Responsibility for the Opioid Epidemic


I ready a news piece yesterday that basically stated that after years of prescribing addictive opioids  for pain, studies are showing that they are no more effective than other forms of pain medication, especially after a year of use.  With the horror of these drugs among us, they don't even help pain sufferers that much.

That pushed me over the edge.

Like many "normal", regular folks I know, my family has been very impacted by heroin-based medications, both prescribed by doctors and obtained on the street.      Our family's experience has not been good; lives are severely impacted and altered, whether for  years or a lifetime.   Our story is the same as many, many other families that I know from all walks of life.

I've read on the subject and participated in treatment programs (as a supporting family member); but I am not a scholar on the subject.     Even so, I want to challenge the assertions that this is a "Mexico" problem and the current and former administrations have loudly claimed.   It is an American problem, and I feel we need to take responsibility for it.

It is necessary to also add this huge disclaimer:   While I've witnessed the cycle of drug addiction many times, I have never dealt with chronic pain or even the severe pain of surgery (and i hope I never do).   I am also not a person that becomes addicted (i gave myself plenty of opportunities to do so); I also don't really like drugs and the states they produce.

There are a few facts that I would present.

1)  It appears to be well known and I've not heard it disputed that 90% of the heroin originates in Afghanistan,  where 90% of the poppy is grown.

2)   For the last 20 or so years, the armed forces of the United States of America have had a significant military presence and operations in Afghanistan.   Before that, Russia spent many years there.   I recall no reports of our military taking any action whatever against poppy growers.  In fact, I spoke to a young man that had done multiple tours in Afghanistan and I asked him whether they ever took action against or even approached poppy fields.   He indicated he'd never seen or heard of any action, and that they could only cross a field with express permission of the owners.     If the damage being done to our people and our society by these drugs are not an act of war against us, I don't know what is.

 3)  Beginning many years ago, heroin moved  from the streets to the doctors office, as Big Pharma started flooding the market and compensating physicians to write addictive prescriptions.   The pharmaceutical companies knowingly lied about the additive nature of drugs like Oxycontin, no different than Big Tobacco and cancer.      The result of years of this "collaboration" between doctors and the drug companies was the entrapment of millions of people whose pain, often transitory pain, became a nightmare of addiction hell.  In my opinion, doctors prescribed these medications unnecessarily both before AND after they knew the addictive effects.  They broke their Hippocratic oath to line their pockets.

Here's the question I pose:  How is Mexico to blame for the rampant escalation of this problem and its encroachment into the lives of mainstream Americans if we allow the Afghanis to produce and ship this poison under the nose of our military, and if we allow our own bloodsucking drug companies to legally produce millions of pills, and we allow our medical professionals to irresponsibly prescribe the drug without ensuring their patients do not become addicts?

They hypocrisy of our leadership, past and present, is unbelievable as it relates to this issue.

The only answer I have is the usual.   We allow this because the rich get richer through means both legal (ownership of large amounts of Pharma stock) and illegal.  Simple as that.

Many Americans are unaware of the scope of this problem, and the drug companies work hard to keep it that way.   We'd be much more aware of it if those who are addicted wen through the life-threatening pain of being forced off the drugs due to inability to afford them - but the same Pharma companies that charged huge amounts to get people hooked while they had insurance to pay the huge prices make those same drugs available at a fraction of the cost to addicts that no longer have insurance - because they're still making money on these cheaply produced drugs, and because they don't want to visibility and the stink of what would happen if they didn't make them available.  I've seen this with my own eyes.

I'm often dismayed by how willing we as a people are to screw each other.   There is no better example of this than the pharmaceutical companies.

It is clear that our government and our leaders are not going to do anything about this, which means this is another are that we the people must find a way to take into our own hands.       We are not the first civilization on earth under attack from drug addiction.    We are not handling it well.

How do we confront the ugly truths and decide on what actions could be effective to end this plague?  How do we deal with the weakness in our own society that allows this to go on?   Many who are prescribed these drugs are snared unwittingly by their own doctors; but for most it is a choice they make and continue to make.   Why do our people make this choice?

I have only one suggestion:   Any doctor trying to prescribe addictive drugs to you is basically putting your life at risk.     AT LEAST ask for alternatives.   AT LEAST demand a full plan not to just get you on the drugs but to get you off of them as well.   ASSUME that you will become addicted.   Here again, I speak as one that has not personally dealt with these levels of pain.     I have talked to many who feel they could have handled their pain in other ways and were simply unaware of the danger their own doctor put them in.

I welcome your comments and experiences.    So many are affected.   This is not a political problem; though it is partially a leadership problem that we've had for many years.   

God bless and help those that are suffering through this horrible experience.