Is it possible that on his days off from the golf course and time away from locker rooms that the new American president will be able to establish a legacy of having fought brilliantly against the most threatening epidemic to Americans since AIDS? In fact, the comparison between AIDS and opioid addiction isn’t fair. AIDS killed and will continue to kill less people. The growing problem of opioid addiction is a peculiar phenomena that has roots in science, society and economics, and that makes it difficult for anyone but the leader of the free
world to make game changing decisions when it comes to how to address the issue.
Addiction to opiates of any variety is a widespread concern. It isn’t just liberal elites who are taking a few too many pain pills with their exquisite glass of wine in the evening. Nor is the problem isolated to Donald Trump’s “deplorables”. Opioid addiction isn’t particularly sexist or racist. In fact the amount of privilege one possesses is of little concern to the elusive, almost mythical entity that is addiction. It doesn’t care about circumstances, biology or strength, but can absolutely and often irreparably damage someone’s life and future, making it to Americans of any culture, creed or race a very serious worry.
In an election cycle that had even us Canadians asking “why?” at every turn, many of us forgot about an issue very close to home. I don’t know a family member or friend who doesn’t know someone addicted to something that’s affecting their life in a negative way, and while Americans talked about the “big” issues before heading to the ballot box, there’s a chance they forgot that a nasty tag-a-long to changes in society and a slowing economy is opioid addiction.
With bad prescribing practices on the rise, cheap and filthy heroine more readily available to southern teens than a pizza in certain communities, and increased demand by the everyday folks to the so called 1% to “numb the pain”, it’s really no surprise how opioid addiction was allowed to fester and grow. Many Americans feel as though they’ve been left behind, while others feel increasingly marginalized due to the colour of their skin or who they pray to. Many others struggle with sexual identity and orientation, a disability and genuine anxiety as to whether life will get better .
A myriad of concerns and problems face America and the west, but so far the only universal treatment is one that was never meant to treat a single one of those issues.It wasn’t prescribed to treat poor economic growth, gender dysphoria or “not being white”. In fact opiates are prescribed to treat physical pain, but boy oh boy do they do a hell of a job on just about every other type of pain and suffering, but not in a good way.
The issue of addiction in America is one that affects us at Sobriety. There’s simply too much to write in one post, so we’ve decided to make this an ongoing theme for a little while. Big change has happened and will continue happening for our neighbours to the south, and there is strong evidence that addiction to painkillers and their illegal cousins is a nasty and lasting side-effect to many other problems Americans of all backgrounds have been dealing with for many years.
Please stay tuned and check back soon for the next installment of “Will Trump Cure Addiction?” where we will take a more in-depth look at how addiction is harming the rural communities in the US and why every American should be concerned.
