Ethan Embry revealed over the weekend that he was once addicted to black tar heroin and prescription painkillers. Though he's now sober—and he's never relapsed—the memories are still fresh in his mind. The 38-year-old actor, best known for his role in the teen comedy Can't Hardly Wait, revealed the details of his prviate battle with opiate addiction in a series of tweets Friday. Embry's revelation came in response to Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently ordering federal prosecutors to seek the harshest possible criminal penalties for drug offenders.
"Opiate OD is the leading cause of preventable death in America at 50k last year alone. It's a health [crisis] not a criminal one Mr Sessions," Embry wrote. "For decades we have told addicts that their behavior deserves punishment. That they should be locked away for their addictions. All that accomplishes is multiplying the shame that us addicts experience. It forces us to hide our addictions until it's too late for help. So many people have died because they were afraid and ashamed. This memo from Sessions does nothing to address that. It only makes it worse."
Embry, who stars in Netflix's Grace and Frankie, got even more personal Sunday afternoon.
"I was stuck in a cycle of running through a subutex script and smoking tar for about two straight years. 6 years ago today I started my kick," he tweeted. "If you are strung out on opiates and want to stop-but the fear of the kick is keeping you from it- I won't lie it f--ing sucks."
"But unlike the cycle you are in right now, there is an end in sight. Find someone you can trust to walk you through it and get tough," he continued. "My DM's are open if you need any help getting through the kick. There are little tricks that helped get me lessen the pain. Life won't get any easier for us when we sober up. But I do promise you'll be better at dealing with what comes at you clean." In response to one Twitter user, he agreed that exercising "totally" helps.
"The ween is a good call if you can stay disciplined on it," the actor told Twitter user @Keytar_Tony. "The long low grade kick from that s--t is brutal. Reach out if ya need anything."
Embry has yet to specify exactly how he got sober.