OPIOID CRISIS: A FATAL ADDICTION THAT THRIVES IN THE SHADOWS
I read a quote once that stated: “Weak mean seek pleasure, while strong men seek purpose.” As silly as it may seem this quote influenced me more than I could have possibly envisioned.
For quite some time I, unrecognizably, was interchanging improving upon my purpose and responsibilities for pleasure and, no, by pleasure I am not referring to opiates, I rather speak upon activities that increase one’s dopamine levels and provide a sense of euphoria. Such activities may include eating, playing sports, video games, racing, ultimately anything that brought me excitement and fun. My focus was locked onto these pleasures while subconsciously avoiding my priorities. This was until the moment I came across the quote mentioned above. Those nine words unlocked so many concepts and realizations within my mind that, blatantly put, everything made sense. I realized that I was that weak man, that weak minded individual who instead of pursuing his purpose and accomplishing his goals was satisfying himself through much simpler needs. It was a much-needed revelation that brought about a moment of admittance, acceptance, and reform.
I mention this because as I have delved into the damaging and scaring world of opioids, I have realized that this shackling addiction is, on a significantly lighter scale, like what I personally experienced. Over time individuals addicted to opiates seek that euphoric feeling more frequently until they become fully reliant upon the drug to function normally and remain on base ground. Opiates provide such a euphoric feeling, and it is so simple to administer to oneself that it begins to replace the drive to succeed and accomplish what must be done. Over time opiate users use these drugs more frequently until the drive to improve oneself diminishes and “catching a feel” becomes priority.
The TIME’s “The Opioid Diaries” was incredibly fascinating to me as it brought awareness to this global concern not only educationally, but it also established an intimate connection between the reader and issue by providing personal anecdotes and real images of individuals and their opiate addiction. There is a quote in the Diaries from a homeless user in San Francisco that goes as follows, “Once you’re into heroin, it’s almost like a relationship with a person you love. And letting go of that, the thought of never seeing someone I love again — I couldn’t imagine giving it up forever.” This quote spoke volumes because it truly spoke upon the damaging relationship opiate addicts have. To be so addicted to a substance that it is compared to love is a saddening thought to visualize. Within the diaries it is stated that “[d]rug overdoses kill more than 64,000 people per year, and the nation’s life expectancy has fallen for two years in a row” and “[t]he opioid crisis is the worst addiction epidemic in American history.” Then later within the documents a man named Dave stated, “‘We get into detox, they spin-dry you. And then it’s so overcrowded you can’t go onto the next step, even if you want to.” Without reading the entire collection within the diaries one can infer all that is needed from these three simple quotes. The opioid crisis is the worst and most fatal addiction epidemic to ever exist and has been statistically calculated to have “almost as many deaths from drug overdoses as in all of America’s recent wars combined.” However, with such a significant global concern there should be plenty of beneficial resources to assist these users, correct? Well, not entirely.
As can be understood from Dave’s statement, rehab is a continuous process where users seek asylum from the shackles of their addiction and hope to improve, however, to successfully complete rehab and free oneself from this damaging habit they must not only have drive of course, but the rehabilitation process must also be feasible and practical for users to undergo and complete. I have heard from personal anecdotes firsthand that rehabilitation almost transforms into a process not where one restructures and improves oneself, but it becomes a matter of completing a checklist. Doing what one is instructed to do but not focusing on the result from the process rather focusing on whether the tasks were simply completed or not. A system such as this will never benefit users and improve upon this intensely terrible addiction epidemic that is occurring. To improve such an issue significant reform is required, access to rehabilitation must become easier than access to drugs such as fentanyl and other lethal opioids.
In editor German Lopez’s article, “Drug overdose deaths were so bad in 2017, they reduced overall life expectancy,” Lopez introduced real solutions to the opioid crisis. One solution compares to my statement above and that is for America to “expand access to addition treatment.” This would “entail dramatically boosting access to medications like methadone and buprenorphine, which are considered the gold standard of treatment for opioid addiction and reduce the mortality rate among opioid addiction patients by half or more.” Simply allowing much more feasible access to treatment could significantly assist in lowering overdose rates and opioid misuse. Another solution Lopez mentioned is for “prescribers to also cut back on excess opioid painkiller prescriptions — to prevent more people from misusing the drugs, while still ensuring patients who truly need them get access.” Lopez mentioned yet another significant improvement that could assist in lowering the harmful impact this epidemic has. It all starts from the roots of the problem and that is how these opioids are dispersed and how easily accessible treatments are for users. These are two significant approaches that if taken seriously and acted upon could turn this epidemic on its head and lower the harmful impact it has on not only our nations but also our world.
What are your thoughts? What are some methods you believe could be beneficial in improving upon this opioid crisis? Do you believe the system works perfectly as is and the user is solely at fault for their addiction? Or do you believe the system requires immediate attention and action to beneficially move forward in the future?
