[MUSIC PLAYING]
My name is Elizabeth, and I'm 22 years old.
Hi!
I have a huge love for animals, especially my two dogs.
I really think Elizabeth does have a gift with dogs.
The dream would be to be around dogs a lot.
I want to groom them.
I want to train them.
I think police dog training would be really, really sweet.
I smoke Fentanyl all day, as much as I can.
It's just like I need to.
It feels like I need to.
Sometimes I stay up for days doing it.
The only way to get money to support her habit is--
is to sell drugs herself.
ELIZABETH: There's your snowflake.
MAN: Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
ELIZABETH: Yeah, no problem.
You're my favorite.
She got an opportunity to start selling cocaine maybe
a year, year and a half ago.
And it only makes things worse.
Elizabeth, she always looked after herself,
but the Fentanyl, it's had a devastating effect.
She has scabs on her face, and they're really swollen.
Mentally, Elizabeth is as scattered
as I've ever seen her.
The [BLEEP] was that?
Dangerous people are tapping my phones and following me.
She thinks there's people sneaking around the house,
that they're stalking her.
Maybe I can have Elizabeth back, or at least
part of her back.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Elizabeth was a beautiful, beautiful baby.
Just ridiculous.
She was a very special child.
She was just a joy to be around because she was so bubbly.
AMI: Our mom was a really good mom.
My mom made me feel special, and loved, and cared about.
AMI: Herb and Mom weren't together,
and Herb was working pipelining.
Dad was gone a lot.
Then he would just come visit when he had days off.
I was a really big daddy's girl because I
had so much fun with him.
A lot of people thought he was my grandpa.
Our mom struggled with addiction and depression
longer than I can even remember.
When she got to a certain point,
she would kind of be unpleasant to be around.
When she started taking painkillers,
that seemed to be the tipping point.
And that's when the suicide attempts started.
Then the government was immediately involved.
I was in and out of foster homes between the ages
of five and eight.
Mom was cyclical with her ups and downs.
And during the good times, we would go back home.
My mom was a really beautiful person.
She loved to love others, and make them feel good,
and do things for them.
[SOBBING] Oh god.
I didn't appreciate it until I got older.
I took everything for granted.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Shortly after her mom died, some of my family
said, you mean to tell me, at your age,
you're going to try to raise that little girl yourself?
Elizabeth and I both went off into different foster homes.
Elizabeth ended up in a rough one.
She made me call her Mom.
She treated her dog better than any of us.
She'd be crying, and they'd give her a toothbrush
and make her just clean the stairways.
I was just so scared.
I didn't know what to do.
I was all alone.
That was one of the mistakes I made.
From the time she was eight until she
was 14, that little girl was at home by herself a lot of times.
We spoiled Elizabeth.
I couldn't replace their mother for them,
but she had cell phones, and computers, and anything
that she could enjoy.
High school was difficult for her.
She struggled to make friends.
And that's when she started drinking.
I was less social.
I was an inclusive.
I was introverted.
She seemed really shy when I first met her,
and it took her a little bit to kind of open up.
Once we did click, we were inseparable,
and we were kind of troublemakers
because there's this spirit in Lizzie that just loves to cause
trouble and get into mischief.
And that, very often, included skipping
class, just being around sketchy people, or sneaking into bars.
She was involved with an older group
of influences that got her into partying a little more often.
And she ended up getting involved in the cocaine.
When I first met Lizzie, it was in my physics class.
She was having some problems with alcohol.
I was drinking all the time.
I was miserable.
So I told him what was up.
He was my teacher, but he was my friend.
And then he started inviting me into his family's life.
We decided to take Lizzie under our wing.
Thanksgiving, Christmas get-together.
Lizzie was clean and sober.
It was just a great time.
They are a huge part of my life.
I say they're my godparents because that's
what they feel like.
After Elizabeth graduated, it was the best
sister bonding time we had.
She was able to easily talk about her
struggles in high school.
We just started growing closer and closer.
It was really hard for Lizzie when Ami left.
She was very upset.
She proceeded to party on a more regular basis.
And this brought her different associations.
