What the Columbine Shooting Taught Me About Pain and Addiction

"Less than an hour after scrambling out the back door of the Columbine High School library, I was lying in a hospital bed, medicated on a variety of substances intended to relieve my pain," recalls survivor Austin Eubanks. That was the beginning of a decade-long addiction that led to a profound realization about the current opioid epidemic: how we manage pain is both the problem and the solution. An injured survivor of the Columbine shooting, Austin Eubanks' traumatic experience as a teen was the catalyst to his painful journey through addiction. Now in long-term recovery, he is a nationally recognized expert on trauma and addiction recovery and the Chief Operating Officer for Foundry Treatment Center in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. This is a transcript of a talk that was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.