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Op-Ed Teen overdose deaths are surging to new heights. Where is the outrage?

thegreenhand

thegreenhand

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Teen overdose deaths are surging to new heights. Where is the outrage?​

Robert Gebelhoff
Washington Post
18 Apr 2022

Excerpts:
Teens now make up the fastest-growing age cohort for overdose deaths in the United States.

Take a moment and think about what that says about this country. And consider that, without a fundamental rethinking of drug policies, this problem will only get worse.

From January to June 2021, about 1,150 adolescents aged 14 to 18 died of drug overdoses, a research letter published recently in JAMA found. That’s a 20 percent increase from 2020 — and more than double the 2019 death toll. This is a small portion of the more than 100,000 Americans who died of overdoses in the first half of last year, but the surge is horrifying nonetheless.
Click to expand...
Parents should be screaming from the rooftops about this. Since the start of the pandemic, covid-19 has killed around 900 children in the United States, prodding many parents to insist that schools remain closed or impose strict safety measures. Imagine if they expended the same energy into demanding solutions to drug overdoses among children.
Click to expand...

Full article here.
 
i certainly agree with his premise. the lack of public outrage over the overdose crisis has always bothered me

but he goes on to say :

...the only reason the drug has infiltrated black markets so thoroughly is because there is so much demand for powerful opioids among committed drug users. That means the best way to address the problem is to reduce demand more broadly.
Click to expand...

i don't think most 'committed drug users' actively want fent. or maybe they do in today's world, i know some people are more accustomed to the high.

but the reason it infiltrated the market in the first place is that it was a cheap for drug producers/sellers to increase profits with. not because drug users wanted it way back when

reducing demand won't get fent out of the dug supply. you need a legal safe supply for that imo
 
People don't care enough.
Drugs is like modern day Russia. Nobody gives a fuck about Russia because of all the propaganda about Russia. If people were to actually think for themselves and take a black and white story and turn it into a story on a spectrum of colour, they would see the flaws in their own reasoning and see beyond the façade painted by politics.

If drugs were Ukraine however, people would be sending money to rehab centers to aid in the war against the war on drugs. They would be virtue signalling on Facebook with toy syringes and fake sugar pills attempting to culturally appropriate so random strangers would approve of them. They would be sharing posts about the atrocities experienced in the real world of drugs and drug addiction and overdose. There would be whole movements dedicated to freeing Ukraine, I mean, drug addicts and a drug addicted society from Russia, I mean, from the corrupt politics and age old stigma and political rhetoric.

But no, that's not happening. Because people are conditioned to not challenge and question the mainstream narrative and only turn up to protest against injustice, corruption or whatever when it serves their rulers, nothing is done. CNN won't report it because its not relevant to the continuously expanding and changing illusion being cast out into society like a spell to keep people dumbed down and asleep to what is really going on.

Drugs are just those things bad people take because they are rejects from society and made bad life decisions. Drugs are the subject you cannot talk about because its a closed case. They are bad, okay? Now shut the fuck up and stop asking important and probing questions. You might just obliterate the bullshit narrative behind what is holding up the eyesore that is the war on drugs. I mean, oh shit, look over there! Ukraine! Look over here, COVID! But don't look over here! What are you doing? DO NOT LOOK OVER HERE. Nothing to see here. This is just people who died but it doesn't matter.

It should be pretty obvious to most people the underlying theme that keeps repeating throughout the years in our world. The underlying theme where there's always something more important than the actual real shit going on in the real world, and not the Hollywood scripts and manicured fairytale stories told by our politicians and the corporate whore media. Fuck drugs, fuck poverty, fuck unemployment, fuck housing crises, debt crises, fuck mental illness, fuck all the REAL things going on in the world. Why? Ukraine, that's why. COVID. Osama, Saddam, Gaddafi, the Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, aliens, terrorists, the insurrection, Trump, those bastards fighting for freedom of speech (aka the new domestic terrorists), anybody who challenges the transgender agenda and the men pretending to be women taking part in women's sports competition and starching them (surprisingly).

