If there were no demand, there would be no crisis.
We can point at Drs for overprescribing and drug cartels for making the narcotics available, but in the end, who is forcing addicts and junkies to partake? It isn’t as if the dangers aren‘t common knowledge by now.
Call me callous or whatever (it wouldn’t be the first time, and it doesn’t bother me) but if people (victims?) weren’t willingly putting opioids into their OWN bodies in the first place, would there be a crisis? I’ll go with Darwinism.
This post was edited by Don Barzini at July 22, 2018 8:02 AM MDT
My next thought wants entail deeper details about what is making people want to put opioids in their body. Maybe some underlying societal drawback or unfulfillment that is society at large or governmental crisis or issue producing despair is all:)
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at July 22, 2018 8:02 AM MDT
It’s easy (and pretty convenient) to pawn off our problems onto the machinations of society, the forces of fate, The Man keeping us down, or some other ubiquitous causes, and to a degree it’s understandable how such things can bring people to dark places.
Wouldn’t you agree though, in most cases, opioids are chosen by it’s victims(?) to inflict on themselves, knowing the potential consequences include addiction and death?
If we are talking responsibility, who is ultimately responsible for making the key decisions for our own well-being..
This post was edited by Don Barzini at July 22, 2018 8:20 AM MDT
Well maybe it is a combinational thing with peer pressure involved with those who already take drugs and the American way of us always shown on TV for us to be always to be so happy and perfect all the time and this itself produces a rift is all:)
The people participating in the use of drugs are the guilty folks. A person's addiction cannot be blamed on anyone or anything other than him/herself. That does not mean they can stop without help; that is another conversation.
You know WHY nothing ever gets done for years and years?
Because we must argue about who to blame.
That's the reason. WHO CARES WHO IS TO BLAME?
Clean it up. Clean up the rules to get this stuff, clean up the reasons why people need to self-medicate and become addicts. Find programs to correct this way. I think this is why people who have no brains try and call me a filthy name like LIBERAL.
Liberals don't care about who is to blame when there are literally a hundred ways for a good defense attorney to choose among the many reasons one party is to blame and another is innocent (their client, of course)
SO? Let's just move forward and stop this. STOP THIS once and for all by using education, talent and inteligence to formulate a healthy and positive manner and even (WAIT FOR IT) EMPLOY people to research and develop corrective measures besides jail and fines.
There's no single entity to "blame," and when we point the finger, it doesn't always lead us to a solution.
If I wanted to narrow it down a little, I'd say people have a poor understanding of human behavior. Heroin is not the problem- it's a symptom of a problem; often trauma, abuse, loneliness, neglect, etc. And, the more we get away from human contact and community, the worse it's going to get. When people feel good and are emotionally well, substance abuse is less of a concern. And, yet, we don't treat it like that. We punish people for it. We shame them. It's BS. They need help once they're hooked and it's hard to find good help. No, actually, they need help BEFORE they're hooked. Before they turn to substances to fill a void.
The relapse rates are astounding. More than 2/3 relapse after detox because they never really recovered in the first place. Sure, they got off the drug, but they didn't fix the underlying problem.
We could point at the producers and dealers too, but you know what stops the producers and dealers? Legalization. When marijuana was legalized, the pot growers in Mexico switched to poppies.
We can point at the doctors for poor prescribing, failure to educate, and failure to provide assistance when someone may be hooked. Our whole medical system is broken. The average doctor spends seven minutes per appointment and runs through his checklist so fast patients rarely leave feeling like they got their concerns addressed. That's fine if you're healthy, but when you're not... you're just alone and isolated. Moreover, few primary care physicians know anything about mental health, leaving patients to decide if/ when they need help and how to get it.
Not too long ago, I learned that someone I'm close to was a heroin addict. I can't even begin to express how much it turned my world upside down because they were still using when I found out. Although I wasn't aware of this person's addiction, I also knew they had past trauma and had issues as a result. I knew many of their friends, also people with traumatic backgrounds. After I learned about the addiction and which of that person's friends were using too... it all made sense. These were people with bright futures. People of worth. Intelligent. Fun. Caring. But, they were also people who had lost everything. They had no stable living arrangement. No regular job. They had no contact with their families. They had no friends outside their circles. What was left for them? What was there to motivate them? And, if they wanted help, there was none. They gave up and settled into the lifestyle, many committing crimes to support their habits. Some working as prostitutes. And, the deeper they got into that life, the worse they felt about where they were and what they had done, further solidifying their label as an addict.
My friend wanted out and hadn't gotten that low yet. I was lucky enough to have some connections that got us in touch with a really amazing treatment center. I was present for this person's detox, and let me tell you, it was no walk in the park. It was literally hours on end of convulsions, much like a grand mal seizure that never quit. And that was only the detox. They're still in an intensive recovery program and every day is hard. But, they're making progress and I am very proud of them for doing so. I genuinely do not know what I would have done if I hadn't been put in touch with this particular recovery center. I had called around and everyone wanted a minimum of $2500 up front for treatment.
When I learned about the addiction, I was pissed at everyone. I was mad a my friend for lying and the crappy things they did while using. I was mad at their previous doctors for prescribing opiates and not monitoring. I was mad at their friends and family who knew the person longer than I did and knew there was a problem, but never reached out to help. And, I was beyond pissed at the friends who were using and the dealers. People who knew what was going on and hid it from me. People who covered for my friend so I didn't find out. People who looked me in the eyes and lied. In the few days between my learning and the time detox started, I had already made my mind up that I was reporting each and every single one of them to the police the second detox began to ensure my friend had no trail to go back to. I also had myself convinced that I was doing them a favor because getting them arrested meant they'd also have to detox. I was lying to myself, though. I wanted vengeance. Getting them arrested would have solved nothing because if my friend wanted to go back to heroin, they'd find a new contact. It's not that hard. And, these contacts wouldn't have quit either, nor would they have been any closer to getting help. They just would have had a drug arrest and the stigma that comes with it, making it even harder for them to ever resume a normal life if they ever chose to get clean.
Something interesting also came out of the detox. When this person started telling friends and family they were in recovery, most of them pointed the finger at me. They assumed that, because I was close to the person, not only must I have known, but that I must be using too. That makes me twice as mad because those people- the clean ones- were there for the downward spiral when I wasn't. Yet, I was the one who got them into treatment, and none of them recognize that. I'm the bad one to them.
We all want someone to blame. Blame makes it easier to digest and accept. It ties everything up into a nice neat package. It tells us were to seek retribution.
We can't blame here. It's a culture. We should be looking for ways to uplift people. We need to stop blaming and stop trying to punish. We need to stop the stigma. We need to encourage treatment, provide support, and love these people. They are our neighbors. Our co-workers. Our family. Our friends. That doesn't mean we need to allow them to damage our lives or that we should condone bad behavior. It simply means that everyone deserves to know what love and acceptance is, ideally before they become an addict.
Don Barzini 