Scott Roth, son of Robin Roth, is a young man from Roanoke, Virginia, who dies of an overdose on heroin that he bought from his former classmate Spencer Mumpower. Growing up, Scott is well-liked and known for his life-of-the-party personality. Eventually, Scott gets addicted to opioids. He has been on and off drugs since at least 2006 (when he was 17), but for a while, he is able to hide his habit from his mother, claiming that he’s only doing weed (when, in fact, he was already doing heroin). Scott’s death is one of the first ones in the Roanoke region to receive major attention, and it leads to the federal imprisonment of Spencer. Scott’s mother continues to mourn her son’s death, even eight years later when she speaks to Macy for the book. Scott represents how the opioid epidemic was able to stay stealthy in its early days—and how later, it burst into the open, fracturing communities in unexpected ways.
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Scott Roth Character Timeline in Dopesick
The timeline below shows where the character Scott Roth appears in Dopesick. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
Scott Roth is a young man in Roanoke who dies of a heroin overdose. Spencer Mumpower...
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Robin Roth, mother of Scott, recalls how her son had been on and off drugs since he was 17, in...
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...valuables). Robin Roth also feels like a failure because of the death of her son Scott, not realizing how many parents out there are in similar situations (since internet support groups...
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At court in 2012, Spencer is convicted of selling Scott Roth the heroin he overdosed on. The judge suggests that it might be helpful for...
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Spencer recalls the night he sold Scott the heroin that led to Scott’s death and Spencer’s imprisonment. The two hadn’t seen each...
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Chapter 6
The death of Scott Roth helps wake Roanoke up to the seriousness of the epidemic. He was well-liked and...
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Chapter 9
...Macy. She knows about Spencer Mumpower and Colton Banks, and she was even there at Scott Roth’s funeral mass. Two years into her addiction, she got fired from her job as...
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Epilogue
Scott Roth’s mother, Robin, still regularly texts with Macy and has been mourning her son’s death...
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