You do have to judge the credibility of the narrator. The most egregious thing in the story was the use and possession of illegally acquired, dangerous drugs while caring for a young child.
It is illegal without a proper doctor's prescription and if it's obtained illicitly (Fentanyl that looks like Percoset being a thing the Mexican cartels do[1]).
If you’ve ever spent a significant amount of time in the orbit of someone near that cluster of symptoms you start to develop similar doubts about the narratives put forward by them. It is rarely so cut and dry that such people should be casually dismissed, but there is often something to doubt.
The difficult truth is that the situation will be two sided. Someone’s behavior and actions will go beyond what is reasonable (or legally defensible) and the reaction will likewise go beyond what is reasonable (or legally defensible). It is a complicated grey area where nobody looks good and people take sides according to their biases rooting for one side to “win” instead of being motivated to fix problems.
Her entire story could have been reduced to "I had a shit upbringing like many, sorted myself out, got a job at Apple, and then fucked it up cause I wanted to push some activist bullshit".
It was a poor attempt at grabbing the sympathy of anyone reading. I'll say if you fell for it, it's not because you have empathy and we don't, it's because you're being emotionally manipulated and we can see through the ramblings of a strung out person.
It says that he/she is bold enough to say what's on their mind, even if it runs the risk of being against the grain.
If there's one thing I've learned in life it's that your best bet is to keep your head down, do good work, and don't get in the way of others who are trying to do the same thing.
Hate that sentiment all you want, but even you probably benefit wildly from all the people surrounding you who are dealing with difficult shit but don't put it on you, or let it affect the workplace. It's standard etiquette and we're all better for it.