When people start to question the overarching narrative that holds up the reality you are told to live in, all of a sudden all those poor souls addicted to drugs and overdosing (RIP to all of them) start to be very real and now they actually matter.

I guess it's down to what your priorities are and who and what they are aligned with. Which is why questioning what creates the environment for those alignments to exist in the first place is very important
 
thegreenhand said:

Teen overdose deaths are surging to new heights. Where is the outrage?​

Robert Gebelhoff
Washington Post
18 Apr 2022

Excerpts:



Full article here.
Click to expand...
My daughter passed away while living with her adoptive parents. We had a open adoption last time I saw her was the first week of June the night she went back I started making my concerns known. I was lied to and ignored. She died Oct 31 since then no one has taking accountability for failing her except me. Not the school not the adults she was living with not her adoptive parents no one. The system is failing on all levels I tryed to reach news and media with no one saying anything. I post something on Reddit. The only comments I received were punctuation. Police and news say they want parents to be informed but don't share the reality of the drug situation. Just big bust. I'm furious angry bitter a dead set on somehow getting someone to hear me. Her death was preventable the DEA agent said it was just tragic accident a tragic accident is something that's unavoidable her death was preventable she is not a statistic and yet the DEA the police the news they're all okay with just letting her be a statistic she was 17 years old she would have been 18 next month I am a furious parent I've tried shouting from the roofs no one wants to listen.
 
Kimi#4321 said:
My daughter passed away while living with her adoptive parents. We had a open adoption last time I saw her was the first week of June the night she went back I started making my concerns known. I was lied to and ignored. She died Oct 31 since then no one has taking accountability for failing her except me. Not the school not the adults she was living with not her adoptive parents no one. The system is failing on all levels I tryed to reach news and media with no one saying anything. I post something on Reddit. The only comments I received were punctuation. Police and news say they want parents to be informed but don't share the reality of the drug situation. Just big bust. I'm furious angry bitter a dead set on somehow getting someone to hear me. Her death was preventable the DEA agent said it was just tragic accident a tragic accident is something that's unavoidable her death was preventable she is not a statistic and yet the DEA the police the news they're all okay with just letting her be a statistic she was 17 years old she would have been 18 next month I am a furious parent I've tried shouting from the roofs no one wants to listen.
Click to expand...
I wish I had something I could say that might ease your pain, but I know that is a futile task. I’m sorry that you’ve had to suffer this much.

Your daughter is absolutely not a statistic. Reducing the human condition to mere numbers utterly fails to capture the incalculability of suffering caused by this overdose crisis. Even with how disheartening it is to see those numbers grow every year, it’s infinitely more troubling to hear personal stories of loss.

I don’t have any weight with those big decision makers like the DEA or the media, but I do hear you. ❤️
 
imo_incolae said:
People don't care enough.
Drugs is like modern day Russia. Nobody gives a fuck about Russia because of all the propaganda about Russia. If people were to actually think for themselves and take a black and white story and turn it into a story on a spectrum of colour, they would see the flaws in their own reasoning and see beyond the façade painted by politics.

If drugs were Ukraine however, people would be sending money to rehab centers to aid in the war against the war on drugs. They would be virtue signalling on Facebook with toy syringes and fake sugar pills attempting to culturally appropriate so random strangers would approve of them. They would be sharing posts about the atrocities experienced in the real world of drugs and drug addiction and overdose. There would be whole movements dedicated to freeing Ukraine, I mean, drug addicts and a drug addicted society from Russia, I mean, from the corrupt politics and age old stigma and political rhetoric.

But no, that's not happening. Because people are conditioned to not challenge and question the mainstream narrative and only turn up to protest against injustice, corruption or whatever when it serves their rulers, nothing is done. CNN won't report it because its not relevant to the continuously expanding and changing illusion being cast out into society like a spell to keep people dumbed down and asleep to what is really going on.

