this is "nhtline." >> tonight, one young father's struggleleithddiction and his devoted parents standing by him. >> i need a [ bleep ] ride before i kill you [ bleep ] wife. i'm at my [ bleep ] answer the [ bleep ] phone. >> i can't'telieve it. just hearing that out loud. >> we're there for two years of ups and downs in his painful struggle does his addiction have more pull on him than his own family? wewe follow thth ravaged lives along the heroin trail from these drug trafficking corridors of vermont all the way to the poppy fields of south america. tonight we go behind the lines tracing the multi-billion dollar global d dg trade.

back. good evening. thanks for joining russ. tonight we take you inside one young father's struggle. torn between his family and his heroin addiction. he is only one o othe countless americans consumed by this most urgent epidemic. from vermont all the way to south america we journey to the source of this multi-billion dollar industry to confront the realities of this dark trade. here's fusion's dan lieberman with a special report brought to us by our sister network fusion.

between two worlds. >> u guys have never seen any of these. daddy's first big buck. >> reporter: one where he's a loving father, brother, son, living a quiet life in rutland, vermont.t. the town wheree grew up. the other world is dark. >> you're the only people ever to see me do this. >> reporter: justin beemis is a heroin addict. >ere i am. i h he you don't think any different of me of a seeing this. it's nasty. ten minutes from now i'll be thinking about how i can get it again. >> reporter: onef more than 600,000 users across the country where opoid abuse is at an all-time high. >> what do you see when you look in the mirror? >> nlt me. i see somebody that has basically given up. because of his drug use. it's kind of taken my spirit and squashedit. >> reporter: like four out of five heroin addictsts justin says

drugs first after he injured his back working as a tree cutter. he says when the prescriptions ran out and he couldo longer get his hands on the expensive painkillers he turned to a much cheaper alternative. >> these are the track marks from the heroin? >> yes. >> anywhere else? >> erywhere. you know, if you look up and down my arms it's disgusting. if you were to ask me if i'd ever touch a needle in my life, absolutely not. it is that powerful. >> this is justin how old? >> probably e ely0s. he looks so healthy here. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: these are justin's parents. art and linda beemis. >> all the kids. and there's justin right there. they all l lk so h hpy and healthy. >> reporter: justin was not their only child with a heroin problem. five of their six kids have struggledith drug addiction. >> rdan, zachary, heroin. justin, iates, pain meds.

>> if there's a drug, name it, i've probably done it. >> ias a futl-blown heroin addict. >> when was the last time? last week. >> how much? >> a bag. >> do you ever look at yourselves and say, what did we do wrong? >> oh, yeah. >> every other day we talk about, what could we have done? >> what is it what could we have done different? >> d you ever feel like you're enabling? >> abablutely. i think that if anyone was an enabler in the family it's me. but as far as supporting with drugs, try not to anymore. >> reporter: of all their children justin is doing the worst. weweegan documenting his struggle two years ago. >> i'm broken. and i don't want to breaky family. >> reporter: back then justin's niece abigail had a hard time even recognizing her uncle. >> justin, the one that i used to know, died. like a tree fell on him and he

now this other guy that looks kind of like justin is here.. ananhe's been taking the place of my uncle. >> so this is where people come to get their heroin? >> yeah, it's funny because the courthouse is right there. there's a sheriff's car right behind it. ththe's been a lot offeaths from bad heroin. everybody's been afflicted by it one way or the other. good families, bad families. it's got a grasp on this town like i've never seen. >> reporter: justin told me he burned through his life savings, spending $120,000 on heroin. >> you gave your parents your money so you wouldn't spend on it drugs. >> right, then whenthey wouldndn give it to me i'd become very volatile, i'd become a person that they don't even know. i'd become a beast. >> over the years, everything that we've ever had as far as personal items, jewelry, money, checkbooks, all gone. hundreds of thousands. stole someone.

