One woman's controversial fight to make America accept drug users for who they are
Louise Vincent has used drugs since she was 13. Research shows millions of Americans like her aren't ready or able to stop. Vincent believes it's time people accept that.
When Louise Vincent was introduced at a drug policy conference last month in Phoenix, the huge crowd erupted in applause.
She's a small woman, rail thin. At age 47, her face is weathered by what she describes as a hard life.
It's grown harder in recent years, after drug cartels began pushing deadlier drugs into U.S. communities, including fentanyl and the veterinary drug xylazine.
"We saw the drug supply turn upside down," Vincent told the crowd. "It's toxic."
In interviews with NPR, Vincent said she herself began using drugs at age 13 and has never been able to live sober long-term. "What they told me was if I couldn't get [off drugs], I wasn't doing something right, and that's not
