History of the Bay: Tracey H 415

Tracey Helton Mitchell is a published author, activist, and a subject of the 1999 HBO documentary "Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End Of The Street." She shares her incredible stories of San Francisco in the 90s, where she ended up strung out on drugs once she arrived in the city. As shown in the documentary, the streets she lived on were far different than today's image of SF . Although she lost many friends along the way, Tracey managed to recover from addiction after a stint in county jail. Decades later, she started writing about her experiences and published her book, "The Big Fix: Life After Heroin." Tracey is still practicing recovery, advocating for overdose prevention, and living a positive lifestyle with her husband and children. This is an inspiring story and one that we hope will let people who are dealing with drug addiction know that it's possible to make positive changes.