>> from your own kids? >> yes. >> justin told us he actually gave his money to you guys so that he would stop buying drugs. >> right. >> he stiti haso spent $500 a day sometimes. >> correct. >> how does that affect you? >> it's very difficult. because then on the other hand he's threatened us because he wants the money. you wouldn't want to even listen to the phone calls. >> do you have your phone? >> i'm fine. >> okay? l right. >> i'm so mad at you guys right now you have no idea. i want my money. send mep a couple hundred [ bleep ] dollars so i don't have to sell yourr bleep ] because i will sell it. [ bleep ] before i kill your [ bleep ] wife because i will [ bleep ] you and [ bleep ] kill you i'm at my [ bleep ] witsts endnswer the bleep ] phone. >> going through major withdrawals. >> that's serious. >> he's threatened to kill you. when you heard that message,

>> no. i don't think he'd do it. >> how does it feel to hear you threaten your dad and your mom? >> i can't believe it. st hearing that out loud. >> reporter: as horrible as the voice mails sound art and linda say they neverelt their lives were in danger. >> i can't believe i said that. >> reporter: when he wasn't chasing his next high, justin was talking about quitting. even trying to get help. but with so many addicts like him seeking treatment, he couldn't even get in to see a doctor. >> i called 11 doctors. not a one of them was taking on patients. it's hard enough to make that phone call, but then when you haha to m me 10 phone calls and get nowhere? you give up. >> somebody's ready to get addiction treatment, they should be in treatment tt day or the

ideally. because thatt window of opportrtity can often pass. >> reporter: dr. mark logan runs an addiction treatment clinic. in the winter of 2014 justin had been on his waiting list for ten weeks. >> where is justst? >> jususn -- gosh. let's see. >> reporter: there were hundreds on the waiting list in vermont for a prescription drug that weans people off heroin. according to federal law doctors can only prescribe it to 100 patients at a time, in part to prevent it from being abused. >> i feel my hands are tied. mostly because there's a cap. i wouldn't hesitatat to go to 150 patients. because we have the capacity to do that. and that would take -- that would wipe out my waiting list. at this point in time i feel that that cap should be eliminated. this thing is accelerating. >> reporter: recent years, vermont's highways have become drug trafficking corridors. according to governor peter shumlin an estimated $2 million worth of heroin flows into the

>> this isis referred to as bums alley. >> reporter: when it comes to battling heroin even undercover cops admit they can't keep up. >> we're definitely touching on the drugs coming i io the community. but with the drive for people wanting to use still there, somebody else is going to replace who we take off t streets. >> it's just not working? >> no. >> reporter: even though law enforcement heroin seizures have increased more than 80% in the last five years, officials say that's only a fraction of the heroin actually being smuggled into the country. en we come ck, we follow the heroin trail to its source where we find another family struggling. but in an entirely different way. half a world away from justin bemis, whose addiction t teatens to table him over the edge before he can get the help he so desperately needs. >> what should she do?

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it's the winter of 2014 and for three years justin bemis has struruled with arippling heroin addiction that threatens

>> justin? you sure you won't talk to them for minute? >> i don't feel good! >> bad day for justin. he obviously won't come down and tatk. one day good, one day bad, depending on w wt he's ablbl to retrieve. >> reporter: justin is trying to stop using and get better on his ow but the effects of the withdrawal are unbearable. >> your mom is torn. on one hand s wants to help you in any way she can. maybe give you some money. but she also knows that's the wrong decision. what do you think about that? >> a a a drug addict talking? i'd say, give me some money. as her son?

right. which i know what that is. she's always been the strongest one in our family. i'd say if i didn't have children, i probably wouldn't be here. >> reporter: even after deciding to get help, he's been forced to wait more than ten weeks to see an addiction specialist. >> there's so many drug addicts. there's so many. there's not enough doctors, not enough treatment centers right now to handle the overload. >> reporter: this year the u.s. will spend nearly $28 billion fighting the country's drug war. >> addicts like justin are waiting for drug treatment at a cost of $200 a week. >> reporter: i decided to go down the heroin trail, colombia, where the u.s. is trying to cut the drug off at its source.

