Shouting into the Darkness: Life as a Mentally Ill Drug Addict in the 21st Century
BY MATTHEW LAUGHRIN
With a Foreword by Pulitzer Prize Finalist Meg Kissinger
On March 1, 2009, Matthew Laughrin’s life changed forever. A Milwaukee Police Department tactical team burst into his home and arrested him for the fatal drug overdose of a teenage girl. The girl had died in his house the previous evening while he was asleep. Matthew was no stranger to drugs, addiction, or death—they were the forces that had consumed his life since childhood. But this time the consequences would be different.
Ultimately convicted of second-degree reckless homicide, Matthew was sentenced to twelve years in prison for his role in the fatal overdose. Incarcerated, he was forced to confront his addiction, mental illness, and the systems put in place to treat them. He knew from experience jail and rehab seldom led to long-lasting sobriety, especially when mental illness was involved, and sought out to understand why.
Shouting into the Darkness follows Matthew’s raw, unflinching journey through addiction, incarceration, and, finally, recovery. It also exposes a deeper truth: our society continually misunderstands and mistreats those struggling with the dual burden of mental illness and substance addiction.
“The narrative that Matthew describes here is shocking and often painful to read. But if we are going to understand the realities of these illnesses and what we can do to spare them – and us – we need to pay attention.”
– Meg Kissinger