Opioids_Who_Is_Using.qxd

A Different Epidemic

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The Scope of the Problem The problem shows no signs of slowing down. In its most recent report, issued in 2016, the Centers for Disease Control reported that statistically significant increases in death rates

An Equal Opportunity Addiction O n April 21, 2016, 57-year-old music icon Prince was found unre- sponsive in his Minnesota home. Shortly thereafter, he died. While the world mourned the loss of his musical genius, questions arose. What happened? The day before his death, an opioid addiction specialist had been called in to help him. It was too late. The medical examiner’s office conducted toxicology tests which revealed that the singer died from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl. Celebrities are not the only ones to suffer from addiction. Michelle, a suburban mother from Portsmouth, Virginia, once spent her days packing school lunches and helping her children with their homework. But then a pain prescription for a toothache opened her to the world of drug abuse. Sometimes she took up to 60 pills a day. She went from doctor to doctor asking for prescriptions to feed her habit. She bought opioids off the Internet, and finally on the street. Street drugs drew her into addiction to heroin, crack cocaine, and crystal meth. She aban- doned her family six years later. “The disease got a hold of me more. I didn’t care about anything but the drugs,” she later said. “At the time, drugs were becoming more and more the center of my life.” Eventually, Michelle was able to successfully end her dependence on drugs. But she is careful to explain that she must always be on her guard against relapse. If she doesn’t, she could be one of the fatality statistics herself.