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SPEAKER: You know, all this week, we are hearing from Minnesotans affected by the overdose epidemic that has killed tens of thousands of Americans last year. In Minnesota, overdose deaths from prescription painkillers and heroin have increased five-fold over the last decade and a half.
And the problem is not limited to big cities. Reporter Jon Collins has the story of a young man whose heroin addiction started when he was at the Elk River High School. His best friend died of an overdose. And he says there are days he still feels like joining him.
JON COLLINS: Posters of Michael Jordan still hang on the walls of Dylan Pearson's old bedroom. Alongside them are memorials the friends brought over after Dylan's funeral. Even more than a year after he died, his close friend, Nick Leclair, still comes over. Nick and Dylan met in junior high when they played together on a basketball team coached by Dylan's stepdad.
NICK LECLAIR: Yeah. We kind of hung out during tournaments and stuff. And then, from then on, about ninth grade, we had started smoking weed together. So we were kind of hanging out, just doing what teenagers do, I guess.
JON COLLINS: Another high school friend offered a bag of heroin when they were freshmen. That's when Dylan and Nick snorted their first lines together.
NICK LECLAIR: End of sophomore year leading into junior year, I was shooting up heroin. I told myself I never was going to touch a needle. I never was going to be sticking a needle in my arm. And I don't know, just kind of escalated really quickly.
JON COLLINS: The cravings for heroin took their toll. Nick would be so sick from withdrawal by second period that he'd leave school with his friends and drive to the Twin Cities to look for drugs.
NICK LECLAIR: Crashed my car. I've overdosed four times. The hospital bills are outrageous. The ambulance bills are outrageous. And it's just-- it got to the point where it was trying to end my life because that was the best option I could think of, you know?
JON COLLINS: Run ragged by addiction, both boys sought treatment multiple times. Dylan finished a program in Florida last January. Nick says Dylan was excited to be sober and to go home.
NICK LECLAIR: I had got a phone call from his mom. And his mom, she had told us that Dylan had died. And she was crying. And I don't know. I guess, after his court date, he just thought maybe he could try it one more time or-- that one time killed him.
JON COLLINS: Nick sits on a couch in the living room, just up the stairs from Dylan's basement bedroom. He says it's too quiet. Sometimes he stayed over with Dylan's parents for days. He's trying to help, but it worries his own family.
NICK LECLAIR: It's very rough going into his room, you know? He'd always have to be in his room if you were in there. Just kind of feels weird. It doesn't feel right. It feels like he's in Florida or something, and we're just waiting for him to come home.
JON COLLINS: Nick relapsed after Dylan's death but has been clean now for almost a year. He's not working or going to school, but he is going to substance abuse support groups.
NICK LECLAIR: It's been rough. I mean, there's days where I feel like I feel like joining him. But there's also days that it's like-- we need to do this in Dylan's name and make a change, try to make a change. It's going to be a hard change, but.
JON COLLINS: And almost every day, Nick still puts on red and black Michael Jordan gear in Dylan's honor. Covering health, Jon Collins, Minnesota Public Radio News.