Opioid Epidemic: What To Do?

Opioid Epidemic.  How do we understand it and what to do about it?  Consult with experience and wisdom.

Joseph A. Califano, author of High Society, 2007, was educated by Jesuits who "gave me a sense of the transcendent importance of social justice."  And his book reflects a lifetime of experience and wisdom which we ignore at our peril.  Califano lived through the dominance and downfall of the tobacco industry along with a profound change in social norms regarding the acceptability of tobacco products.

Califano realizes that the current dominance of Big Pharma could change as well, the gullibility and greed of some of doctors, pharmacists and the medical system could change also.  Money talks loudly
but so does angry, organized public opinion.

Rightly or wrongly, public opinion changed surprisingly quick on gay rights.

The bad guys, Big Pharma, may have gotten too greedy, caused too many deaths.  The pendulum may be beginning to swing in the other direction.  Will you give the pendulum a big push?

From High Society:

"From 1977 to 1979, Mr. Califano was U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and became the first voice of alert the nation to the explosion of health care costs and teenage pregnancy, mounted the first national antismoking campaign, began the computer policing of Medicare and Medicaid to eliminate fraud and abuse. . . . "

"In 1992, he founded The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University."

His book is titled High Society.  The drug epidemic, legal and illegal, is much more than individual addiction; it is a public health problem, a public policy issue, a parental issue.  It "calls for a fundamental change in our attitude about substance abuse and addiction and a revolution in how we deal with it."  Though written in 2007, this book is not outdated though some things have changed.More from High Society:

"Although we are 4 percent of the world's population, we Americans consume 65 percent of the world's illegal drugs."  Why the high U.S. demand?  Many factors, but I think the underlying one is the destruction of our values and meaning of life by the American trinity of hyperindividualism, hypermaterialism, and hyperethnocentrism.  Into the social vacuum rushes opioids.

"Substance abuse and addiction is a chronic disease of epidemic proportions, with physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual elements that require continuing and holistic care.

"A child who gets through age twenty-one without using illegal drugs, smoking, or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so."

"Chemistry is chasing Christianity as the nation's largest religion. . . .  Indeed, millions of Americans who in times of personal crisis and emotional and mental anguish once turned to priests, ministers, and rabbis for keys to the heavenly kingdom now go to physicians and psychiatrists who hold the keys to the kingdom of pharmaceutical relief, . . . "

Noble's perspective/summary:

Why do we take so many legal and illegal drugs?

* to escape physical and/or psychological pain/trauma.
* from pain to pleasure; even though the relief is temporary, it is welcome.
* from priest and pastor to physician and pharmacist.
* from prayer to pill.

Replace American Trinity with:

* kingdom of God justice.
* release the oppressed; end their endless pain and trauma.
* end mass incarceration for illegal drug use.
* end massive income and wealth gap.

Compare with Canada:

* Canadian banking system ranked number one; U.S. 40th.
* Canadian criminal justice based on rehabilitation, not punishment.
* Canadian health care system; medicare for all.

A comprehensive solution must include:

* public policy and public health.
* politician, pastor, physician, pharmacist
* all have a role to play; every party needs to step up.
* if you are actively a part of the solution, you are part of the problem.