Drugs are just those things bad people take because they are rejects from society and made bad life decisions. Drugs are the subject you cannot talk about because its a closed case. They are bad, okay? Now shut the fuck up and stop asking important and probing questions. You might just obliterate the bullshit narrative behind what is holding up the eyesore that is the war on drugs. I mean, oh shit, look over there! Ukraine! Look over here, COVID! But don't look over here! What are you doing? DO NOT LOOK OVER HERE. Nothing to see here. This is just people who died but it doesn't matter.

It should be pretty obvious to most people the underlying theme that keeps repeating throughout the years in our world. The underlying theme where there's always something more important than the actual real shit going on in the real world, and not the Hollywood scripts and manicured fairytale stories told by our politicians and the corporate whore media. Fuck drugs, fuck poverty, fuck unemployment, fuck housing crises, debt crises, fuck mental illness, fuck all the REAL things going on in the world. Why? Ukraine, that's why. COVID. Osama, Saddam, Gaddafi, the Russians, Chinese, North Koreans, aliens, terrorists, the insurrection, Trump, those bastards fighting for freedom of speech (aka the new domestic terrorists), anybody who challenges the transgender agenda and the men pretending to be women taking part in women's sports competition and starching them (surprisingly).

When people start to question the overarching narrative that holds up the reality you are told to live in, all of a sudden all those poor souls addicted to drugs and overdosing (RIP to all of them) start to be very real and now they actually matter.

I guess it's down to what your priorities are and who and what they are aligned with. Which is why questioning what creates the environment for those alignments to exist in the first place is very important
Click to expand...
Yes a lot of people have the 'Drugs are bad, mmmkay...' mentality.
 
It&s not a fun to be addict in Russia forsure.No subst.programs,hard penalties for possession.They had some minimal dose for private consumption,vut probably only on paper.Ukraine got programs....etc.and now all fucked up.fuckin shit and sorrow.for ordinary people.it's unfair real life very very often
 
Kimi#4321 said:
My daughter passed away while living with her adoptive parents. We had a open adoption last time I saw her was the first week of June the night she went back I started making my concerns known. I was lied to and ignored. She died Oct 31 since then no one has taking accountability for failing her except me. Not the school not the adults she was living with not her adoptive parents no one. The system is failing on all levels I tryed to reach news and media with no one saying anything. I post something on Reddit. The only comments I received were punctuation. Police and news say they want parents to be informed but don't share the reality of the drug situation. Just big bust. I'm furious angry bitter a dead set on somehow getting someone to hear me. Her death was preventable the DEA agent said it was just tragic accident a tragic accident is something that's unavoidable her death was preventable she is not a statistic and yet the DEA the police the news they're all okay with just letting her be a statistic she was 17 years old she would have been 18 next month I am a furious parent I've tried shouting from the roofs no one wants to listen.
Click to expand...
Please dont allow yourself to be angry. I believe this "war on drugs" is meant to stir emotions and cause a war within us and amongst us. 30 years after starting this "war" they tell us it's getting worse. Makes a person wonder. I believe your baby is a better place, I really do.
 
War on drugs they create and sell.
What a laugh.
Now the suicide of the young: Again... there is nothing for them futurewise and they know this. How depressing.
And the meds we put them on when we fill them full of sugar and fake food (no nutrition) has to be an issue.
What a sad species we have created of ourselves.
Yeah... tears flowing ffs
 
This will sound harsh but I honestly believe that a lot of people think Well they shouldn't be taking drugs in the first place. They should Just Say No.

It's exactly the same mentality as blaming the victim for rape, police brutality, and domestic violence. People anesthetize their feelings by telling themselves I guess they were kinda asking for it.

It's disgusting but that's human nature for you: people don't want to be troubled with analyzing complicated issues. So much easier to say Oh well. Shit happens.
 
6am-64-14m said:
War on drugs they create and sell.
What a laugh.
Now the suicide of the young: Again... there is nothing for them futurewise and they know this. How depressing.
And the meds we put them on when we fill them full of sugar and fake food (no nutrition) has to be an issue.
What a sad species we have created of ourselves.
Yeah... tears flowing ffs
Click to expand...
Yep, at least someone else in this world sees as I do. Wish someone around me did. They took the lose of my son due to a collapsed long and turned it into a drug death for their war. I've researched ALOT and nope, no way is the fact I lost him due to the drugs they SAID they found with their test.
 
