Hydrocodone, Oxycontin, Codeine, Vicodin, Fentanyl, Methadone, Morphine, Heroin; what do these drugs have in common?

For starters, they all belong to the opiate class of compounds. Opiates are painkillers that act upon dopamine receptors in the brain, making you feel good even when your body tells you otherwise. Another thing they all have in common is their addiction potential.

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),11.5 million people misused prescription opioids in 2016 alone. The same year, 2.1 million people had an opioid use disorder. The potential for addiction is there, especially for medicine prescribed  by doctors.

The story gets even bleaker: 42,249 people died from an opioid overdose that year, 17,087 of which were a result of prescription medication. In fact, almost 2,000 more people died from prescription opiates than from heroin. The problem is real, and it’s terrifying.

What can we do?

President Trump declared a national health emergency late last summer to combat the mounting death toll. Following this executive order, the HHS set forth the following five points of resistance:

• Improving access to treatment and recovery services;
• Promoting the use of overdose-reversing drugs;
• Strengthening our understanding of the epidemic through better public health surveillance;
• Providing support for cutting-edge research on pain and addiction; and
• Advancing better practices for pain management.

This is the U.S. government’s official plan of action, including several problem-solving and strategic solutions for each of these five, unquestionably crucial points. The plan doesn’t, however, show parents with children at risk of developing addiction how to handle medication safely. Nor does it inform parents themselves of the dangers they might face if they misused prescription painkillers.

What can you do?

There are a number of ways you can shield yourself from potential addiction. For starters, you can decide against being among the 31% who take medication that wasn’t prescribed to them. But, what about the drugs you were prescribed by your doctor?

There’s a prevailing assumption in America that medicine prescribed by doctors and received over the counter at a pharmacy can’t hurt you. As we’ve seen to date, this is far from true. If you sustain an injury and are prescribed a painkiller, you will likely want to take it to avoid the pain, a perfectly acceptable thing to do. To prevent a dangerous outcome, however, here are a few ways to safely take medication.

• Even though it isn’t a common occurrence, pharmacies have been known to bottle and distribute counterfeit medication unwittingly. Due to a lack of awareness around this issue, 54% of Americans don’t check for authenticity before taking their prescriptions. This can lead to dangerous side-effects from cross-medication reactions. One way to stay safe is to read the label carefully. Typically, there will be a description of the pills’ shape, size, color, and markings on the label. Sometimes there are even pictures to help you better identify what you’re taking.
• In a survey aimed at learning about the public’s comprehension of pharmaceutical labels, 35% of respondents said that they were confused by the dosage instructions. If you ever find yourself in this position, call your doctor and seek clarification before taking any medicine. Certain substances can be completely safe at a certain dose, yet quite dangerous at another.
• For 34% of Americans, cutting a pill in half is exceedingly difficult. This has led many people to either skip a dose or take the whole pill instead. Depending on the medicine in question, either option could be a bad decision. If your prescription calls for the halving of pills, purchase a pill cutter to make it easier.

The best thing you can do to stay safe while taking doctor-prescribed medication, including opioids, is to keep in contact with your doctor. Having an open dialogue to ask questions, voice concerns, and seek guidance is an incredibly important resource. Likewise, if you notice anyone you know struggling with their prescription, don’t hesitate to help them in any way you can.

Other Medication Safety Strategies

Another option you have, especially when the situation calls for a prescription painkiller, is to talk with your doctor about non-opioid medication. A study suggests that higher doses of ibuprofen and acetaminophen (Tylenol and Asprin respectively) were significantly better at treating pain than oxycodone or Percocet. This flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but it holds true nonetheless.

Of course, prolonged use of acetaminophen can cause kidney disease and bleeding in the digestive tract, but that is the result of severe overuse. Also, since there’s little to none known addiction risk to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, the risks are minimal. No matter what medicine you are taking, you should always take it as directed.

