Heroin Is Destroying Small Towns In America
Monday, September 19, 2016 at 12:05AM It seems from my memory, heroin used to be an expensive drug. At least, it seemed that way from reports in the 80s. Of course I read Motley Crue's The Dirt and I read The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx. Both books talk extensively of Nikki's heroin addiction. He was burning through a ton of cash on the junk back then and does reference the cost of his habit. He's clean now and an advocate for addicts. He wants people to get clean.
A few days ago, the city of East Liverpool, Ohio made international news. That's because they posted a photo of a couple passed out from heroin. The couple was in their car and the woman's young grandchild was in the backseat. The photo is visceral. It's jarring: seeing two adults limp and they look dead. The city of East Liverpool was bold in posting the photo because people talk about drug abuse but they don't necessarily understand the impact or how it looks. It's ugly and it is destroying small towns in America. I'm from an Ohio small town. People I went to high school with are doing time for drug possession. The area I'm from is rural and it is basically working class. Many are poor.
Heroin isn't expensive anymore. Apparently it's dirt cheap and people use the junk for a quick fix to escape life. Maybe they are bored? Maybe they can't get a job? More likely they probably don't want a job. Every bar and restaurant I've been inside in the last two months has a help wanted sign on the door. You don't need a degree to be a dishwasher or a bar back. Hard work usually fixes most problems, but an addict's mind doesn't work that way. That's not the fault of the addict, it's brain chemistry. I don't judge. I want these people to get help.
Most people slag Nikki Sixx on here and I get it: he's money hungry and just as bad as Gene Simmons when it comes to merchandising his band's name and songs. He is, however, a passionate advocate for addicts. He recently spoke about the heroin crisis in this country on his radio show SIXX Sense. Everything he says in the conversation is true and it is worth a listen.
This country needs to put some real focus on the drug epidemic and it is especially bad in the Midwest and rural south. Mental health, drug addiction and suicide by gun all go hand in hand. We've got presidential election fever in America right now. Hillary Clinton has a comprehensive mental health proposal to combat some of these issues. She has directly taken on the drug epidemic too. Donald Trump has mentioned the drug crisis, but doesn't offer many solutions except to acknowledge "we've got to get tough." Well, the time for platitudes is over. The fact is this: the poor and uneducated in small towns are being left behind. This is the fault of both political parties. Manufacturing plants are, by and large, never coming back. Politicians will say they are bringing the manufacturing jobs back, but they aren't, and that is brass tacks. Instead, we should shift our focus to retraining and get creative on finding employment opportunities in small towns, especially for young males. We should also encourage doctors to stop prescribing heavy narcotics like candy. This becomes a gateway for people who otherwise wouldn't ever consider using illegal drugs. Heroin isn't something you play with once or twice and walk away from. You use it and you're an addict. Or worse, you die. But don't take my word for it, listen to Nikki.
Reader Comments (12)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/drugmakers-fought-state-opioid-limits-042235451.html
It is hard to fathom just how many people are squeezed on all sides. In this case, it is a pharma-industrial complex that hooks people and then leaves them to find cheaper alternatives when script shopping and the scripts themselves run out.
Thing is, these sorts of problems are both political and apolitical. Politicians are so graft-imbued, on either side of the aisle, that they think little of what lobbying does to them because of what it does for them; which is to say, they can spin their alliances to special interests as benefiting those on the left or the right. And these problems cut across blue state/green state lines, across race and gender divides, and even across socioeconomic borders (even if, as Allyson states, they tend to disproportionately impact those at the lower end of the wage spectrum in places already blighted by neglect at the state and federal level).
The pithy argument is to say: vote against this sort of scourge by voting out those who perpetuate this sort of continuum, while also increasing funding for rehab and treatment and/or increasing the penalties for those who foist this on the less fortunate. Sadly, and I am a pessimist when it comes to these sorts of things, that is easier said than done. And, admitting of my own ignorance, I can't pose a solution to a problem that will likely get far worse before it gets better.
Tobacco, alcohol, drugs, gambling, SUGAR are all serious addictions. These addictions are fueled in part by society, government and capitalism.
It's all about neurotransmitters and their desire to be satiated. Dopamine is the "pleasure neurotransmitter". All the aforementioned addictions provide a "rush" some need again and again. Even win a dollar in lotto? There's a minute "yes" feeling that your brain craves.
Supply your brain with exercise, good diet and social stimulation and your need for dopamine is satisfied. Get into a rut and eat twizzlers, smoke camels and stay in your house and play video games....you'll need more twizzlers, maybe eventually some weed and more visual candy. A viscous cycle to break.
Starts at home folks.
People need to look into this a lot more, doctors are the biggest drug dealers on the planet.
Just yesterday, I came back to PA after being in California for the hair nation festival and read a [misleading] article in the newspaper that a 19yo neighbor of mine was arrested for selling drugs. The "drug" was marijuana. Here is the story:
http://m.wfmz.com/lehigh-valley-regional-news/Lower-Saucon-teen-nabbed-in-drug-sting/41694608
He obviously shouldn't have been making his living this way as it still is illegal in PA, but in many respects, I believe that our priorities are askew as a lot of comments linked to this story on various websites are similar to "do the crime, do the time", "spoiled rich kid brat is getting what he deserves", etc...
But, to be fair, more comments posted resemble that this bust is "a waste of tax dollars", "focus on heroin instead" and "damn, out-of-control police".
I posted this comment: {edited}
I just came back from a trip to California. I visited the infamous Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset Blvd to have lunch. It was a beautiful day and decided to eat on their outside deck. As I awaited my Caesar Salad and Iced-tea, a couple , seated a few tables away lit up a joint. initially, I was startled, looked around and nobody seemed to care; not the staff, not other customers, no one. Then I realized I wasn't in PA any longer.
Back at the hotel (which had no vacancy), I only saw a couple of people smoking pot in the parking lot and pool area as every room was non-smoking. I also saw active police presence as they regularly patrolled the parking lots and did not stop those people from smoking marijuana as long as they weren't disturbing the peace. And I didn't even notice it much after that.
Instead, I was more concerned about the 19yo homeless man across the street sleeping on a concrete sidewalk every night. He has a heroin addiction. Each day, I would go over to him, give him something to eat and drink, give him a few dollars and ask him if he needed my hotel room to shower and used the bathroom, but he always declined. I can't save the world, but I can help to try to make it a little more comfortable for people who need help.
Priorities people!
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/20/politics/election-2016-white-working-class-donald-trump-kaiser-family-foundation/index.html
peace/rock on everyone!