In his first book, author Jason Smith explores the depravity and desperation required to maintain an opiate addiction so fierce, he finds himself jumping continents to avoid jail time and learns the hard way that some demons cannot be outrun.

While teaching in Europe, he meets a prostitute who secures drugs for him at the dangerous price of helping out the Russian mafia; in China, he gets his Percocet and Xanax fix but terrifies a crowd of children and parents at his job in the process; and in Mexico, Smith thought a Tijuana jail cell would be the perfect place to kick his Fentanyl habit, but soon realizes that the power of addiction is stronger than his desire to escape it.

The Bitter Taste of Dying paints a portrait of the modern day drug addict with clarity and refreshing honesty. With a gritty mixture of self-deprecation and light-hearted confessional, Smith’s memoir deftly describes the journey into the harrowing depths of addiction and demonstrates the experience of finally being released from it.


Praise for THE BITTER TASTE OF DYING

"Jason is a great writer who's clearly done the life-destroying research that I can relate to. This is the voice of a new generation of drug addicts." – Jerry Stahl, NY Times bestselling author of Permanent Midnight and Happy Mutant Baby Pills

"This memoir grabs you by the throat on the first page and doesn't let go until you're done, in one sitting--gasping for breath because you know, finally, what it's like to be a drug addict without having been one yourself. Jason Smith is a gifted writer offering no excuses for the damage he did on his harrowing 16-year journey into prescription drug hell, a huge, hidden problem in America today. Read The Bitter Taste of Dying to understand it." – Jonathan Alter, NY Times bestselling author of The Center Holds