Drug Abuse Haunts Suburbia

A suburban mother admits she had to give in to her drug addiction before appearing on a CBS special with Dr. Phil McGraw.

"I had to shoot up, 'cause I would show up…like a wicked person that couldn't function. And because I'm going to see Dr. Phil, I want to be fully conscious when he hits me over the head with a frying pan."

The confession comes from a woman CBS News can identify only as "Joani."

It's disturbing TV, observes CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker.

"I've been interviewing people on television for 8 years," says McGraw. "I believe it is the first time I've ever had anybody actually shoot up with a narcotic minutes before they sat down with me. And we have cameras rolling during this."

A wife, a mother, a nurse, Joani is not what you'd expect in a drug addict, Whitaker points out.

Calling Joani's story "kind of shocking" and "kind of extreme," Whitaker asks McGraw if Joani is "representative…emblematic of what's going on in America."

"It is very shocking, but it is not extreme," McGraw answers.

He asserts it's time to recognize there's an epidemic of drug addiction sweeping suburban America: "We always thought about this happening in the back alleys, on the street corners, in bad parts of town, where there was a pusher. …Not true.

"We wanted to take what we believe is a good representative of a suburban mom, a soccer mom, that's out there driving carpools, doing all the things that we normally do, who in fact is a drug addict."

Notes Whitaker: "Shooting up and popping pills like candy."In his special, McGraw profiles Joani's lifelong battle with addiction.

"I take the amphetamine to go up, tranquilizers to go down, opiates to augment the feelings of happiness or euphoria that go with the amphetamine," Joani reveals.

"She knows how to work the system," McGraw says. "This is a woman who has taken old X-rays to doctors saying, 'Look, here, at my back: I need pain medication for this.' She has actually gotten unnecessary root canals in order to get pain medication. Now, you gotta be committed to get a root canal just so you can get a prescription."

During the special, McGraw remarks to Joani: "You say, 'I want to stop this,' but yet you are manipulative and demanding and controlling in making sure you get your drugs, right? 'Cause there's that part of you that says, 'I can't function without these.' "

"Well," Joani responds, "I would be so physically ill that I would be unable to do the show. Period."

She's destroying herself and destroying her family, Whitaker comments.

"Having a husband and kids really competes with your addiction," McGraw says to Joani on the special. "And your addiction is your life."

"Right," Joani says. "And it's hard to do that life and the addiction. It's almost like there's no time."

Says McGraw: "People are going to be standing up, screaming at their TV screen when they look at how this husband and wife interact. …To the moment he sat down for the interview, he didn't get what the problem is. '(The husband says) You get this from doctors, they must be legitimate.' I'm like, 'Are you kidding me? You can't possible be that naive!' "

McGraw says he hopes the show hits too close for comfort: "When people watch this, they're going to recognize, 'Oh my gosh, that's my relationship, that's my mom and my dad.' …And hopefully, when they do, they're going to take the blinders off and say, 'I need to go say something.' "

Before it's too late, Whitaker adds.

McGraw says he hopes the program will be a wake-up call for all kinds of Americans, high functioning addicts and pill poppers, to seek help.

"Dr. Phil" show and CBSNews.com have the same parent company, Viacom, Inc.