Posted on 09/10/2017 2:34:17 AM PDT by Kaslin
The next three weeks we will look at possibly the largest and most dangerous crisis facing America. Please join us in taking an in depth look at the challenge for America.
If you were around in the 1980s, you’ll likely recall HIV/AIDS bursting on the scene with a vengeance. AIDS spread through the consciousness of America even faster than the disease. Who was exposed? Where did it come from? Today another epidemic has exploded into the minds of America that has everyone just as befuddled – opioids. People are dying in mass numbers and no one has totally wrapped their heads around the problem to solve it.
The numbers are staggering. For people under the age of 50, opioids are the single largest cause of death. More than cancer, more than auto accidents, more than gun violence, more than any other cause. In fact, opioids were a greater cause of death in 2015 than HIV/AIDS was in 1995.
To give you a perspective, in 2015 there were 52,404 people who died from a drug overdose as stated by the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). Of that number, 33,091 involved an opioid. You might question that number since that includes heroin (which is an opioid). It is estimated that there are now 600,000 people using heroin in the United States and a full 80 percent started using prescription opioids, whether legally or illegally obtained. There are another estimated 1,900,000 Americans who currently either misuse opioids or have an opioid misuse disorder.
Like many other parents, Gary Mendell started confronting this challenge. Mendell was running his successful hotel business when he came to realize his son, Brian, was dealing with an opioid problem. For almost 10 years, Brian dealt with the challenge of addiction and all the negative aspects of life accompanying that. Brian lost his life in October 2011, but the world found a new leader on this issue -- his father.
Gary Mendell started seeing that there was really no national organization to confront the challenge. Mendell dug into educating himself to a different level and resolving the issue. He learned that eight of 10 of those who become addicted do so before their 18th birthday prior to their brains being fully developed. This led him to form Shatterproof (www.shatterproof.org). Mendell has thrown himself into the work behind this problem while putting the operation of his business in the hands of trusted lieutenants. He now works full-time to help others from suffering the same fate as his beloved son.
Where did this all start? As stated by Mendell, “This started with the change in prescribing practices initiated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval of OxyContin in 1995.”
Between 1999-2014, the number of opioid drugs prescribed quadrupled. The number of people who died from opioids (prescription opioids and heroin) also quadrupled. From 2000-2015, roughly 500,000 Americans died from drug overdoses.
Why is it important to tie heroin together with prescription opioids? Many people become addicted to prescription opioids and then no longer have access to the medication. To alleviate the effects of their addiction, they turn to inexpensive, readily-available heroin.
ADOLESCENT CHALLENGES
The fact that adolescents are the most exposed to opioid addiction falls in line with scientific work directed at the age group. One prominent study was performed in June 2011 through Columbia University and is known in common nomenclature as the CASA study.
This study addresses the normal issues of the age group such as peer pressure, adverse childhood events based around abuse or trauma, genetic predisposition or engaging in other unhealthy behavior like risky driving, violent behavior or unsafe sex.
The most troubling is how the behavior of their grown relatives spurs their errant behavior. We all know how parents can establish good examples for teenagers being hardworking, committed family members, but the flip side -- poor role models -- can be devastating. Nearly half (45.4%) of teenagers live with a parent who is a risky substance user. Worse, 17.8% of children under 18 years old live with an adult (most likely a parent) who has a full-fledged substance abuse disorder.
The most debilitating fact is the parents don’t seem to care. Less than half (42.6%) list personally refraining from tobacco, alcohol, marijuana or abusing prescription or illicit drugs as one of their top three concerns for their teenage children. When parents are setting such a meager example, it follows that we might have poor results from the teenagers in our society.
That would be immensely meaningful on its own, but then the CASA study defines the risks involved because of adolescent physiology. The overriding fact is that the teen brain is more vulnerable to addictive substances. As stated by the study, “A growing body of evidence suggests that due to this increased sensitivity, addictive substances physically alter the reward centers of the brain faster and more intensely in adolescents than in adults, heightening their vulnerability to addiction.”
During adolescent years the area of the brain related to such things as judgment, impulse control and decision making dramatically change in a manner that brings the brain to a fully-developed state. The primary transmitter signaling pleasure is dopamine. Dopamine decreases by a third as adolescents mature to adults. But dopamine initially spikes before falling which may lead to risk-taking behavior as teens seek external sensations.
It is this combination of risk-taking and increased sensation that leads to engaging in behavior while the adolescent’s brain is still developing, thus making it more susceptible to addiction.
The CASA study states, “A growing body of evidence suggests that due to this increased sensitivity, addictive substances physically alter the reward centers of the brain faster and more intensely in adolescents than in adults, heightening their vulnerability to addiction.”
The study found that addictive substances have a longer-lasting effect on teens and, more importantly, that teens are more prone to developing addiction and a lifetime of drug abuse. That accounts for why so many teens end up using opioids, becoming addicted to them and dying from them.
Next week: We look at the breadth and depth of the opioid problem
Oh, So you are one of those guys.
My point was “My is this happening now with Opiods?”
Not alcohol, or what every you ingest or inject to make you not deal with reality. Why are prescription opiods the current drug of choice when they were not before? These are not being sold on the street, it is coming from Walgreens.
Well, sure. There were some pretty fringe people doing heroin then, too. We didn’t have these synthetic opiate/opioid pills being passed around in such quantities, though. That’s what cranked up the addiction which has resulted in the widespread heroin use today.
I don't know or care. I'm sure there are psychologists who could hold forth on that topic ad nauseum.
I only know that what goes on between a doctor, his patient, and his pharmacist has no business being invaded by Government and an ever-expanding police state based on arbitrary law.