police are taking outside a special minute to the poppy-growing region of colombia. after a short hike down the slope, there it was. >> wow. >> reporter: fields of poppy. hidden within the crops. >> this is really where the heroin trade begins. with this poppy field, 8,000 feet in the mountains. >> reporter: 3,000 miles away from vermont. it's hard to believe justin bemis' heroin could have come from here. >> you can't go back anywhere else. this is where it begins. >> reporter: jayayrgman was in charge of the dea's south america division at the time of our interview. he's worked in colombia for the last 15 years. >> can you blame them? they're making a lot more money with these poppy plants thann ey would with berries. >> i can blame them because there's lots of people that aren't. there's lots of people understanding the harm effect that say, i'm not doing it. even though it might be profitable. >> reporter: we travel to the

colombia's poppy is grown. >> how many families d dyou know who o e growing poppy? >> reporter: i've been invnved by the indigenous group nause and jorge is living here. local rebels control drug trafficking here and they've threatened jorge and his family for resisting their authority.y.$% we wondered if these farmers had any idea how their crops werer imimcting people in the united states. >> i have photos from a family that we've been spending time with. >> reporter: like jusn bemis, a world away in vermont. >> this is your first time

>> reporter: jorge says he's trying to convince his community to grow legal crops but he needs the government's support for help. >> hey, justin. >> h are you, doc? >> reporter:r:pring 201515 justin got the call and entered dr. mark logan's treatment program. >> how's it going? >> things have been well. >> he's been participating in erapy grouou, f fquent urine drug screens, frequent check-ins. by all appearances he seems to be doing very well. i'm concerned about that long-term and looking for warning signs. you know, eye contact is one of the biggest ones. >> when you're asking that question, do you have cravings? have youeen using? >> yeah, i'm wanng them to

>> lastt time we saw you, you had track marks in your arms. you'd self-described as a full-blown hoin addict. what's changed? >> i'm probably a little more pleasurable to be around. >> reporter: a few months later justin looked like a completely different person. the scars from his old habit gone. >> i remember when you showed us your hands and you can see now that they're heal. they haven't been used in that way in a long time. >> i mean, i have a hard time even remembebeng like why -- the grasp it has on you. >> reporter: justin was taking soboxone daily. as part of his treatment program he had to meet with dr. logan and attend weekly group meetings. >> it's about time i take my other half dose. it's like a thin -- >> just that little thing? >> that's a little less than half one. >> reporter: justin has to be on this prescription drug for at least 18 months. buburecovery is a long and often

more than half of patients who soboxone relapse within two years. >> does that scare you? >> no, they always say relapse is part of recovery. that's not my philosophy. when say il never go back to that life, i don't care what anyone says. you can see me in 25 years and i will not have touched an opiate. that's the end for me and that life. i will not use again. reporter: for his parents, art and linda, they're just happy to have their son back. >> i had picked him up from one of his meetings. and i just kind of looked at him. and he said, what are you loloing at? and i said, you're smiling. really, he hadn't -- we hadn't seen him really smile -- >> in years, really. >> yeah. it's been a long grind. >> reporter: justin's recovery has also been good for his siblings who had their own battles with addiction.

>> it's just amazing for me because two years o, we sat at this table having some really hard conversations. and people did not look as good, i got to say. i got to be honest. come on. >> i say it to you now. so how far have you come? >> oh my goodness. i mean, it's just -- it's just totally different. independent. but they're also reaching for their dreams. which i didn't think was possible. >> i just got back from colombia where we met people who are actually growing the poppy. i showed thehe your photo, i showed them the video. that. do you blame them? >> no, not at all. >> i mean, we're all -- we all make our own choices. >> today the bemis family is a success story. the great part about the success is we've always said, if you could beat this, you can accomplish anything in your life. it's a continuous battle.

what's fun. >> reporter: but at this end of the heroin trail, the bemise are the luckones. >> i feel like i have a a cond chancece my boy at the river, he just walked up to me and he gave me a big hug and he said, i'm so happy you're back, daddy. i'm excited to spend time with him. it's really all that matters. >> all right, let's do it! >> reporter: dan lieberman for "nightline" in rutland, vermont. >> our thanks to dan and the entire fusion team for that compelling report. i'm billy, and d quit smoking with c cntix. i dodot know that i can put into words how happy i was when i quit. it's like losing some baggage, i don't have to carry it around with me anymore. chantix made it possible for me to quit smoking. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help peopleleuit smoking. chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke.

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