Plymouth: Doctor Speaks About His Battle with Drug Addiction
By: David Cedrone, WATD95

Addiction does not discriminate.

Recovering addict Dr. Peter Grinspoon spoke to a group at Quincy College about his experience Thursday night.

The library at Quincy College campus in Plymouth was filled to hear Dr. Peter Grinspoon speak about his book called Free Re-Fills.

Free Re-Fills is a memoir Dr. Grinspoon wrote regarding his addiction to pain medicine that led to three felonies and a loss of his license to practice medicine.

Grinspoon recalls the day it all came crashing down:

“I came into my office expecting to see patients and have a productive afternoon taking care of people and instead the State Police and the DEA were waiting for me. I started hedging and tried getting out of it and the DEA agent said, ‘Doc cut the crap, we know you have been writing bad scripts.’ They interrogated me for a while and they charged me with three felonies of fraudulently prescribing a controlled substance. They told me to come to the police station the next day to get finger printed,” said Grinspoon.

Dr. Grinspoon lost his license for over three years but has since redeemed himself and has nine years sobriety.

He has returned to practicing medicine and also teaches at his alma mater, Harvard Medical School.

President of Quincy College, Peter Tsaffaras, says Dr. Grinspoon’s story is not uncommon.

“His story is particularly important today because I think that everyone is aware of someone, either in their family or workplace, that despite outward appearances, is facing the battle of addiction. The whole face of what we consider to be addiction has changed so much in the last 25 years,” said Tsaffaras.

Dr. Grinspoon will speak next on Tuesday, March 15th at the Tewksbury Public Library at 7 p.m.