User Reviews

To all the people asking about Frankie's injuries. He talks about it in episodes 6 and 7. He got wasted and rear ended a public bus. And I don't know what Suboxone does to your appearance but I do know that he's on that. I agree that he looks high quite a bit in the more recent episodes, but does Suboxone do that? Hope this helps!

I think it's a great show. It shows the real stuff people go thru just to get high. Powerful. Kudos to Frankie and Allie for paying it forward in a thankless job.

Does anyone know how this guy got his scars? I cant believe it hasn't come up on the show or on the internet. Very strange that know one has said anything about it. trying to find out what happened is one of the reasons I keep watching the show. The scars look like burns to me I wonder if Frankie didn't have a Richard Pryer moment and while smoking dope it blew up or if he was make meth and the lab blew up not saying that's happened but I wonder if something like that did happen. I seen a lot of ppl say the Frankie looks like he's using from time to time he could be on the methadone program. ppl who relapsed multiple times will normally go to a methadone clinic to get help so they can stay for the street dope. the program does work for a lot of addicts but there's always those who abuse the system but all in all it does work for a lot of ppl and it could be way frankie looks high methadone can make a person very tired and sleepy. I also noticed Frankie sweats a lot which is another side effect of methadone of course he is in Florida and it hot there so that could be why too.... Anyways I want to know about those scars the show needs to come off that info... If anyone knows please let the rest of us inquiring minds know...

One thing I have been searching for is what happened to Frankie's face, how did he get those scars. If you watch every so often when he turns his head it goes down the side of his face & also it goes down the back of neck like the scar goes from one side to the other!? Just curious, because usually when you see things on reality shows like this you google it and I can't find anything about it.

I used for 10+ years and Ive been clean for almost 5. This show does show the reality of addiction and recovery. To the person the wrote insult to recovery: How dare you!! You do not make the "rules" of recovery. No one gets to do that because there are no cookie cutter rules. Its up to each individual addict to decide what works for them. If no one in recovery is willing to get back to the places where addicts are still active in addiction, how are they ever going to get help?? And I have been accused over & over again of being high when I definitely was not. Some have went as far as to say that I never really quit using. To all of those people and to Mr Insult to recovery I say screw you!! My recovery is not dependent on your opinion as to its validity. BTW the 12 steps did not work for me I had to make my own way which I did and I am killing it. So, please watch the show and don't get hung up on these people's cruddy opinions. Have and open mind and an open heart and try to see what really goes on and how hard it really is.

The whole purpose of this show is to make you aware of the struggles that come with addiction, while most are more concerned about how a person's face looks. Allie and Frankie are out there, boots on the ground to try and help people with this serious affliction while also dealing with their own addictions. They put themselves in places that you or I would never think of going. So, before we point fingers we should be thankful that people like them exist and are trying to help others. If you haven't lost someone to addiction you have no idea what the family goes through when loving someone who has an addiction. Me personally I had spent many years with an alcoholic and drug addict who was also my son's father so those times were particularly rough.

He talks about the scars on his face in the documentary "American Relapse" He got them from an accident while working a day labor job. He was pulling roll bars for cars that had been scored in extremely hot water and had one "wrap around his face".

The scars on his neck and back are from a car accident he had while he was high.

Wtf!! Why would you automatically think his scars are from a "Richard Pryor moment" or "meth lab incident?!" That's messed up thinking!! You wouldn't suggest that if he weren't an addict!! I've worked this disease for 15years now but the scar on my neck is from a childhood surgery!! Maybe the scar is from something totally unrelated. Maybe he doesn't feel his scars are the important part of the show because they're not. The show is him helping others and I commend him for that. Love to you Frankie!!

Not really sure if this is a show about addicts receiving help, or if it's so we can watch that skinny blonde girl talk about herself and vape? Also, we need more backstory about what happened to that guy's face. It seems like the minute I'm paying attention to someone's backstory, here come Allie and Frankie again vlogging about themselves from the front seat of a car taking away from anything interesting. Personally, I don't watch docu-series that cover addictions so I can learn about the sober people, sorry, it's boring.

Dumbest review I've read yet: "Waiting for the wow factor" I've seen a little bit of the series, I think it's honest enough to appreciate what people go through during their addiction and /or recovery. Some on the show prevail ....some enough to go to treatment only to walk out a few days later. It's pretty sobering. Frankie seems pretty honest and in your face and I can appreciate that. I do agree with the reviewer who is looking for the (omg) Wow Factor in that Frankie should talk about what he did w/ his face. I see that the scars are getting a little better or fading a way a bit. But yes, I think Frankie should fess up. Not sure if it was needle scars or if someone hurt him. And as for Allie, so what if she vapes....she really seems to care about her work and helping others....and I do believe she's wasted time and money on others. So yes. Check the series. I can't stand the CEO of Vice for certain reasons, but this is a series worth learning from.

