The Opioid Crisis – It Impacts Us All

Introduction

Opioids, including prescription painkillers, heroin, and fentanyl, kill someone in the United States every 11 minutes – and at least 5 people every day in Florida alone. The odds of dying by accidental opioid overdose are now greater than dying in a car crash. This is the story of how one community is challenging the statistics and fighting back against the opioid crisis that is tearing through communities across the country. These are the victims, the heroes on the front lines, and the dedicated community partners doing everything they can to reduce and eliminate the devastating effects of opioids across Orange County, Florida. [Taken from YT description]

Quotes

“An opioid is a class of drugs which binds to certain areas in the brain that help control pain and alleviate pain. They’re all essentially derived from the poppy plant … an innocent little plant that produces a milky fluid, a natural juice called opium which is the essence of heroin – the most destructive narcotic man as ever devised.”

“I do not agree with the statement made here today that Purdue has marketed Oxycontin aggressively, that is simply not the case. We have not promoted this product as less abusable and we have not promoted it as a substitute for less abusable opioids.”

“Something had to step in a fill that void. You essentially created a bunch of people that became addicted to pain medication and now didn’t have the ability to get anything for it. What happened? Drug dealers got smart, said what can we do fill that void – they slid in heroin. Heroin was what we were dealing with in 2014 … towards the end of 2015 is when we say synthetic fentanyl.”

“As few as three days of being on a prescription drug can lead to chronic opioid addiction. As of 2018, Florida requires most opioid prescriptions to have a three-day limit.”

“We understand that the user is an addict, that the user has a sickness and I would no more make fun of or accuse someone who has cancer of being a ‘dirt bag’ than I would someone who has a drug addiction. We have to change that stigma, we have to look at them differently.”

“It’s like this full-time job where I wake up in the morning, I’m already feeling sick and I already have to figure out what I am going to do today to manage to get the drugs that I have to get.”

“The biggest thing that I was ever ashamed of has given me the most purpose in life, which is to help other people that are in the same position that I was in. As much as I helped them, it helps me tremendously to be able to do that and just to know that if I’m not careful, I could end up right back in their shoes.”