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CBS News on Opioid Addiction

/ / Addiction in Media, Heroin, Heroin Overdose, Methadone, Opioid Addiction, Prescription Drug Abuse, Recovery, Treatment and Recovery

In the video shown below, CBS News aired a short piece on America’s opioid addiction crisis highlighting how people begin with prescription opiates and then transition to heroin. The segment addresses the well-publicized opioid overdose concerns making headlines, and raised questions for which there are yet no clear answers.

Also of interest is the recent advocacy of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) who have taken it upon themselves to begin informing the public of the growing opioid addiction problem. They have a very informative ABC News video hosted on their website which is worth seeing, located here. The video addresses how the cheap price of heroin has made it much easier for people to transition to it due to the relatively high price of prescription opioids.

The video contains a thought-provoking and alarming segment about a treatment center in Ohio which began tracking the lives lost due to opioid overdose. They began in 2010 with 50 names of overdose victims on the “death wall”, and it has grown to over 3000 in year 2016.

This societal problem of drug addiction is stemming from more than the mere availability of drugs. It is also being perpetuated by a mindset among the young (and those easily influenced) that “it can’t happen to me”. I was speaking with a young adult some months ago who casually told me his favorite TV show was “Party Down South”. I had never heard of it and decided to watch an episode since I was curious why it appealed to him. The entire show revolved around twenty-something year olds parading around barely clothed, living in a house together commune style, getting wasted everyday on booze, speaking & acting provocative and vulgar. The prevailing theme of the show seemed to be one in which young people can do whatever they like, often with an emphasis on being wilder & bolder than the next person. Zero accountability in a contrived world of fantasy.

This anything goes, unrestrained-by-design lifestyle has been steadfastly promoted in U.S. television media for many years, and has unfortunately become an assumed right-of-passage into adulthood. The disease of addiction is rapidly fed by an immediate gratification mindset – one in which the real consequences of life’s choices are never honestly examined or considered. This must change if young people are to thoughtfully and deliberately opt out of alcohol and drug abuse.

 

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