The opioid epidemic rolls on, with too many Americans knowing too little about their prescriptions. The way forward is undoubtedly murky and filled with future tragedies, but if every person follows a plan that places safety first, we can make it through together. Opioids are a dangerous class of drug, one that has claimed many lives through overdose. Don’t let it be you.

If you have an addiction to prescription medication and need to talk to someone, call either your doctor or the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s national helpline: 1-800-662-4357

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Getting diagnosed with type 2 diabetes made Chad Cherry abruptly rethink his relationship with food. He took the increased risks of blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and stroke so seriously that he decided to become a chef, to learn how to combat the poor diet he’d become accustomed to.

Amazingly, the hospital that treated him failed to mention poor diet as a contributing factor to his illness. Our health systems are designed to medicate once symptoms appear, not educate people on their lifestyle choices – that may lead to illness, or even death.

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Cherry researched his condition online and connected the dots between what he was eating and his diabetes. He turned to organic ingredients and cut highly processed foods from his diet and within a few months started seeing and feeling the difference. When he met his wife Karen, she complained of severe abdominal pains each time she ate but was fine after eating Chad’s newly discovered food. “I said, ‘I’ll feed you every day!’” recalls Cherry with a laugh, and so they married and embarked on a healthy eating adventure that culminated in their company, Refresh Live. The couple call themselves farm-to-table consultants and have already racked up celebrity clients, including personal chef to the Kardashians, Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, rapper Ace Hood and has also fed Barack and Michelle Obama.

Their goal is to refresh people’s relationship, knowledge and experience of food with healthier, locally-grown produce. Standing in the center of any major American city you’d assume that food is never far from reach. Fast food culture has placed a McDonalds, Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts or Taco Bell on almost every city block. While convenient for a quick meal, it’s given rise to “food deserts” – areas with limited access to fresh and nutritious food. They occur especially in areas with low-income and minority residents, and the processed, sugary and fat-laden foods are known contributors to the country’s obesity epidemic. As part of their program, Chad and Karen include awareness on fast food brands that groom people from an early age to crave it.

Food deserts that stretch for five miles in every direction, lack of mobility and financial constraints can result in someone eating whatever they find at the overpriced, corner store – that only stocks highly processed food. Slick marketing will have you believe that eating fresh, healthy food is based on just changing your behavior, but in reality, many people are victims of socio-economic circumstances and don’t have a choice. Even with better food options around, Chad reckons the country still has a long way to go. “What we label ‘organic’ in America is still lower quality than what Europeans consider regular grade – everyday food found in unhyped-up food stores across Europe. 

“When communities say ‘we have issues’ they never get specific,” says Karen. “Food is one such issue. Our diets have been constructed by lobby groups and industries, and it’s time to claim our health back. No one’s coming to save your health; you need to do it yourself.” 

www.refreshliveinc.com

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Who could have predicted that when the New York Times broke the story in early October about Harvey Weinstein’s sexually abusive behavior, it would unleash a tsunami of complaints against some of the world’s most powerful men, many of whom have since been forced to resign?

The list reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood moguls, journalists, artists, celebrity chefs, and sports stars. And it continues to grow, in large part thanks to the #MeToo movement, which has encouraged women, from all classes and races, to lodge official complaints against employers who have ignored or tolerated sexually abusive behavior in the workplace. 

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The focus dramatically shifted to Wall Street in the last few weeks when Lauren Bonner, an associate director at Point72, the investment firm run by the billionaire Steven Cohen, filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against Cohen and the company.  According to the New Yorker,  “the lawsuit begins with an allegation that the word “pussy” was written on a whiteboard inside the office of Point72’s president, Douglas Haynes, and remained there for several weeks in 2017.”  Female employees claim they felt ashamed and humiliated in meetings, “as the PUSSY Board drifted above them, taunting them with repulsive references to their own bodies.”

#MeToo has forced a warp-speed reckoning of gender relations in the workplace unlike anything we have experienced before. This has left many companies scrambling to consider how to respond – whether to discipline or fire employees, implement regular trainings on sexual harassment, set up more robust codes of conduct and channels for complaints, and, more profoundly, to reassess what constitutes a sexually hostile workplace in a time when sexist jokes, lewd behavior, and inappropriate touching will no longer be tolerated.

