Recovering addict and paraplegic Gabriel Cordell tells SalonTV’s D. Watkins about his momentous trip to become the first person to roll an unmodified wheelchair across America. The 3,100-mile trip from California to New York was captured on film and is part of the new documentary “Roll With Me,” available now on Netflix.

“For me, the force of the addiction was so strong, it was like a suction and I needed to find a greater force that was going to suck me out of the vortex of addiction and that’s why I decided to roll,” Cordell said on “Salon Talks.” “Some people say you can’t change one extreme to another, or go from one addiction to another, and I say if it’s healthy and productive and gives you purpose than why not?”