She started dating an addict, and she got involved
in the morphine and Percocets.
And that led into her using oxys
and then helping sell the drug.
Ouch.
Her current situation is extremely scary.
The risk of overdose is really high.
HERB: I don't like it.
Lizzie's lifestyle has never been
more dangerous than it is now.
MAN: Hey.
Hey, hey.
Sorry about the delay.
She's pissing off drug addicts and drug
dealers because she doesn't have any organization in her life.
I've never been so hopeless.
I wouldn't say I want to die, but I don't want to live.
It's too painful.
There's no way out.
I'm going to be honest with you guys.
Lizzie hasn't felt safe for most of her life.
She's pretty scarred from-- from being a young girl,
and you being on the road, and then
her mother leaving, and then going into a home or orphanage.
Yeah, yeah.
All of those feelings that Lizzie had back then, Lizzie
has now.
Get her here?
You need to get your butt out.
No!
I'm on a time limit to make money.
And if I don't get rid of this stuff, I'm [BLEEP]..
No.
I don't know.
I'm just going to turn right around.
PRODUCER: OK.
OK, so it's looking like plan B?
OK.
We're going to go to Lizzie.
Regardless of what happens--
I don't care about the language.
I don't care about the violence, whatever.
Let her respond how she's going to respond, but the thing is,
we're getting to yes.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hey, you.
Oh, hi.
Oh [BLEEP].
I'm Jerri.
Come on in.
The fam wants to speak with you for a few minutes.
Is that OK?
I would like to share with you--
We have had very little communication,
and the drugs have made our relationship--
Your dad's been struggling.
He's been doing this by himself and doesn't
know how to help you.
I have doing it by myself, too.
And he's never had anything to do with me, really, so--
I feel like drugs have kidnapped
the Lizzie that I know and love, and I want you back.
It tears me apart to see you doing this to yourself.
You've admitted to me lately that you
feel that death is very near.
I am not willing to keep watching you kill yourself
or to continue to enable you.
Elizabeth, I'm so scared because I love you so much,
and I count on you.
You're what keeps Mom alive for me.
I'm finally starting to acknowledge
how much pain you must be in, and I
don't know how to deal with it.
You've already removed yourself from my life.
It won't be any different.
So the offer that they're talking about,
Top of the World Ranch, and that would mean
that you come with me today.
And you can start to get well because the options
aren't good for you.
I can't today.
No matter what the problem is, I can help you with that.
If someone is expecting me to give them $13,600,
you're going to give that to them instead?
I'm going to figure out the problem, yeah.
Can you trust me?
I can't trust my own family to see
me on Christmas or my birthday like they promise they will.
You want to go outside and have a smoke with me?
ELIZABETH: Yeah.
Let's go.
You need to do this, Lizzie.
You're not going to make it.
If I could guarantee you in a week, I'd be--
JERRI: No deal.
--regardless of where I'm at--
I need you to come with me today.
What about my dog?
We'll get it all taken care of.
Your dad, everybody in there will help out.
Let's talk about--
Yeah, but you guys don't love my dog like I love my dog.
The dog needs you well, too.
The dog is what keeps me alive.
Who the [BLEEP] is going to take care of the dog when
you're dead, though, Lizzie? These are the options.
Yeah, I'm going to go to treatment.
[APPLAUSE]
Oh.
Hi.
You must be Lizzie.
Hi.
I'm Cathy.
Nice to meet you.
Welcome to Top of the World.
I'm just ready to see everyone on the other side.
And I know it's going to take a lot of work,
but I'm just going to take it day-by-day
and remember everything I'm thankful for.
Thank you.
I'm really proud of you.
Elizabeth basically told us that she had a drug debt that
she needed to repay, and she had concerns about her--
her father and his well-being.
But she told us that she was going to come back.
And I think, much to probably everybody's surprise,
she did that.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
She became pretty uncomfortable with the feedback
that she was getting.
She wasn't yet at the place where
we were the best fit for her at that point in her recovery.
I know that Lizzie has a huge desire for recovery.
So I believe that Lizzie will be able to find recovery in time.
[MUSIC PLAYING]