‘JUST ESCALATES AND ESCALATES’

Alex Murdaugh Details His 20-Year Addiction to Opioids

“Opiate withdrawal is, whew, it’s hard,” Murdaugh said Thursday as he took the stand in his own defense.

Alex Murdaugh detailed his 20-year addiction to opioids during his testimony Thursday, a struggle he said began after knee surgery for a lingering issue sustained playing football. While on the stand in his double-murder trial, Murdaugh explained that his addiction escalated after the surgery in the early 2000s, forcing him to go to a detox facility three times. “Opiate withdrawal is, whew, it’s hard,” Murdaugh told jurors, adding that. he relapsed after every attempt to detox. He noted that eventually, his addiction forced him to steal money from his law firm and clients—a fact he admitted to in September 2021 before he was fired. “I’m not quite sure how I let myself get where I got. I battled that addiction for so many years. I was spending so much money on pills,” he added. Murdaugh said that while he was a high-functioning addict he is now 535 days sober.