Sonja Farak
Sonja Farak
Sonja Farak, born in Rhode Island on January 13, 1978, is known as the former state laboratory chemist in Massachusetts.[6] And Netflix has made a documentary about her story called "How to Fix a Drug Scandal." [1]
Sonja Farak Early Life and Education
Sonja was the first female in Rhode Island to be on a high school football team, according to a 1992 newspaper report. Sonja, who was 14 at the time, told Panama City News Herald.: [5]
"That's not a big deal,
She played as the start guard for the freshman team at Portsmouth High School. According to her teammates, "Sonja Farak was last year's best center in the league,
She attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute after graduating from Portsmouth High School, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry in 2000. Farak graduated with distinctions and honours, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
In her final year, she won the American Institute of Chemists Award, as well as a Crimson and Gray Award from the school a year earlier, which put her "dedication, duty and charity in enhancing student life at WPI." A Rolling Stone piece on Sonja also indicated that she graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute with "high distinction."
She attended the Temple University in Philadelphia for graduate school, which is where she became a recreational drug user, according to a study from an attorney general's office. She struggled with depression from an early age, something that "hasn't returned to medicine," according to a Rolling Stone piece on Sonja Farak. They wrote that Sonja Farak attempted suicide in high school and was even hospitalized while in college. Her counsel for mitigation, Elaine Pourinski, said during her trial that Farak was not taking drugs to dance, but was managing her affliction. She said:
"It was about coping; it definitely wasn't about having fun; I don't think she's been having fun for quite some time."
Career
She began working rapidly afterwards for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in July 2003 until July 2012 and for the Massachusetts State Police from July 2012 until January 2013, when the lab was under their jurisdiction. She first worked as a Bacteriologist on HIV experiments at the Hinton State Laboratory in Jamaica Plain for one year before moving to the Amherst Lab for drug research.
While Sonja Farak found a job after graduation and was settled with her husband, she felt like a stranger in her body and continued to have suicidal thoughts, but instead of following through with those emotions, she started taking the medication she was supposed to be studying at college.
Marital Life
In her 20s, Sonja met and settled with Nikki Lee.
After starting her work, she married Lee but their marriage was rocky. Sonja Farak had her mental health issues and according to Rolling Stone, Nikki Lee must have been living at home with his wife every night. They wrote that Lee:
"disabled in a haze by a stew of mental disorders, his hours surfing the Internet."
Sonja's psychiatrist, Anna Kogan, wrote in her notes that if she was ever identified, Sonja was worried about Nikki breaking out of her habit, as well as the possible legal issues. It's uncertain if Sonja Farak is still with Lee, as they both have been out of the public eye since the event. She also had an obvious fascination with her husband's psychiatrist, as she was stated to have a folder about him that she might have put together, recording her fascination.
Charges and conviction
Netflix's most original true-crime film: "How to Fix a Drug Crisis,"[3] was released on April 1st, 2020.
It shows the true story of Sonja Farak, a former Massachusetts state drug laboratory chemist who was arrested in 2013 for using the drugs she was supposed to be researching and tampering with the evidence to cover her tracks up. The show also examines the state problems while defining and reporting on the number of situations that Sonja's activities have affected. Sonja Farak admitted that she began to use drugs just as soon as she started to work at the Amherst State Crime Lab in Massachusetts. In 2014 she was jailed for 18 monthl and 5 years of penalty. [2]