For all the thousands of articles being written about these shifts, only the Financial Times of London dedicated a whole article to a key issue: the connection between workplace harassment and the use of pornography at work. The FT article focused on the statistic from Pornhub, the largest free porn website in the world, that almost half of their viewers visit the site between 9am-6pm. It really doesn’t need pointing out that these are typically the hours spent at work, but to make the case, the FT quotes a man who works in ‘the city’, London’s financial center, as saying “I don’t know a single guy who hasn’t looked at porn at work.”

For employers, this finding should be taken very seriously. Not only does viewing porn take time away from work, but it also facilitates a corporate culture that tolerates harassment and abuse of female employees. Most directly, it leaves companies extremely vulnerable to lawsuits. It is also likely to have severe consequences in terms of lower morale and productivity,  reputational risks, impaired recruitment, and higher turnover.  As the FT makes clear, in the age of #MeToo, a discussion has opened up “about the weaponized use of porn as a deliberate tool for creating a hostile work environment, and to harass and degrade employees — predominantly women — at work”.

Anyone who has spent time on Pornhub will know that the term “weaponized” is not an exaggeration. The porn images that predominate the site look nothing like your father’s Playboy. The most cited and respected study on the content of the mainstream porn sites such as Pornhub, found that the majority of scenes contained both physical and verbal abuse targeted against the female performers. Physical aggression, which included spanking, open-hand slapping, and gagging, occurred in over 88% of scenes, while expressions of verbal aggression—calling the woman names such as “bitch” or “slut”—were found in 48% of the scenes. The researchers concluded that 90% of scenes contained at least one aggressive act if both physical and verbal aggression were combined.

We have over forty years of research that shows that the more porn that men consume, the more likely they are to internalize these violent sexual scripts. A recent meta-analysis of 22 studies between 1978 and 2014 from seven different countries concluded that pornography consumption is associated with an increased likelihood of committing acts of verbal or physical sexual aggression, regardless of age. A 2010 meta-analysis of several studies found “an overall significant positive association between pornography use and attitudes supporting violence against women.”

Porn has also been found to have more insidious effects on both men and women that are likely to spill over to the workplace. Studies show that men who use porn are more likely to suffer a number of adverse effects, including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and marital disruption. Women whose partners view porn suffer similar consequences.

Employers should not only be concerned about being sued for inappropriate behavior that constitutes sexual harassment or discrimination; the very presence, viewing, or sharing of pornography in the workplace can also be construed as creating a hostile work environment and  unlawful sexual harassment, if it interferes with an employee’s work or creates an uncomfortable atmosphere. Two examples of sexual harassment given by The Balance are the “sharing of sexually inappropriate images or videos, such as pornography or salacious gifs, with co-workers” and “displaying inappropriate sexual images or posters in the workplace.” Moreover, once an employee has raised objections about porn in the workplace, it is against the law for a company to ignore the problem.

Because most of the trainings about workplace sexual harassment fail to mention the role of porn in exposing businesses to expensive lawsuits and other negative consequences, Culture Reframed has developed a full-day workshop that not only explains the legal ramifications, but also helps employers and employees understand the multiple harms of viewing porn. Additionally, our workshops are aimed at building healthier, more respectful workplace cultures, with positive outcomes for employers, employees, and the bottom line.

Corporations have a unique role to play in limiting the harms of porn on individuals, families, business and society. Courageous and pioneering corporations can be change agents in creating a positive work environment that normalizes gender equality and respect, the two key components that porn use undermines. Not only will companies benefit from a more egalitarian and collaborative work culture, they will also protect themselves from being on the wrong side of the #MeToo movement – and the law.

