Hate Hope and Human Rights
At least that's what the addicts describe it as. In 2020 alone, an estimated 9.5 million Americans, just Americans 12 years or older, admitted to misusing opioids. Between 8 to 12 percent of patients prescribed painkillers for chronic pain will end up developing an addiction and misuse them. They are killing us, our children, brothers, mothers, friends and family left and right, and they don't even have a gun.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly who is at fault for this. Do we blame big pharma companies for profiting off of the ill and over producing drugs, pushing them on doctors as an easy fix to many problems? Is it our doctors not paying attention to the dosage they prescribe, over prescribing, getting lazy with these killing machines? Is it the drug dealers, preying on the souls who maybe just had one shoulder surgery from a high school football game, had to take Oxycodone at first to relieve the excruciating pain, but then to numb all the other feelings? Or is it the addict's fault, who once was happy, but has now fallen victim to the dealers’ special ingredient of this week's batch of happy pills, now laced with fentanyl?
The waves of deaths come and go with the decades, starting in the 90s when Oxycontin was promoted by Perdue Pharmaceuticals and approved by the FDA. Then a second wave crashed in from the heroin market, and most recently the monsoon of illegal synthetic opioids has taken out cities, literally. So? This isn't my problem. I don't do drugs, I'm a smart kid and I listened to the D.A.R.E. representatives when they gave their presentations in middle school. It matters, and we need to take a stand.
This is a full on crisis, which recently was masked and amplified by the pandemic. Isolation has allowed for addictions to go unnoticed by families and friends, it has increased the amounts of depression and anxiety people suffer from, and continues to hinder preventive and quality care. But I have hope.
It is important to recognize the issue. That we have a huge problem that cannot be solved overnight. The CDC has labeled the crises and epidemic, so step one is pretty much done on a large scale level.
As the pandemic regulations are starting to lift, accessibility to quality care is being increased, as well as stigmatization of the disease is being changed. Health professionals are changing their jargon, and substituting “substance abuse” with “substance use disorder” and stitching the reference of being “clean” or “dirty” when using, and taking advantage of the terms relapse instead, to help addicts in their road to recovery. It is an incredibly important topic to discuss, and make sure there is ample knowledge amongst your friends and family about the dangers of the war we are in.
Where can we find hope in fighting a war that cannot be won with all the artillery in the world?
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/what-led-to-the-opioid-crisis-and-how-to-fix-it/
https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/23/health/heroin-opioid-drug-overdose-deaths-visual-guide/index.html
https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html
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