Jake Harris and Jake Anderson Appear On Dr. Drew About Their Addiction - Deadliest Catch

Also Some More Information On Jake Anderson's Missing Father.

Dr Drew opened the show talking about how they have the most deadliest jobs in the world, but it's addiction that threatens their lives.

Dr. Drew introduces the two Jake's. Jake Harris has an addiction with opiates and oxycontin. Jake Anderson has an addiction to alcohol.

Dr. Drew talks about how they both lost their father.

Dr. Drew: Asks Jake Harris how he got started.
Jake Harris: In high school I was a skater and it turned out I wasn't very good. I broke some limbs is how I got addicted to opiates.
Dr. Drew: The doctors give you opiates for weeks and weeks, then months and months, then all of a sudden you are switching over to pot and alcohol to try and take you off of it.
Jake Harris: Agreed.
Dr Drew: If you have a kid under 18 that has orthopedic injuries and they get prescribed opiates for more than two weeks be careful, especially if there is a history of abuse in the family. You can trigger the addiction. 
Jake Harris: You get very sick when you quit.

They show a clip of Jake telling Captain Phil he is an addict. It's hard for Jake to watch the clip.

Jake Harris: Because it's hard to admit to one of your heroes in life you need help, it's hard to watch.
Dr. Drew: I bet that's not the first time you had that conversation. (Referring to Jake telling Captain Phil he was an addict.) (I said the same thing when I watched that, it didn't seem like that was the first time Captain Phil had heard that).
Jake Harris: No, no it wasn't actually.
Dr. Drew:  How many times, dozens of times did you have that conversation?
Jake Harris: A lot, we definitely did.
Dr. Drew:  Had you been to treatment before?
Jake Harris: To work the program no, I hadn't.
Dr. Drew:  Somebody had sent you somewhere you just didn't do it?
Jake Harris: Exactly.
Dr. Drew: So something changed, was that a moment of change for you there?
Jake Harris:  Right there I was definitely looking in the mirror and wanted to make a change.
Dr. Drew:  Were you going to go right into treatment as soon as you hit shore at that point?
Jake Harris: Ya, we were all planned out, we had plane tickets, had it all worked out to go in, and then a kind a, had a little trip up, old man had a stroke.
Dr. Drew: A little trip up?
Jake Harris: A big trip up. It was definitely a big trip up, threw my world upside down, put me in a real sad place for a little bit, kind a made things worse before they got better.
Dr Drew: Right I bet, that's usually what happens. You seem a little emotional about it even now.
Jake Harris: Ya, just talking about it.
Dr Drew: You miss your dad?
Jake Harris: Ya dude, very much so, very much so. (They are showing clips of Phil in the hospital while Jake is talking in a side picture)
Dr. Drew: But then you ran to drugs.
Jake Harris: Yep, got a big hole in my heart and tried to fill it up with everything that wasn't good for it. It took me a while to realize what I really wanted out of life.

They show a clip of Jake telling Captain Phil in the hospital he is going to treatment.

Dr. Drew: It says in the clip there he had a stroke, he actually had an inter cranial hemorrhage right? Which is, people commonly mistake that for a stroke. Was that the last time you saw him?
Jake Harris: Yep, that was the last time I saw him in that picture right there. (I'm tearing up now.) 
Dr. Drew: Did you understand how seriously ill he was at that point?
Jake Harris: I did, it was one of the hardest things ever to leave him at that moment, but I made a promise, and he definitely wanted to see me take a step to get better.
Dr. Drew: So you left him to go to treatment?
Jake Harris: In that scene, that was the last night that I saw him, I flew out that night and he passed away the next morning.
Dr Drew: And then you diverted course?
Jake Harris: Ya, I had an intense week there. Turns out helicopters are faster than cars. I got in a car chase, got in big trouble. (Well this is a little different story than was reported before I wonder if this was a different incident or the same one I wrote about before and his attorney was just covering for him).
Dr. Drew: What was this? I don't know about this.
Jake Harris:  I got in a car chase, was drunk driving, got in some trouble, then went to rehab after that, called it quits after that.
Dr. Drew: Did the courts order you to rehab?
Jake Harris: No, I went on my own accord.
Dr. Drew: So it really got pretty bad.
Jake Harris: Ya definitely.
Dr. Drew: You know a lot of people want to know how you maintain working on a ship like that if you are using drugs.
Jake Harris: When you are like 250 miles out they are dry boats, and everything, but then you get back home and you don't work for months.
Dr. Drew:  You had to be taking pills while you were out there.
Jake Harris: A little bit, sure was.
Dr. Drew: Is it hard for you to talk about this?
Jake Harris: Just thinking about it, it's kind of embarrassing.
Dr. Drew: You are in recovery right now?
Jake Harris: Ya, ya.
Dr. Drew: You got treatment it went well?
Jake Harris: Yes, went very well one of the best things that ever happened.
Dr. Drew: And you're in the program now, you have a sponsor.
Jake Harris: Ya, ya.
Dr. Drew: Working steps, I know your dad would love that. I suspect he, I don't know if this is going to sound right, I suspect he didn't believe this was possible.
Jake Harris: We had the conversation a lot, and for me to actually make the change was a big step.
Dr. Drew: Was there some moment when you decided you were going to do this? It wasn't at the bedside with your dad.  Was there some other moment?
Jake Harris: Just my friends and family all pulling together you know everyone showing how much they love you, you get to a point, you know everyone gets to their breaking point where you your just going to die or be in jail.
Dr. Drew: So you knew you were headed to death or institutionalization.
Jake Harris: Ya I did ya.
Dr Drew: Looks at Jake Anderson and says sound familiar?

