Advocacy – Opiate Nation

Slavery or Freedom?

(Translation into most languages at tab to the right)

I’ve been thinking about slavery and the people throughout the millennia who have been slaves – and the estimated 50 million people worldwide who are currently enslaved. (1) Every empire from the beginning of recorded history has functioned and prospered on the backs of slaves: people captured during war or kidnapped, enslaved against their will.

In the modern world, people can end up in ‘slavery’ in a variety of ways: economic, sexual, labor, etc. They may have been enticed or tricked into their captivity by promises of adventure or money, coerced or blackmailed because of a past circumstance, or forced into it due to poverty and debt.

How does it feel to be enslaved? Much of the time, it destroys one’s sense of personhood. Your ability to exercise your will and make choices has been stolen from you. Control and exploitation by another person or entity has robbed you of your dignity and ability to determine the direction of your life. It can feel like being on endless stairways that lead nowhere.

One thing is certain: no one ever consciously chooses to be enslaved. No one. But the many lures currently dangling in front of young people to have fun and feel free and to be in control of their own life and happiness can be so deceptive. Yet they are not mature enough to be capable of discerning that they are actually making a choice to become imprisoned – whether it is with alcohol, drugs, promiscuity, gambling, power, success, etc.

I think it is safe to say that anyone who has struggled with any type of addiction knows they are enslaved. They are in servitude to an all-consuming, dominating, master. Their world is restricted due to the demands their addiction places on them. I saw this play out in pitiful detail in our son’s long struggle with heroin and alcohol. I didn’t understand why he would want to cut a trip short or not go at all if we were flying. It was due to needing to use and/or maintain a supply of illegal drugs. As he became unable to focus on his university classes, he had to drop out and work at jobs frustratingly inconsistent with his interests and well below his God-given abilities.

He was not free in any sense of the word.

What is real freedom? Is it to be ‘a free agent’ able to do whatever one wants regardless of society or others’ thoughts or needs? To not be responsible to anyone? To chant the modern mantra that individual freedom is our right and supersedes all other claims? Or is it something more, something that starts in our mind and soul and that results in the ability to make good choices in order to be healthy and safe and productive and of service to others? Webster’s Dictionary describes freedom as “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action; liberation from slavery.” Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right to do what we ought. (John Dalberg-Acton)

Once someone is addicted, how can they escape the slavery of addiction? We need reformers and abolitionists who know specifics of ‘the slave trade’ and how to liberate individuals. And also, how to reform not only the laws and principles of society but how we think about addiction in order to accurately view those who are enslaved. In the past, in whatever culture slavery was embraced, the way a society could justify its policies was to consider those people as ‘less than’ – less than human, less than worthy of normal rights, even less than deserving of wanting another way of living. And even further, that these slaves should be content with their bondage.

I love this song by Kim Hill, She’ll Come Around. It speaks to this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwf6rQnqkXQ

We all know that is not true because if we put ourselves in their place for a moment – walk a mile in their shoes – we would do anything to be free. But do we all understand and admit that most people who are living in addiction, if given a choice and a viable option, would choose to be free? If so, let’s get rid of denigrating thoughts and words and help change public policies to teach preventative measures to parents and young people and provide restorative solutions to those fighting addiction. (2) And may each of us encourage those who struggle by helping them find real, lasting solutions to the weight of bondage they stagger under.

Our freedom can be measured by the number of things we can walk away from.
Vernon Howard

Mark Heard’s Victims of the Age is a song all about what young people have been and continue to be struggling with growing up in the modern world.

2021 International Overdose Awareness Day August 31

Translation into most languages at tab to the right.

The need has never been more urgent to alert us all to the risk of overdose facing millions of people worldwide. During the 18 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, overdose deaths have risen approximately 30% in many parts of the world due to isolation, unstable drug sources, and lack of reliable medical and recovery help. Even the normal inadequate support services have been seriously disrupted and diverted. And the hope of C19 disappearing sometime soon is now seen as wishful thinking – it is a new deadly virus we will have to learn how to live with.

