How My Grandma Fueled My Opiate Addiction, Eventually Leading Me to Heroin & Crack

In this powerful and eye-opening episode of Get a Grip Podcast, Louis Essig and Aaron Garnes sit down with Mike Osbourne for an honest, unfiltered conversation about growing up around drugs, falling into addiction at a young age, stealing to support his habit, homelessness, devastating family loss, and finding a way out. Mike takes us back to his childhood, where drug dealing was already part of his family's environment. By sixth grade, he was smoking weed and drinking alcohol, and his substance use was already causing problems at school. After getting suspended for drinking, things continued to escalate as he moved from marijuana and alcohol into prescription painkillers, starting with Percocet. In one of the more shocking parts of his story, Mike reveals that his own grandmother became his first major pill dealer.

As his addiction progressed, Mike began running a dangerous scheme at work, taking advantage of the people he was supposed to be helping and stealing prescription medication from clients. He explains how the scheme worked, how he eventually got caught, and the consequences that followed. Jail became another chapter in his life, but it didn't stop the cycle. After being introduced to heroin, Mike found himself caught in a much deeper level of addiction. He shares his early attempts to get clean, the criminal activity he turned to in order to fund his drug use, and the desperate lengths he went to just to survive. At one point, Mike was homeless during the freezing winter months, using a bottle of his own urine to try to keep himself warm. It's a disturbing glimpse into just how far addiction had taken him.

Then, in an unimaginable five-week period, Mike lost both of his brothers. Faced with devastating grief and the reality of where his life was headed, he eventually began making changes. As he entered recovery, he also discovered that he was going to become a father, giving him another reason to fight for a different future. Today, Mike has a decade clean, and his life looks nothing like the one he once knew. He reflects on the choices, losses, and turning points that brought him to recovery, and what life has become after ten years away from the chaos of addiction. This is a story about family, betrayal, survival, grief, fatherhood, and the possibility of rebuilding a life after hitting rock bottom.

⏱ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Title of First Chapter
01:00 – Growing Up Around Drugs & Getting Introduced to Addiction Early
05:00 – Smoking Weed & Drinking in 6th Grade
05:30 – Getting Suspended for Drinking at School
08:00 – Progressing From Alcohol & Weed to Painkillers
11:00 – His Grandma Becomes His First Major Pill Dealer
13:30 – Stealing Prescription Pills From Clients at Work
15:30 – How He Got Caught Stealing Pills
18:00 – His Experience Behind Bars
23:00 – How He Was Introduced to Hroin
24:30 – Early Attempts at Getting Sober
29:00 – What He Stole to Support His Addiction
33:00 – Homeless in the Winter, Using a Bottle of Urne to Stay Warm
41:30 – Losing Both of His Brothers Within Five Weeks
44:00 – Finding Recovery & Discovering He Was Going to Be a Father
50:00 – Life After 10 Years of Sobriety