They show a clip of the premier where the guys are saying good bye to Captain Phil.
They showed a clip of Jake Anderson working and Sig Hansen saying Jake was trying to get his captains license also from premiere.

Dr. Drew says he wanted to point out that Jake Harris had been struggling with addiction since he was a teenager, and one course of treatment for opiate addiction almost never works, magically like somebody in two months is going to be well from opiate addiction. Dr. Drew said Jake Harris said to me off the air he'd been through 3 or 4 previous treatments and this one did finally take when he acknowledged to himself that it was jail or death ahead.

Jake Harris: Yes, it definitely took a couple of rounds. You don't get it at first. You always get out and think you can handle it. It starts out good then everything starts falling apart at the seams.
Dr Drew: You gotta do the do right. 
Jake Anderson: That is correct.
Dr. Drew: So what is your story with alcoholism?
Jake Anderson: It's a long one. I was a skateboarder as well very avid about it. Lived in Los Angeles had sponsors...
Dr Drew:  In my head it just says alcohol and pot.
Jake Anderson: Yes.
Dr. Drew: Cause they say alcohol is a mirror but if you are a skateboarder and an alcoholic then your also doing a lot of pot.
Jake Anderson:  I wasn't as big on marijuana as I was on the alcohol. In the beginning I was the one that always judged the alcoholics and drug addicts, then I shattered my ankle and I just kind of gave up mentally. And that's when I started drinking real heavy and became the man I most feared. So for a few years after that I ended up off and on, on the streets I didn't want to go home I couldn't afford to live anywhere couldn't get a job I didn't have a license, and I went to treatment.
Dr Drew: Wait a minute before you go to treatment you kinda slipped that past as almost going unnoticed. You were such a down and out alcoholic you ended up on the streets? For how long?
Jake Anderson: For about two years.
Dr. Drew: Two years on the street that's incredible.
Jake Anderson: Yeah, and if you know like a lot of homeless people, they aren't homeless because they can't find somewhere to live, it's because they would rather drink than get a job or clean themselves up. That's the position I was in. I didn't want people to see me in the form that I was in. It was so humbling. Then I was stuck because I would start drinking on Friday or something and then I found myself only being able to drink that was the only way I could function then I went to treatment and lasted about a week, and I didn't really know what I was doing. I didn't know who I was. I was a fisherman to in the summer. I was a proud alcoholic. Fishermen are alcoholics.
Dr Drew: A lot of them are right.
Jake Anderson: Then I found out what it was and it is not pretty, it is not something to be proud of.
Dr Drew: But a lot of guys kinds wear it as a badge of macho, macheesemo which is I'm a functioning alcoholic. I'm on the Deadliest Catch.
Jake Anderson: And I'm the coward because I can't drink, as I'm giving them a ride home to the boat to make sure they're safe.
Dr Drew: So you then hit some kind of bottom down the road?
Jake Anderson: Ya, it just went right back. I would get clean for a month, two months, finally got cleaned up for about six months, and I wasn't working a program didn't have a support group and my Uncle Nick and my Uncle Brian got me a job in Kodiak where I seen this guys boat (he points to Jake Harris) and that was when the show started and then I was really proud of who I was. But then slowly I wasn't working it and it just came back full circle. I was right back at the bottom again. I had money for bills, I had a place to live, had a nice car but I was empty. Spiritually I had nothing there was nothing that made me happy. I was just as good there as I was out on the street. And I made a personal decision to change. I wanted to be a professional I wanted to do great things in my life and with alcohol I had no choice.
Dr Drew: Was there some sort of bottom there for you as well some sort of moment of change?
Jake Anderson: I don't know when it was.
Dr Drew: You were slipping and sliding around there for a while.
Jake Anderson: Ya, ya, and until I decided for myself I didn't want this life... I wanted to be like my dad was he had a doctorate in psychology and I wanted to be smart and educated like he was and so I just started going to meetings. I didn't really understand what they were saying but I didn't question them. I said fine you want me to go to ninety meetings in ninety days, just for today, I did all that and it started to work and then I said I can't work these steps until I stop drinking.
Dr Drew: (Laughing) Funny how that works.
Jake Anderson:  Then I really wanted it cause I knew I had to go because it would be worse without it, and I finally jumped in a month later I was in school, my teachers are just wonderful and they pushed me along now I have a 1600 ton mates license and a masters.
Dr Drew: I understand something happened with your father too. Is that right?
Jake Anderson:  That's right he had battled colon cancer and beat that, he um had shoulder surgery, and that's when it really got bad was when he retired counseling. You see this a lot with addicts and alcoholics once they have no responsibility and have no accountability for anything it's all going to hit you whether your 62 like my dad was or 18 or 13.
Dr Drew: And by the way to tell a professional that they have a problem when they know better, they're gonna tell you how it works, and they're gonna tell you what the answer is and your saying look you need to surrender to something that's tough.
Jake Anderson: And it was tough watching my dad because you know as an educated man this was his expertise so it doesn't matter who you are it will take you down, whether you're the strongest crab fisherman or the smartest man alive it will take you down.
Dr Drew: Did he die?
Jake Anderson: We don't know, in my heart he's gone and that's been really tough to deal with. For me there is no closure, we can't even get a tombstone, there's no goodbye.
Dr Drew: We are showing pictures of Jake's dad on the screen he looks like a cool happy guy. We actually have a clip of you talking to your mom I guess when this all came down. (They showed the clip of Jake talking to his mom on the Northwestern when she told him they found the truck.)
Dr. Drew: Now where you sober at that point?
Jake Anderson: Oh ya.
Dr. Drew: How do you maintain your sobriety at sea and then get a hit like that and still stay sober.
Jake Anderson: Well that's the thing that you know as well as I, I  have no reservations I go through that in my mind, well if this happened would I use, no and it's no every time and just for today and forever. And getting a call like that as you can see I had to stab myself halfway through my wrist. (I thought that was an interesting comment) I had the only way I knew how to beat that adversity was throwing the hook. You know, that was the only way, or by operating the crane. I just did it minute by minute, second by second, and that's how I remain. And this is life, it can be an adventure and it's a journey and when I die I want to be able to look back and go this was fun that was exciting and I did everything I could to be the best man I could be because when I was on the street I remember praying to god and saying how am I going to get out of this.
Dr. Drew:  Just surrendering to a process there is a solution.
Dr Drew points out this is a disease that cuts across all social economic barriers all types. This is a cool guy his dad was a cool guy and they both suffer from this condition.

