America's Heroin Epidemic

Since ridding her body of heroin, Merry says she hasn't used for two weeks. Staying sober becomes more difficult when you live in a community like Richland County, Lisa says.

"It's not so easy for a heroin addict to just check into some kind of facility to get clean," Lisa says. "[In Richland County] there is not a single detox facility. These users have to do it at home or somewhere, and it's a long process. It takes sometimes a couple of weeks to start feeling normal again after coming down from heroin."

Detox rids the body of toxins, but it doesn't help ease the addiction. To learn to live with the disease, many addicts enter treatment programs...a choice Merry must face.