>> i can't believe 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? we follow the 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 drug 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 of the 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. >> reporter: justin is torn between two worlds. >> you 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. the town where he grew up. the other world is dark. >> you're the only people ever

>> reporter: justin beemis is a heroin addict. >> here i am. i hope 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: one of 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? >> not me. i see somebody that has basically given up. because of his drug use. it's kind of taken my spirit and squashed it. >> reporter: like four out of five heroin addicts justin says he got hooked on prescription drugs first after he injured his back working as a tree cutter. he says when the prescriptions ran out and he could no 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? >> everywhere.

down my arms it's disgusting. if you were to ask me if i'd ever touch a needle in my jtin and there's justin right there. healthy. >> reporter: justin was not their only child with a heroin problem. five of their six kids have struggled with drug addiction. >> jordan, zachary, heroin. justin, opiates, pain meds. amy, alcohol, pain meds. >> if there's a drug, name it, i've probably done it. >> i was a full-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.

about, what could we have done? >> what is it what could we have done different? enabling? >> absolutely. i think that if anyone was an enabler in the family it's me. but as far as supporting with >> reporter: of all their worst. we began documenting his struggle two years ago. >> i'm broken. and i don't want to break my 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 died. now this other guy that looks kind of like justin is here. and he'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. there's been a lot of deaths from bad heroin. everybody's been afflicted by it

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 when they wouldn't 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 checkbooks, all gone. hundreds of thousands. >> stole someone. >> stolen. >> from your own kids? >> yes. >> justin told us he actually gave his money to you guys so >> right. >> he still has to spent $500 a day you? >> it's very difficult. because then on the other hand

wants the money. you wouldn't want to even listen to the phone calls. >> do you have your phone? >> i'm fine. >> okay? all right. >> i'm so mad at you guys right now you have no idea. i want my money. send me up a couple hundred [ bleep ] dollars so i don't have to sell your [ 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 ] wits' end answer the [ bleep ] phone. >> going through major withdrawals. >> that's serious. >> he's threatened to kill you. when you heard that message, were you scared? >> no. i don't think he'd do it. >> how does it feel to hear you

>> i can't believe it. just hearing that out loud. >> reporter: as horrible as the voice mails sound art and linda say they never felt 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 have to make 10 phone calls and get nowhere? you give up. >> somebody's ready to get addiction treatment, they should be in treatment that day or the next day. ideally. because that window of opportunity 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 justin? >> justin -- gosh. let's see.

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 hesitate 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 state every week. >> this is 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 into the community. but with the drive for people wanting to use still there, somebody else is going to replace who we take off the streets. >> it's just not working?

>> 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. when we come back, 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 threatens 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 struggled with a crippling heroin addiction that threatens to tear his family apart. >> justin? you sure you won't talk to them for a minute? >> i don't feel good! >> bad day for justin. he obviously won't come down and talk. one day good, one day bad, depending on what he's able to retrieve.

stop using and get better on his own. but the effects of the withdrawal are unbearable. >> your mom is torn. on one hand she 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? >> as a drug addict talking? i'd say, give me some money. as her son? i'd say -- whatever you feel is 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

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. the dea and colombia national 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

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: jay bergman 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 than they 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 state of alca where most of colombia's poppy is grown. >> how many families do you know who are growing poppy? >> reporter: i've been invited by the indigenous group nause

local rebels control drug trafficking here and they've threatened jorge and his family we wondered if these farmers had any idea how their crops were states. >> i have photos from a family that we've been spending time with. >> reporter: like justin bemis, a world away in vermont. >> this is your first time seeing someone who uses heroin? >> reporter: jorge says he's trying to convince his community to grow legal crops but he needs the government's support for help.

>> how are you, doc? >> reporter: spring 2015, 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 therapy groups, frequent 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 you been using? >> yeah, i'm wanting them to look at me, yeah. >> last time we saw you, you had track marks in your arms. you'd self-described as a full-blown heroin 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.

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 remembering 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? half a one. >> reporter: justin has to be on this prescription drug for at least 18 8 months. but recovery is a long and often unsuccessful fight. 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 i say i'll never go back to that life, i don't care what

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 looking 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. today they're all in recovery. >> it's just amazing for me because two years ago, 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.

i mean, it's just -- it's just totally different. >> everybody really is pretty 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 them your photo, i showed them the video. they'd never seen anything like 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. but to see the siblings together is what's fun. >> reporter: but at this end of the heroin trail, the bemises are the lucky ones. >> i feel like i have a second chance. my boy at the river, he just walked up to me and he gave me a big hug and he said, i'm so

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 i quit smoking with chantix. i don't 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 people quit smoking. chantix definitely helped reduce my urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. some had seizures while taking chantix. if you have any of these, stop chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of mental health problems, which could get worse or of seizures. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it.

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