Dan Schneider is 70 years old, and would like to think sharing his hard-found wisdom would benefit others.

He was born in 1950 in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. He resided there for just 3 months, then white flight moved him to suburban Chalmette. He lived there for 56 years until 1 year after Katrina, then moved to higher ground an hour away to Mandeville, LA, where he resides today. His advocacy related to drug and addiction problems was mostly in St. Bernard until the docuseries “The Pharmacist.”

Dan went to public schools and graduated in 1969 from Chalmette high, where he was an All-District Tackle on the 1968 all-time greatest football team. Later he went on to Xavier pharmacy school and graduated in 1975 with honors. (Just kidding.)

His wife and high school sweetheart (Annie) were married in 1971. She worked and provided. Dan went to school and worked part-time. His wife retired to become a full time mom, and his son Danny was born September 27, 1976. Lil Danny was a blond haired, blue-eyed, beautiful boy. He brought the Schneiders much joy. Their daughter Kristi came along in 1980 and completed what many called the Griswald family: station wagon, family trips, a 17 ft. Christmas tree.

Dan started working at K&B as a pharmacist and later at Eckerd Drug, and then on to Bradley’s Pharmacy, now also of Netflix fame.

Then on April 14, 1999 the Schneiders’ life changed. Their son was murdered while attempting to buy drugs. He had been a polite kid, no fights, no detentions, never stole from the family or others. The only drug issue was he occasionally smoked pot, or so they thought. They were shocked, ashamed and blamed themselves for a while. After briefly doubting and being angry with God, Dan grew closer to his faith than ever. He had to go find his son’s killer. He asked God for help and protection for himself and the witness and promised that if he could get his son’s killer off the street, he would go on a mission for him. He would educate parents, youth and do anything to reduce the drug and addiction problems and prevent tragedies such as theirs.

Dan’s story is told in the Netflix docuseries “The Pharmacist”. The story is not over; it is still being written as he strives to build a nationwide movement to end the opioid and addiction pandemic that has killed nearly a million since his son died. He calls Their Mission “The Tunnel of Hope”, as they hope to bring light to this dark national tragedy.

Alcohol & Drug Abuse, Addiction & Recovery, Netflix, Investigative Journalism, Documentary, Pharmaceutical, Opioid Epidemic, Activists, Health, Documentary Stars