First of all, I want to reply to huggacl that posted a review just a bit ago (2/6/19). You know very little about suboxone. Yes, it is a synthetic drug and it can be used for things like chronic pain and also to curb cravings for opiates (I take it for both). I does work on the same receptors as other opiates (OxyContin, Percs, Lortab, etc) but doesn't have the exact same effect. It "fills" the receptors however and helps to curb the cravings but it doesn't really give you much of a euphoric high like other opiates. In addition, you absolutely CAN get addicted to it. In fact, I'm addicted to it just as hundreds of other people in the dr ofc that I see every day. If we stop the meds, we'll go into withdrawals just like we would from opiates. So, you may want to do a bit more research on subs before giving advice in the future.

Now, Dopesick Nation...awesome show and I totally admire Allie and Frank for trying to help so many kids. I genuinely feel bad for Allie as she's not only trying to help the kids on the streets but she's taking care of Frank half of the time. She gets overwhelmed a lot but I think it's becayse she feels like she's doing everything alone since Frank is either high or complaining all of the time. Don't get me wrong, I think he does some good for addicted kids but I think he needs to clean himself up a bit more before he can be fully effective. Good, realistic show, though.

I love this series and the rawness of it in every way. It shows you the struggles people trapped addiction have to go through, but also that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Allie and Frankie are amazing human beings.

I know its been a long time since the show aired but I finally got to binge watch all of the episodes and as much I love it and love that it shows the real side of addiction, I find that recovery based on the AA/NA and the big book in general isn't always what it's cracked up to be and it's not always the end all, be all to recovery. I find that different things work for different people and I don't like at the end how Frankie basically made MAT a negative thing, I can understand that it could be a negative thing for him but I wish he could have made that clear that it just didn't work for him personally and that it's still a viable option for other people. I've personally have been on suboxone for four years and although my body is probably physically dependant on it, I have no issues in my daily life and I also have permission from my doctor to smoke marijuana which is what works for me. There are plenty of recovery youtubers out there who are don't do other drugs besides smoke marijuana or drink occasionally, specifically Jessica Kent who has smoked her whole recovery for her mental health issues and have been clean for over six years. Recovery is not one size fits all and different things work for different people.

Also, if anyone is interested in follow up interviews with the people from this show, Ally has a YouTube channel with some of the updates from some of people, I'm actually really glad she did this and enjoy also watching those.

Also I kinda wish we could have seen more of Ally and her boyfriends relationship dynamics because I thought he was actively struggling with recovery and not currently working in the recovery industry but I'm sure she wanted to keep most of her private life, private.

Even in 2021, we still have a huge stigma about MAT and it's honestly getting people killed daily. I appreciate that VICE put "person with addiction" which is now the proper terms though.

So I just on demanded episode six and they are actually interviewing a disgusting pimp, bragging about have 17 girls in his "stable", at one time, and he has the b a lz to be putting down male addicts living off of their GF's tricking? omg, dude u r no better than they r. LAST SHOW FRANKIE SAID HE CRASHED AND REARENDED A BUS, MIGHT EXPLAIN HIS SCARRED UP (BURNED?) FACE.

So much respect for Frankie and Allie. You are real heros! Good reality show that shows people who struggle with life and drugs. Greetz from Holland.

Suboxone doesn't disfigure you. It's a synthetic drug sometimes used for extreme chronic pain that does not affect the same dopamine receptors in the brain as say, OxyContin. It's an effective medication that you cannot get addicted to and has very few side effects. You do feel like a zombie sometimes (I was on it for a while). I believe it is also prescribed for recovering addicts to reduce cravings. For once, positive Pharma. -not a doctor, just someone familiar with Suboxone.

Frankies face might have been sliced up when he was in prison, I know they do that to snitches, and last night show, I have spent lots of time around heroin addicts, and frankie looked high as h ell to me.

As for Frankie's face scars I've been wondering myself. Some says day labor scoring pipes hot water accident.

To me it looks like the scars would be from wearing a respirator and having a flash fire. Very symmetrical scars and right where you'd be exposed without a full face respirator. The hot pipe theory sounds odd as I have no idea how scoring pipes or roll bars in cars with hot water makes any sense. But never know what crazy things people do. I've got to give him respect for trying to help others but my experience with addicts is nothing makes them change but them.

This is a very accurate depiction of the "south florida shuffle". I lived in the same area this was filmed from 2015-2018. This is spot on as far as the struggle and reality I, and many people I know went through. There is a lot of success stories that happen too though but no one ever sees or hears about those. Theres much much worse things people go through that are almost unspeakable. I got the chills and got emotional from just how real this was. Kudos for shedding light on this!