They talked about Jake's dad being missing still and gave the reward information.

Dr Drew: I know you sort of made your piece with things but let's put it out there shall we.
Jake Anderson: In the beginning I had hoped maybe my dad had managed to high center his truck or something. So it was easy for me to let go until I went and did the search where the truck was found myself.  None of it really made since to me and the last person that had really saw him, they really didn't do an investigation of him they interrogated him at McDonald's. He had supposedly brought a lawyer and when we asked why they hadn't given him a polygraph or just even ask they told my aunt, the detective told my aunt they weren't equipped to do a polygraph and they didn't have enough money too. And they are required by law to do DNA evidence 30 days, there was blood found in the vehicle and they told me it was paint or something so I  had to get an officer to go with me to the detective who finally got them five months later to get the swabs to test the blood. It was his and ya know its been tough working with them because there has been lies told about me that have been told to my family. The detective would call my aunt and tell her that I call them crying all the time and I'm loaded and I'm drunk, and if you know me I'm actually incapable of crying. (Okay, I was going to call Jake out on the crying but since the only time I can recall him crying was over his sister and dad I won't.)
Dr Drew: You know when I work with, Dr. Drew laughing, I don't know about that.
Jake Anderson: It sucks, it's horrible.
Dr Drew: I don't know about that, but I do know sober people and I can tell when someone is fully in and I'll vouch for you.

A question from Leslie on Facebook: Is it harder to cope with addiction when you are out at sea?
Dr Drew:  Let me frame that question you can't have meetings out there or do you two make a meeting out there? Or do you just let it go for a while?
Jake Anderson: You can ya, you just need two people.
Jake Anderson: I have.
Jake Harris: Ya, we are sober we hang out.
Dr Drew: But do you have meetings every night?
Jake Anderson: I don't know if it's every night but we do.
Dr. Drew: You read out of a big book.
Jake Anderson:  Yea, we do. I do everything I can.
Dr. Drew: Cause if you didn't, I imagine if somebody has medicine or something on the boat, if you are in your disease you'll rip stuff off from people.
Jake Anderson:  You know you're gonna get twisted up is what happens.
Jake Harris: You gotta keep reminding yourself.
Dr Drew: It's your stinking thinking.
Jake Anderson: Watch your resentment come back then when the boat comes back the first thing that we do is go to a meeting.  Just like when we get loaded.
Dr Drew:  But if you've built all those resentments up while you're out to sea then the first thing you would do is go to a bar.
Jake Anderson: Ya.

Dr Drew said he loves the show can't wait to see the new season.
Wow, I just love Dr Drew. He got a lot of great information from the boys. I like hearing it straight from them.


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