The Forgotten Opioid Crisis and It's Lasting Effects On America

    The news cycles were all over the Opioid Epidemic, it was mid-winter 2019, the deaths continued to pile up from sea to shining sea. The Midwest was being hit especially hard. Dayton, Ohio, a city of only 140,343 (worldpopulationreview.com) was pummeled by the death drug to the tune of 378 fatal overdoses in 2017 alone, according to numbers compiled by americanprogress.org. The figures did drop significantly over the next two years, thanks to the media spotlight being shined on this small, previously insignificant Ohio enclave. By January 2020, covid-19 arrived on our shores. The death toll from the coronavirus began to rise, by late February Americans were forced inside and another epidemic replacing the opioid crisis seemed complete. For those of us well versed in this subject we were strongly aware that some super flu wasn't going to stop users from using, and people from dying. The dreaded opiate derivative fentanyl made its unceremonious street debut as a cheaper and stronger version of heroin sometime between  the years of 2014-2015, the drug had an extremely negative impact on addicts and urban neighborhoods. Unknowingly, heroin addicts, who may have developed a tolerance to that drug were introduced to a replacement which is an absurd 10,000 times more potent than morphine, information obtained by medicinenet.com. This issue is personal to me, I've struggled with addictions to various substances my entire adult life. It takes a lot for me to admit it, but considering the subject matter we're exploring I felt it best to be completely honest with my readers. From the age of 22 until my current age of 35 I've been battling this affliction on and off. The information, physical distress, and mental grief should give me some real-life experience to be able to bring you the best truth and analysis.

    The old epidemic cliche started with the crack cocaine explosion in the 1980's. A cheaper, extremely more powerful version of powered cocaine hit the streets of african american neighborhoods (sounds familiar), Nancy Reagen pleaded to just say no, which looking back was possibly the most absurd, shortsighted and insulting made for TV infomercial in the history of television broadcasts. Years later we also found out Ronald Reagan and his minions were behind the crack scourge to try and rid the country of black people, junkies, and homosexuals. Not to mention the AIDS crisis, which all signs point to being another Republican sanctioned way of erasing whom they deemed "social parasites". But that's another story for another day. The opioid epidemic has destroyed families, turned 12 year olds into intervenos drug users, I know I've seen it and the visual of that is something that will keep me up at night for the rest of my days.

    The year was 2007, I was working and trying my best to make a life for myself. I was an aspiring musician but sadly had an affinity for hard drugs. Somehow I succumbed to the myth that it can spur an avalanche of creativity. Early on, I can say I  had a positive response from the drug's initial feelings. It put me in a place where I felt secure, I lost much of the inhibitions I dealt with previously. I became more open, I thought I became more spiritual and incorrectly I felt without that sensation my talent  could never reach it's full potential without it. That terrible misconception lead to a decade in a half of rehabs, jail, lost relationships and worst of all so much time wasted. Luckily, I survived, several of my friends and acquaintances didn't. Like millions of others who lost loved ones to this disease the trauma never really disappears. In time, one can hope we learn to deal with the tragic circumstances we all had to witness.

   The villains in this story aren't just the freelance dope dealers pushing their product to support themselves. Anyone with knowledge of how the drug trade works knows that those people are a tiny cog in a much larger conspiracy. The drugs enter the country thanks to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) allowing them to. Besides the blank checks received in cash the agents get from Mexican cartels, if no narcotics were able to flood the streets of basically every large city in America there wouldn't be a need for the DEA now would there? It keeps them employed and secures them an early retirement. No dope, no pension, those of you good government folks, sorry to burst your bubble but other than ICE no government agency is more full of it than the DEA. Of course that's just a part of the machine that allowed the United States to become a heavily medicated failed state. Most of you have heard of Purdue Pharma, and the ultimate pill pushing duo, the Sackler brothers. Pardon my French but thanks to these two pricks and other members of their family did knowingly produced billions upon billions of dangerous, extremely addictive opiates to doctors and pharmacies all over the United States. Their inhumane scheme went on for decades until finally in December of 2020 when the Sacklers plead guilty to criminal charges of distribution and manufacturing of opiates, they paid hefty fines (Which I'm sure they were able to pay.) The actual amount was 8 billion dollars in fines and another 225 million in civil lawsuits (compiled by the NY Times).

   Unlike Covid-19, when the government pumped billions of dollars into vaccination research to several of the largest pharmacutical companies i.e. Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, sadly there's no cure or vaccine for Opioid addiction. Methadone clinics, long term rehabs, suboxone or the dreaded cold turkey are the only options available. Each of these choices come with their own hideous consequences. Methadone is also a highly habit forming maintenance program which has it's own withdrawal symptoms and is also extremely difficult to detox off of. Rehabilitation centers, especially for those without good insurance, can be an uncomfortable, lonely and miserable experience. The overall success rate in these facilities range from 5-25 percent, depending on the facility (numbers compiled by Americanaddiction centers.org). Suboxone is the most modern detox pharmacutical companies have come up with. There's pros and cons to the treatment, the chemicals block the Opioid receptors in your brain which denies the users ability to feel affects of other opiate based substances. It also has a normalizing effect on the addicts psyche which can help change behaviors synomous with heavy drug use. Yet it's no miracle drug, some patients who have an allergy to naloxone can end up in a coma, also the patients body needs to be completely rid of any opiates or the naloxone can cause induced withdrawals, which is a nightmare I wouldn't wish on my worse enemy. Cold turkey is an inhumane, dangerous way to attempt at getting clean, unless you have an incredibly high threshold for pain I would never recommend it.

  We're at the point as a nation where it seems we're fighting a losing battle. The medical world hasn't come up with a better way to treat chronic pain. Percocet, Dilaudid and morphine are still pumped into patients with severe injuries to this day. Of course, regulations have become more stringent, yet there's no magic computation to figure out a persons level of pain. The DEA and CDC can lock up doctors all they want, but that won't completely stop opioids making their way into pharmacies and into people's homes. Prescriptions for these heavily addictive medications often last no longer then a few months, so after the patients left high, dry and heavily dependant they have no choice but to rely on street dealers to satisfy their fixation. Not to continue making the covid, opiate analogy but I do feel it's worth mentioning more than once. Covid vaccines will flood the market, people will eventually develop an immunity to the virus. Covid-19 will cease, it may take another year before infections drop off heavily, but when it comes to the Opioid Epidemic there's no vaccine or anti-bodies to help rid us of this disease. No one has cracked the code on how to save the still suffering addicts. I just hope the medical community doesn't just give up and throw in the towel.