This commentary is by Bob Stannard of Manchester, an author, musician and former lobbyist.
If you’re like me, you have found a way to develop procrastination into an art form. Why bother dealing with whatever it is you need to deal with today when you can put it off until tomorrow? Why face reality today when you can bury your head in the sand in hopes that your reality will go away?
It’s starting to seem as though that’s where we are today. Let’s just put our fingers in our ears, close our eyes and scream out “Lalalalalalalalala” and pretend we just don’t hear or see what’s happening around us.
I’m not talking about the former president’s insurrection or the ridiculous ballot recount occurring in Arizona. I’m not talking about the millions of people who believe in the lies and drivel coming from QAnon, Fox News, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert or Kevin McCarthy. I’m talking about what’s happening right here at home: opioid addiction.
By now, in all likelihood, you know of someone who has either become addicted to opioids or lost their life over their addiction. Not all that long ago, I didn’t know anyone who was addicted to opioids. Now I can count on two hands the number of people who have died from these drugs. Where is the public outrage over this epidemic?
This is from the Vermont Department of Health: “Preliminary data showed that 157 people died from opioid-related causes last year, up from 114 in 2019, and the synthetic opioid fentanyl was involved in 88% of the deaths.”
That’s a 38% increase in deaths from 2019 to 2020. Almost all of these overdoses contained the deadly drug fentanyl. Fentanyl was the drug that killed Prince, thus proving that people from all walks of life can become susceptible to this tragic addiction.
You may recall that just over a year ago there was a big opioid bust in Rutland. According to WCAX, “Police searched four homes and seized 14 guns, including AR-style rifles. They also seized 148 grams of fentanyl and heroin, 260 grams of crack cocaine and 50 grams of cocaine.”
As of 2017, 91 people died per day in America from opioid overdoses. That would amount to 33,000 Americans per year. By 2019, we lost over 70,000 Americans. Last year it was predicted that 90,000 people would die from opioids. Are we really OK with this?
I know that we expect others to solve the problem for us, but what do you think you might be able to do to address this problem? Perhaps the first step might be to reach out to your local schools to see if they are taking action to educate our kids on the illegal use of opioids.
Unlike alcohol or marijuana, opioids are available only by prescription. Even so, this has not slowed down the use of opioids with kids and adults. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than 2 million Americans misuse opioids.
America is becoming a nation of dependent drug addicts. One only needs to watch TV for an hour to see the dozens of commercials from drug companies telling us to run to our doctor to see if we need to take their drugs. When do we say “No” to all of this? As I stated previously, the best place to start is in our schools. We need to have open and honest conversations about lifestyle choices, food choices and learning right from wrong. The only way kids can get their hands on opioids is to buy them from someone who has stolen them. It’s possible that they may have been prescribed, but not likely.
The days of saying “it can’t happen here” are over. It’s happening here right now, every day. This epidemic has been made worse by Covid-19, but that’s no excuse for ignoring the problem. There are drugs that one can take in moderation, such as alcohol, but when they become an obsession, that’s when things go awry.
The only way we are ever going to overcome addiction — any addiction — is to have open and honest dialogue with our kids. They need to be taught the reality of the drugs out there. Simply telling them that they are bad for you won’t cut it. If anything, that will make doing them more attractive. They need to learn the effects of all drugs — what they will, or will not, do to/for you and what are the risks. With opioids, the risks are very high.
Burying our heads in the sand will only result in getting sand in our eyes. The time is now to confront this epidemic head on. Perhaps community forums or at the very least some kind of outreach to all of our kids.
Treating kids like adults would be a good place to start. Wishing the problem to go away was the option of choice for the former president in handling a pandemic. We all know how that worked out. It’s time we faced the music.
