This reader impression was written and sent to LitNet on the writer's own initiative.
Title: Slaying the dragon
Author: Antonio Iozzo
ISBN: 9780796176127
Flyleaf Publishing & Distribution
When a billionaire businessman contemplates breaking into a pharmacy, driven by desperation for his next opioid fix, it’s going to be one hell of a ride with ups and many downs.
Sometimes it looks as if things come easy for some people, but what’s going on behind the scenes will shock you, and you might think, how the hell did he get through this? This memoir of Antonio Iozzo will leave you dumbstruck and also in awe. Antonio started out as a pizza delivery boy to contribute to the family finances and grew into a billionaire.
The trouble started with his motorbike accident in 2018, when he crashed his bike at a speed of 150 kilometres per hour. In this freak accident, his 200-kilogram Ducati Panigale landed on his back. In a split second, Antonio’s life changed during a practice lap, without him even making the race! After a two-week hospital stay, he could finally check out. They sent him home with ten boxes of OxyNorm, among other medication, with a repeat script and instructions on how to take it.
Three months after his accident, he ran out of tablets. He naively thought he would be okay without them. After suffering through the first 24 hours, he called his doctor for a new prescription. He was relieved to feel normal again after taking a single Oxy pill. While feeling relieved, he also started to worry about the hold this tiny pill had over him. He started doing online research and discovered that a person can become addicted to Oxy within 14 days. By then, he had been taking Oxy for 14 weeks already. The more research he did, the more he realised that he had been prescribed a seriously addictive drug without any warning from his doctors.
By June 2018, three months after my motorcycle accident, it was clear that I’d become addicted to Oxy. This was difficult for me to accept. The last thing I wanted to be was an addict. I’d always seen addicts as people who just did not have enough willpower to say no. Willpower was one of my strongest traits. (37)
The book tells the story of a strong man going through hell, from Johannesburg to San Antonio, Texas, with one operation after the other. Boxes of pills from OxyNorm to Suboxone, each one worse than the others. Suffering from pain, trying to get off the meds and having no medical doctors offering any news other than that he would have to live with it. During all his trials, he managed not only to keep up with his business, but to grow his business and start new ones, each one more successful than the others.
In January 2020, he started his research on how to get off the Suboxone. In the United States, there was something called “tapering Suboxone”, but it was not available in South Africa, and neither could it be imported. He got a tip from a vein specialist on how to taper away on the actual Suboxone pill. Through more trials not working, he became even more addicted than before on Oxy, taking the pills almost by the box.
He discovered buprenorphine patches, and started using them as prescribed by his psychiatrist. Even then, they told him that he would be using a small dosage for the rest of his life. But this was not good enough for Antonio Iozzo.
The past five years have in many ways been like hell, but during this time, while I slayed the opioid dragon, I also grew my business fiftyfold. As things were falling apart in my personal life, I took on more and more responsibilities and chased new dreams. My business kept me alive and carried me. (251)
Do yourself a favour and buy Slaying the dragon, and journey with Antonio through his five years of hell. None of this has been a walk in the park for Antonio and his family, but through it all, his wife, Nicole, has stood by his side and supported him.
On 29 August 2024, Slaying the dragon was launched at Exclusive Books Hyde Park, and all the books were sold out that evening. Slaying the dragon quickly rose to international bestseller status on Amazon, achieving number one rankings in multiple categories across the United States and Australia within days of its release on 21 August 2024. Slaying the dragon is available at Exclusive Books. Should your bookstore not have any in stock, ask them to order it, or order online with Amazon as it is also available as an ebook and audiobook.