Dr. Gail Dines is Professor Emerita of Sociology at Wheelock College, and President and CEO of Culture Reframed, a non-profit organization that builds programs to prevent the harms of pornography. She can be contacted at gdines@culturereframed.org

Dr. David L. Levy is Professor of Management in the Business School at University of Massachusetts, and specializes in Business and Ethics. He is also the treasurer of Culture Reframed. He can be contacted at David.levy@umb.edu

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MaryBeth Cichocki doesn’t want her son to be forgotten – especially by the president of the United States.

Like many moms nationwide, she fears that the focus of the opioid epidemic has shifted from treating addiction like a disease to an indictment of drug dealers and sellers. But those most at fault, Cichocki said, are the large pharmaceutical companies legally allowed to operate here.

In response, she joined the rally cries of mothers throughout America who flooded Trump’s mailbox with handwritten letters, stories and photos of the thousands of children and loved ones who have died from addiction.

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“It breaks my heart that my son died of a treatable disease that the system has made a terminal disease,” Cichocki said. “I don’t know how that’s allowed to happen in our country.”

This mother – who started a support group soon after the accidental fatal overdose of her 37-year-old son, Matt – called upon other mothers to do the same. She posted it on Facebook and started the movement in Delaware, knowing far too well how many parents go without children here in the First State.

The goal was for Valentine’s Day cards to flood Trump’s office just in time for the holiday meant to honor loved ones. These cards obviously carry a different meaning than traditional love notes stamped with hearts, Cichocki said.

In 2016, 308 people died from drug-related overdoses. Last year’s numbers aren’t in yet for the state, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated more than 64,000 Americans died in 2016. That number – partially due to the increased use of the synthetic painkiller fentanyl – is expected to rise with 2017’s statistics. 

The time to take action is now, said Paula Mattson, a mother from Prices Corner who lost her 26-year-old son, Michael, to addiction. 

She has two grandchildren and fears for what they may encounter if educators and society don’t start treating addiction like a disease. Mattson has already lost far too much, including a son and other family members, to the pull of addiction.

“Just saying, ‘Don’t do it’ — my kids all had the ‘just say no.’ That doesn’t work,” she said. “There needs to be more education for parents.”

Already, Mattson said, a counselor informed her to speak with her grandchildren when they can begin to understand that some kids may be able to try things that they can’t themselves. Their brains may be different due to the inherited nature of addiction, she stressed.

Treatment also has to be more accessible, Mattson said. Not all families have health insurance that will cover 30 days, and even then, 30 days is too little time to reverse ingrained addiction, she said. It’s what she wants Trump to take from her letter.

“You don’t get over addiction in 30 days,” she said. 

Nor do you forget what it’s like to attend a funeral, especially when they haven’t stopped. Mattson recalled burying her son and her friend’s son – and now, years later, saying goodbye to more and more kids.

Anything, at this point, is better than nothing, she stressed.

The state Department of Health and Social Services announced last week that it plans to treat 900 new patients struggling with addiction in the next year through “Centers of Excellence” community hubs that will further the addiction care system. They plan to use peer recovery coaches – people who have experienced the throes of addiction themselves – to help those struggling now.

In Cichocki’s letter, she similarly encouraged Trump to talk to parents of children who have gone through this tragedy. Cichocki, who formerly worked as a nurse, said those who have been in the trenches fighting through insurance barriers and other obstacles know what it’s like and what must be done. 

“You really need to talk to us who are on the front lives of saving our children’s lives,” she said of Trump.

Until then, she plans to keep spreading Matt’s story.

“To not fight back would mean that it’s OK,” she said, “that it’s OK that this happened to him. … I have to try to get our president’s attention.”

By Brittany Horn: bhorn@delawareonline.com. @brittanyhorn

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The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner established that chart-topping singer and songwriter Tom Petty’s death on Oct. 2, 2017, was from an accidental drug overdose.

He suffered drug toxicity from the mixture of benzodiazepines (“benzos” or sedative-hypnotics), an antidepressant and opioids that caused cardiac arrest and multisystem organ failure. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health watchdog, has investigated artists’ deaths from taking psychotropic drugs — mixed with or without opioids — and says it’s not the first celebrity that the entertainment industry, fans, and family have lost due to lethal prescription drug combinations, including Prince, Heath Ledger, Whitney Houston and more.

