I’m going to keep this short, because for several reasons, I don’t think it would be a good thing to say too much about it, even without identifying or naming anyone. I’m embroiled in a family crisis right now involving fentanyl addiction (not me).
All I am going to say about that is this is a terrible and extremely addictive drug that’s often passed off as “heroin” but it’s actually fifty times stronger than heroin and a hundred times stronger than morphine. It can kill very easily because it depresses the respiratory system and it’s extremely easy to overdose.
I’m scared out of my wits and can’t focus on much else. Writing has fallen by the wayside for now, but I’ll try to post every so often because I love blogging and find it relaxing and therapeutic (even when the subject matter I post isn’t all sunshine and kittens).
I’m trying to keep my own head together by getting involved in Al Anon (an addict is an addict, whether it’s alcohol or drugs — plus there are no comparable 12 step type support programs for the families of drug addicts) and learning to deal with my own reactions to the addiction and its attendant behaviors (since the people involved are adults I cannot force them into treatment).
Please pray for my family that these two people recover and get treatment.
The opiate crisis is real. Our government needs to do something about it, but they probably won’t. There’s big money in prescription fentanyl and other strong opiates for Big Pharma. I realize chronic or severe pain patients need relief, but these opiates are deadly and are too easily obtainable by people looking for a quick high. But the Trump administration will never put the health and wellbeing of the people ahead of profits and greed.
Lucky Otters Haven 
Good luck with all that. The solution won’t be easy for anybody involved.
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Sending my best thoughts and prayers your way! I hope your family, and especially these two people get the help needed to get out of that hellish situation… All the best to you all! xx
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Send you and your family my best thoughts and wishes.
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I’m so sorry you are going through this. You’ve been through enough in life already.
It’s great that you are going to Alanon meetings. They helped me immeasurably years ago, when I needed it.
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They might be the one thing keeping me sane at the moment.
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I am adamantly opposed to this panic which declares “war” on prescription drugs. Doctors are now afraid to prescribe opiates even if they are needed. Doctors are among the most conservative prescribers of pain killers. Are you talking about fentynal? That’s been around for ever. I don’t think doctors are prescribing anything called heroin anyway. I’m sorry if you have family members with addiction problems. The answer would be to legalize all drugs so addicts and pain patients alike can get clean drugs of known potency. Forcing people to meet their needs on the black market is likelier to kill more people faster. Prohibition has never worked.
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That is the point Johann Hari makes in Chasing the Scream. Portugal went from a police state that had a war on drugs to a social democracy that decriminalized drug use. Drug addicts had easier access to safe drugs and yet drug addiction rates dropped. We are doing things wrong with our punitive worldview that we Americans inherited from fundamentalist and moralistic Christianity going back to the Puritans.
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This is a very interesting point. I didn’t know that about Portugal. I agree our punitive system makes matters worse. I don’t think it’s any accident that addiction to hard drugs like opiods is worst in police states and fascist regimes, which includes many “banana republics.” Not that addiction doesn’t happen in social democracies too, but it’s probably less, plus an addict can get treatment easily and for little to no cost (instead of just being thrown in prison).
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It’s a similar pattern to abortion. Countries that ban abortions often have higher abortion rates. That is why we should resist allowing anti-abortionists to call themselves pro-lifers. They don’t care about life.
Punishment is about curtailing freedom. But it rarely serves to stop an activity. It is simply about authoritarian social control, to create a permanent state of fear and mistrust, to divide the public in conflict and isolate the individual.
A punitive system further exacerbates the problems that are being punished. That is the whole point. The problem must never be solved so that the authoritarian power structure remains permanently justified in its ever increasing oppression.
The drug war was never meant to be won, even if such a proposal wasn’t absurd. The intention is for it to never end, to make us grow familiar with and submissive toward a police state.
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This is a very well thought out comment with a lot of salient points. Thank you!
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Do you know about Bruce K. Alexander’s research ? And have you read Johann Hari’s Chasing the Scream?
There is a strong argument that it isn’t so much the availability of a drug that causes addiction. There are many countries where the population has as much access to potentially addictive drugs but without the high rates of addiction. It’s the social conditions that create the addictive mindset, not any drug alone.
Relationships are important. It’s something we forget in our hyper-individualistic society. But this is challenging because the stress of capitalist realism has isolated people and frayed the social fabric. Families are splintered and spread far apart. Communities are weakened.
Addiction, Hari proposes, is a replacement for lost connection to others. I find it compelling. It fits my own personal experience and my observation of others.
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This is interesting. I’m sure the escalating opioid crisis and the rise of Trump and fascism in America are not unrelated.
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That is why it is so infuriating that Democrats have been as bad as Republicans when it comes to the war on drugs and tough on crime laws. The Clintons have been particularly bad about this in pushing everything further right.
The Democratic elite did this for cynical reasons of gaining more power. And in doing so, they made someone like Trump near inevitable. Trump is the symptom of a society that has been sick for a very long time. Our society is in end stage psychosis.
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I agree. Democrats just kept following Republicans farther to the right. Now we’re so far right that Republicans like Eisenhower (and even Nixon!) are to the left of Clintons and Barack Obama.
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I haven’t been around much for the past year or so, but I check in now and then. I am sorry you are going through this, and am praying for you and your family members.
I’d like to briefly share my experience of Fentanyl. About two months ago I had some severe interstitial cystitis pain. The ER hooked me up to a Fentanyl IV. It was instant relief and I immediately understood why people love that drug. However, within minutes after being unhooked and sent home the pain came back far, far worse than before. The pain was agonizing. It wasn’t until a few hours later when my partner suggested one of his Cyclobenzeprine (Flexeril) that I got some relief (he had it for back pain). Thankfully, he thought of it, and I now have a prescription for it.
I belief that Fentanyl causes a person to feel worse pain and crave it more. I now have it in my medical chart that I am allergic to it so that it will never be prescribed again. I can only imagine what your family members are going through. I can’t imagine being addicted to that drug.
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Sorry to hear this Lucky Otter. I hope your family members get the relevant help and manage to kick the habit. It will be a long road but at least they have started on their journey.
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Thank you.
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