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In the cold quiet of her jail cell, struggling without heroin and facing charges, dana realizes she has hit rock bottom. i had scholarship offers from, i mean, i can't even count how many universities. i mean, i could have basically played sports anywhere that i wanted to. stuart! stuart!
Your body goes through withdrawals. so even if the pimp is nowhere near them, the physical need for the drug overwhelms any urge to leave or to report that pimp, to go home, any of that. because they have this physical addiction, and it's not like they can go up to a cvs and say please may i have some heroin? >> once i saw, you know, how much money, the drugs i had made from it, it was, that hushed any concern or any negative feelings i had toward it, you know, because there was no other way that i could get that amount of drugs for, you know, doing anything else. >> you are aware of all the p...
Calling offering dana full athletic scholarships, but she says she started to rebel and chose to stay close to home. >> by the time i got to college, i was just like, you know, i want to hang out and have fun with my friends. it felt like a job almost at the time. the enjoyment was gone. the fun in it was gone. it was so serious, you know, because at that point, it's all about paying for your school. >> after a shoulder injury and with her scholarship on the line, dana started self-medicating to play through the pain. >> you know, my body started to hurt. my knees were hurting. my back was hur...
You know, my habit, it grew so out of control. >> with a $300 a day habit, it's a battle she's losing. >> heroin, especially, especially heroin, i mean, it just changes your brain, you know, how you think. i mean, when you don't have it, you feel like you're dying almost. your body tricks itself. it's like you have to have it, or else you're not going to live anymore. like you're dying. >> unusually articulate, educated, and self aware, officers are surprised to learn her downward spiral from honor student, to addict, to prostitute began with a sports injury. >> i had a really bad rotator cuff...
The college studented admitted being addicted to heroin after a devastating sports injury. she told our cameras this was not the life she had planned. >> you know, i was just a really happy-go-lucky kid, you know, outgoing, had a lot of friends. you know, played a lot of sports. was really active. >> raised in rural michigan, dana personified the all-american girl. studious and athletic, dana wasn't just good. she was exceptional. >> i was always a bright child. very athletic. anything i picked up i excelled at very quickly. >> looking back now, dana says the punishing physical grind and press...