So, what can we do to help prevent further loss of lives for those already struggling with addiction?

What Would They Say?

(Short topical blog based on Opiate Nation – translation into most languages in tab on right.)

August 2^nd is the seventh anniversary of our son’s death. JL died of a heroin overdose in the early morning hours of that Saturday in 2014. He was 25 years old.

In 2020 alone, 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the USA – hundreds of thousands more worldwide. Millions in the past few decades. These were beloved daughters, sons, partners, parents, friends, relatives. I think I can confidently say they did not want to be addicted and if they could have turned back the clock to the time before they began using drugs, they would have.

Ghost Stories

(Short topical blogs based on Opiate Nation – translation into most languages in tab on right.)

When we hear the phrase “ghost stories” most of us think of scary and spooky stories shared around a campfire with the intended, and predicable, consequence of keeping us awake at night.

But when H Lee (aka Harris Insler) decided to call his new podcast series “These Ghosts Must Be Heard”, it wasn’t because he would be interviewing people with paranormal experiences. And although the stories his guests share aren’t scary in the ghoulish sense, they have kept their narrators awake at night for days, weeks, and months on end. John and I included. (To hear our interview with Harris, see links below for Podbean, Amazon, Spotify.)

https://theseghostsmustbeheard.podbean.com/

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3392919b-b8bc-46b4-a486-5e34b7d8dd1d/episodes/580578a3-691f-418a-a179-8bc5f72dd138/these-ghosts-must-be-heard-episode-2-jl

These are real-life experiences and these “ghosts” are the spirits of our deceased loved ones: children, friends, partners who have succumbed to premature and preventable deaths from opioid overdoses.

Who Is My Neighbor?

(Sixteenth in a series of topical blogs based on chapter by chapter excerpts from Opiate Nation. Translation into most languages is available to the right.)

(I am re-posting this blog due to a glitch on some platforms in January)

In 2020, overdose deaths have increased worldwide, and by as much as 25% in the US. Deaths from acute intoxication have also increased dramatically. People are isolated and anxious, their treatment and recovery programs have been disrupted, and the illicit drug supply has become dangerous. Health officials believe that the majority of these deaths have occurred because hospitals are full and emergency services are overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients, thus removing the urgent, lifesaving care of overdose reversal that has been established in the past few years. Funding for all mental health services has also been diverted to pandemic care, which has complicated access to basic resources. Suicides are rising at an alarming rate.

A conversation that I believe is relevant to the current times came to mind this week. A lawyer asked Jesus “Who is my neighbor?” as he was trying to wriggle out of the command to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus told him about a man beaten and robbed while on a journey. As the man lay almost dead on the road, he was passed by several religious leaders who refused to help him. Then a man, who was not the same nationality or religion, came and bandaged and rescued him and paid for his care until he was well. Jesus asked the lawyer, “Which of these men proved to be a neighbor?” The lawyer replied, “The one who showed compassion.” Jesus responded, “Go and do the same.” *

Advocacy Makes a Difference

A few months ago, John was on a phone call with a physician who was asking his input about a new drug to help with opioid addiction. At the end of the call, as I walked into the room, John told him about our son’s addiction and death and how we hoped that by speaking openly about him and through our book and blog we could help in some small way. His response was something I will never forget. He said “Don’t underestimate advocacy because it is the surest way to change things. Science and medicine take a long time and have limited effectiveness.”

His comment came to mind in the recent weeks as I watched millions of people around the world protesting against racial prejudice that lay at the heart of police brutality to People of Color (POC). They are advocates of racial equality as a basic human right. I thought: how I wish I could be helpful in a practical way to a problem I have watched change very little over the decades of my life. I felt anger and also frustration, wondering if all the sacrifice and effort would actually bring about real, lasting change.

It is the same feeling I have when I see a young person on the streets, homeless and struggling, enslaved to a substance that is stealing their life. Or anyone living with addiction of any sort. And if I feel discouraged and hopeless, how must they feel? What will help bring real, substantive change and hope in all these circumstances?