Such problems are treated with education and rehabilitation, not domination and incarceration.
As with any other substance of known strength, it takes a lot of ignorance and irresonsibility to kill yourself with something "legal", and although there may be high incidences of addiction, the vast majority of opiate deaths are either suicide, or from taking street drugs of unknown strength.
I personally know of several people who have died of OD's, and in every single case it was from turning to the street—in some cases because that became the only avenue for the person's "medication", "relief", "escape", "recreation", their "pursuit of happiness", or whatever else you'd like to call it.
Additionally, I know of many cases where people who have perfectly legitimate needs for pain management are robbed of their dignity—not by the medication, but by a paranoid bureaucratic leviathan that makes legally obtaining their medication a humiliating logistical nightmare.
This whole hysterical "epidemic" is about power, profits, and control, nothing more, and the wealthy and connected—like Rush Limbaugh, for instance—live by one set of medical rules, while the "riff raff" are treated like criminal dogs.
Prohibition doesn't work, period. When alcohol Prohibition was passed, it, too, was in response to an "epidemic" of alcoholism and assicuated domestic abuse. Predictably, it was driven primarily by emotionalism, in this case women—who had recently gained the right to vote. And when they did, they went on a crusade to save the men of America from themselves.
Did it work? No. Did alcohol addiction go down? Sure. But the problems created far outweighed the benefits—not to mention the minor fact that the law was Tyrannical.
IMHO, nobody who calls himself a "small government" conservative—or believes in Constitutional rights—can morally (or even Constitutionally) support the ever-expanding police state which is necessary to enforce this nation's contraband laws. One cannot be a Prohibitionist and believe in minimal government, because enforcing such laws must involve the creation of a massive police state which must trample numerous Unalienable and Constitutional rights. Period.
The so-called "War on Drugs" is an abject failure, and the more that authoritarian solutions are imposed, the worse the situation gets. Due to draconian "mandatory minimum" sentencing laws, for example—promugated the runaway regulatory nanny-statists—you see murderers and violent criminals who serve less time than some poor sap who gets caught with a handful of the "wrong" pills. That's not Justice by any stretch of the imagination.
Another thing that causes such personal destruction—massive property crime—is the artificially high prices that are created due to the fact that so much of the activity ends up occurring on the black market.
Prohibition will always fail, just as it utterly failed with alcohol—and for identical reasons.
Education and rehabilitation, not legislation. Nobody—not one American—should face prison time merely for possessing the wrong plant, liquid spirits, chemical, or medicine. That's a Tyrannical travesty, and from it flows a multitude of evils which far exceed any potential benefits.
When somebody engages in negligence, violence, or fraud due to their addiction or intoxication—in other words, when they commit an actual crime—that's when Law becomes legitimate and ceases to be arbitrary.
The more challenging solutions—the ones which don't involve draconian shortcuts and authoritarian policies—are the only ones that will ever have a chance of succeeding—and they also carry the additional benefit of not being Tyrannical or unconstitutional. I'll never believe any different.
Exactly. My drugs were weed and beer.(Early 70’s)And I don’t recall pills and stuff laying around the medicine cabinet other than bayer aspirin.
So, what happened? I don’t know but the group of scientists who invented the lethal combo? How did they not even know the possible long term effects of the drug? I mean, was the fact that acetaphetamine ate ones liver ever seriously contemplated? Whether it worked for the pain or not? There was no chance at a more palatable combo? How come the drug hasn’t evolved into something less addicting and dangerous if the ingredients are killing and addicting people? Why wait? Why aren’t they doing something about the Drug itself instead of bearing down on the doctors or the users? Why not have the FBI/FDA, whoever, talk to the dudes who created the monster in the first place?
I really don’t have a clue as to the answer to my questions. I don’t.
We had pills sometimes, but speed and sedatives. The oxycodones were marketed as “non-addictive”. Perdue Pharma lied and set up a marketing/sales operation of vast dimensions.
Purdue Pharma L.P. is a privately held pharmaceutical company. In 2007 it paid out one of the largest fines ever levied against a pharmaceutical firm for mislabeling its product OxyContin, and three executives were found guilty of criminal charges.....
I forgot to tell you. I am a producer of entertainment. I work in West Hollywood. I sort of detest Hollywood and the bubble that surrounds it.
One of the main reasons I set up Rock Entertainment LLC was to creatively destroy the little corner of Hollywood that I currently work in. I have produced 4 sort of pretty big children’s animated series. All involving Speed Racer. Google me. I don’t mind at all. James Rocknowski. LinkedIn. Go for it. I’m not hiding.
I formed my new company 2 months ago. I dedicated my company to God and the memory of my wife who was killed by these guys, via an OD, 4 months ago.
So, the above Paragraph on Perdue Pharma....is the beginning of Rock Entertainment’s new offering..”The True Silent Killers, Meet Purdue Pharmacy”
Tag line: “They killed my wife”
Think I have the courage and the proper motivation to pull this off? I do. I know how to do this. I was born for this. Can do it in my sleep. Not a pat on my back. Just a simple fact.
So I am going to do it.
Please stay tuned.
And thank you from the bottom of my heart Emmett McCarthy. You, sir, will get an ‘onscreen’, “special thanks to”...screen credit. But without any monetary stimulus....:). I’m broke...for now....
That is very impressive and I whole heartedly endorse that,man. I’ve lived this for nearly 10 years with my son and don’t know what the outcome will be. We need more and more people to get very open and very public about all of this. I’m glad you have the platform to get it out. On the God part. I have something I’ll get to you privately, OK?
Got it. Thanks FRiend. I’ll be pinging you privately.
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