you are interested in hearing one of Menace's songs, listen to "A letter to Gram ma", below.