Thursday, October 26, 2017

175 Lost Souls Per Day


The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has now put a number on how many people died from a drug overdose in 2016. The total number is over 64,000 last year. Do the math, that's over 175 per day, over 7 per hour.

I was just thinking, 175 people per day. That's like a jet airliner crashing every day with no survivors. Can you imagine what we would be doing to the airlines if a jet crashed every single day, 7 days a week for a whole year? Quite frankly I would imagine there would be a shutdown on air travel until the problems were identified and rectified. Every person in the nation would be talking about the danger and risks.

What should we be doing with a problem like that but the people are not on a jet. 175 people per day just as dead as if they were on a jet. What should we be doing about big pharma and the drug war? I written about our national drug war on addicts before.  Granted some of these deaths are from already illegal substances but how many were because a person became addicted to a legally prescribed drug and suffer the consequences of addiction?

Seven people per hour, these people aren't just some low life drug addict as a lot of people unacquainted with the disease of addiction assume. These 7 people are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. They are loved by people and died from a horrible disease.

Next week I will be speaking to high school students. YES, I will be adding this horrible statistic to me talk.

Symbolic gestures show empathy. Now is the time to move past symbolic gestures. It's time for our government AND our communities to stand up to this epidemic. Be involved, no one is expected to save 175 people each day but if you are the difference that saves ONE that makes you a hero.

Monday, October 16, 2017

Outrage

Last night as our family watched our Kansas City Chiefs get beaten by our nemesis Pittsburgh Steelers we sat in shock after the final whistle. As the game faded and the miserable game summary concluded another show began. That's how TV works.

After the game "60 Minutes" began late.

On "60 Minutes" the main segment was about the opioid epidemic and how the Drug Enforcement Administration  (DEA) we counted on to protect us from deadly drugs let us all down as a nation. You can watch the episode here if you missed it and I highly recommend you watch this episode.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-dea-agent-opioid-crisis-fueled-by-drug-industry-and-congress/

For me the shock of the "60 Minutes" episode was equaled by the shock and outrage I saw as my son watched this program.

Prescription opioids was my son's drug of choice (DOC). He tried just about everything but Oxycontin was his DOC. He took it by mouth, he smoked it and finally he was melting it and shooting it up in his arm or any vein he could find. When it became harder and harder and too expensive it get Oxy's be switched to black tar heroin. Most people already know that prescription opioids are the same as heroin. Heroin is eventually substituted for opioids by addicts because it is cheaper and more readily available on the street.

My son was verbally outraged while watching this program. "DO THEY KNOW HOW OR CARE HOW MANY LIVES THEY DESTROYED AND PEOPLE THEY KILLED???!!!

Yes, I know all caps is social media speak for shouting. He was shouting at the TV and us.

During one part of the program they described a small town of early 390 people and the pharmacy for that town took delivery of over 9,000,000 pain pills to this single pharmacy. My son quickly pulled out his phone and got his calculator out and figured that to be over 23,076 pills per person in that town during that 2 year period.

His ANGER was genuine.

Our son then went on to describe how this contributed to our problem today. He explained to us how the drug manufacturers, created a monster that was turned loose on the United States. He went on to explain today the monster is out and uncontrollable. Opioids are now manufactured by drug cartels with no quality control and not caring what goes into the drugs. He then went on to explain how Fentanyl is coming across the border and is more dangerous than heroin.

This all because the people, DEA, we counted on to protect us were protecting big pharma instead.

Honestly, I never expected to EVER hear this stuff come from my son's mouth. I saw at that moment what I always wanted to see. The seething rage of an addict in recovery towards the drug that took seven years of his life and future.

As a nation we should be outraged. It is time we begin putting people and lives over money. For too long big money has shaped and controlled our government and our lives. The outcome of this in the pharmaceutical industry has been millions of lives lost.

Too put it into perspective we all can understand because millions of victims and deaths are hard to grasp. It took me nearly one hour to write this essay. During that time four more people died from a drug overdose. If you took 15 minutes to read and contemplate this essay, one more person died from a drug overdose.

THIS IS A CRISIS! 
THIS IS AN EPIDEMIC!

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

"I Love You" 3 Special Words

As we grieve as a nation for those caught in the Las Vegas massacre there is something we all can do for each other.

Tragedies happen every day. Small personal tragedies that don't get the coverage of national news but they are just as impactful to people as what happened yesterday in Las Vegas. We get caught up in life and never realize we could be a part of tragedy in a split second.

As loved ones of addicts we know that fear well.

Below is a reprint of a post I did over three years ago, August 19, 2014. It is just as relevant today was it was then.

Did You Say "I Love You" Today?

Did you tell someone that you love them today? Did you show someone today that they are a special person in your life? What would you say or do if you knew tomorrow was not coming?

Last night I was coming home from work. It was a beautiful evening and work had taken me to the country and a drive around the lake. I was following a SUV and we were cruising along not fast, just the speed limit on a two lane country highway in Kansas. In an instant the world exploded.

A one ton truck was coming the opposite way and all of a sudden it clipped the very end of a trailer being towed by a truck in front of the SUV. The one ton truck swerved directly into the SUV. A head on collision at 55 miles per hour. The two vehicles hit with such impact the both left the ground and spun around 180 degrees.

I slammed on my brakes and was barely able to steer around the truck while avoiding another pickup coming towards me. I stopped fifteen feet in front of the truck. The driver was half ejected from the truck and be was barely breathing. I called 911 and went to tend to the driver. His breathing hesitated and his eyes met mine. I reached down to his hand and lifted it in mine to check his pulse. He exhaled his last breath.

I went to the SUV and the driver of that vehicle obviously did not make it. I could tell from following he never knew what hit him. He didn't even have time to hit his brakes.

Still on 911 talking to the dispatcher I kept repeating that they're dying, they are dying, hurry. Emergency vehicles arrived quickly, probably 3 minutes. There were people stopping but the two drivers were already gone.

I was close enough that as I swerved to avoid hitting the truck, debris and fluids was showering down onto the hood and top of my truck. Broken windshield pieces and a windshield wiper were in the bed of my truck.

Life is a matter of seconds all strung together. One second later and it would have been me instead of the SUV. My life, his life they are all the same. Sadness grips another family that is unspeakable. When the name was released I looked on Facebook. He was a husband and father to three children. He was 39 years old. I have an unspeakable sorrow in my heart for someone I had never met until I saw him in the SUV.

No one expects it to be their day. Life is about seconds that mean minutes and turn into days. Seconds matter to each of us. We allow our seconds to tick by without telling and showing people how much they mean to us.

Did you say "I love you to someone today?" Did you show someone today that they are a special person in your life?
Don't let the most important second of your life tick away.  


Did you Say "I Love You" Today