MsHim said:
Please don't allow yourself to be angry. I believe this "war on drugs" is meant to stir emotions and cause a war within us and amongst us. 30 years after starting this "war" they tell us it's getting worse. Makes a person wonder. I believe your baby is in a better place, I do.
Click to expand...
However, I am so more than angry. Angry that the system that is supposed to protect didn't nor are the adults who gave her the drugs being held accountable for death. This is why I am angry. I'm angry that my economical situation allows others who could do something just laugh and patronize me. I love my daughter, and I failed her. The system failed her, and yes she may be in a better place but fuck......
 
jasperkent said:
This will sound harsh but I honestly believe that a lot of people think Well they shouldn't be taking drugs in the first place. They should Just Say No.

It's exactly the same mentality as blaming the victim for rape, police brutality, and domestic violence. People anesthetize their feelings by telling themselves I guess they were kinda asking for it.

It's disgusting but that's human nature for you: people don't want to be troubled with analyzing complicated issues. So much easier to say Oh well. Shit happens.
Click to expand...
It's a social and cultural problem.
It's reflective of our disconnection from one another, and our obsessions with painting a picture of reality that strokes our ego and hides our insecurities.
We are in deep denial and it's killing our society.

It's not human nature.
We used to be concerned about community issues. We had no choice.
We only became uninterested when the world appeared to magically tick over by itself and when the burden of managing local affairs was shared with government. Gradually outside influences has taken more and more of the burden while we have become disillusioned and disconnected from our own human nature. We now perceive ourselves as having little control over local affairs. It's kind of crazy really because our perceptions are not based on fact. We CAN have control yet we CHOOSE not to. We are distracted with far too many things to reflect on our choosing. It's too easy to make a spur of the moment decision knowing it likely won't affect ourselves and even if it does, the consequences are invisible and are neatly brushed away out of inconvenience.
 
Kimi#4321 said:
My daughter passed away while living with her adoptive parents. We had a open adoption last time I saw her was the first week of June the night she went back I started making my concerns known. I was lied to and ignored. She died Oct 31 since then no one has taking accountability for failing her except me. Not the school not the adults she was living with not her adoptive parents no one. The system is failing on all levels I tryed to reach news and media with no one saying anything. I post something on Reddit. The only comments I received were punctuation. Police and news say they want parents to be informed but don't share the reality of the drug situation. Just big bust. I'm furious angry bitter a dead set on somehow getting someone to hear me. Her death was preventable the DEA agent said it was just tragic accident a tragic accident is something that's unavoidable her death was preventable she is not a statistic and yet the DEA the police the news they're all okay with just letting her be a statistic she was 17 years old she would have been 18 next month I am a furious parent I've tried shouting from the roofs no one wants to listen.
Click to expand...

Kimi#4321 said:
However, I am so more than angry. Angry that the system that is supposed to protect didn't nor are the adults who gave her the drugs being held accountable for death. This is why I am angry. I'm angry that my economical situation allows others who could do something just laugh and patronize me. I love my daughter, and I failed her. The system failed her, and yes she may be in a better place but fuck......
Click to expand...

🥺 I'm so sorry 🥺

My daughter just turned 21. That is my nightmare. I don't really know what to say but anger seems appropriate.

I noticed your avatar before reading what you wrote -- I have that saved and others by the same artist (or same style).


Xxxxxxx
 
AbbeyLee said:
🥺 I'm so sorry 🥺

My daughter just turned 21. That is my nightmare. I don't really know what to say but anger seems appropriate.

I noticed your avatar before reading what you wrote -- I have that saved and others by the same artist (or same style).


Xxxxxxx
Click to expand...
Thank you... And yes the art I have lots of it's says more then I can explain about my life.
 
I think RCs have something to do with this...
I'm pretty sure that if not nowadays in the next future they will cause a lot of overdoses, new generations behave like crazy, you just need to see the RC subreddit to understand how they despise/neglect the harm reduction basics...
 
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