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Toxicology tests determined that Petty had been taking two benzodiazepines — temazepam and alprazolam — the antidepressant citalopram and painkillers, including oxycodone and fentanyl. His widow, Dana Petty, and daughter, Adria, said the rock and roll legend had been prescribed opioids for a fractured hip and other chronic ailments.

This is not the first celebrity the entertainment industry, fans, and family have lost due to lethal prescription drug combinations, whether prescribed or abused, and benzodiazepines are often a common denominator. They are even more dangerous because they enhance the sedative effects of opioids. Consider the following iconic artists:

• Toxicology tests for another legendary singer, Prince (57), concluded that the entertainer died on April 21, 2016, from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl. Prince’s toxicology report also revealed the presence of alprazolam in his system, according to CNN.

• Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell (52) died on May 17, 2017. Although suicide was ruled as the cause of death, Cornell’s wife questions the role of the benzodiazepine lorazepam.

• The toxicology report for pop icon Whitney Houston (48), following her death on Feb. 11, 2012, indicated that she was “acutely intoxicated from cocaine” and a “plethora of prescription medication bottles” were found in the room, including alprazolam, according to the final report.

• The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that iconic performer, Michael Jackson’s (50) death was a homicide from the administration of the anesthetic drug propofol and that this drug and the sedative lorazepam were the primary drugs in Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009. Vials of another benzodiazepine, diazepam, were also found in his mansion.

• On January 22, 2008, Heath Ledger (28) died of an accidental overdose as a result of taking a lethal combination of prescription drugs that included three benzodiazepines, diazepam, temazepam, and alprazolam. He was also taking two painkillers. Heath wasn’t taking the drugs for “psychiatric” reasons—like many, he used them to help him sleep and to handle a busy schedule.

There’s a distinct difference between Cause of Death and Means of Death. The cause is the actual event. Means is the method by which death happened. For example, the cause of death for the “King of Rock n’ Roll,” Elvis Presley (42), in 1977 was a heart attack. Although the coroner listed the means as “chronic heart disease,” and other physical problems, the toxicology report revealed the death should be looked at in terms of the cumulative effects of prescription drugs. A prominent toxicologist also reviewed the findings and gave his opinion that “the strong probability [was] that these drugs were the major contribution to his demise.” The toxicology report showed numerous psychotropic drugs, including diazepam and barbiturates/sedative-hypnotics.

In the two and a half years prior to his death, Elvis was prescribed an unbelievable 5,458 amphetamines, 9,567 sedatives, and 3,988 narcotics. So dependent was he on these drugs that he was hospitalized at least five times for detoxification.

Dr. David Sack, board certified in addiction medicine, says, “Tolerance and dependence can develop quickly. There have been reports of people who received high doses of benzodiazepines becoming physically dependent in as little as two days.” Combined with opioids, it’s a catastrophe in the making. Dr. Sackwarns that benzodiazepines are “the danger lurking in the shadow of opiates” and that both opioids and benzodiazepines slow down body systems, particularly the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Combining the drugs increases the effects of each exponentially, meaning that the body isn’t just processing two doses, it is processing more like three or four. This multi-dose cocktail can cause breathing to stop.

In the U.S., more people die from psychiatric drug overdose than heroin overdose. In 2014, 10,574 people died of heroin overdose while 15,778 died from an overdose of psychiatric drugs, nearly 50 percent more than the number of heroin overdose deaths. The biggest killers were sedatives (benzodiazepines such as alprazolam and temazepam, and Z-drugs such as zolpidem), antidepressants (such as citalopram), psychostimulants (methylphenidate, amphetamine), and antipsychotics.

In February 2016, researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York warned that benzodiazepine abuse is a growing problem in the U.S., with overdoses on the drugs increasing at a faster rate than other prescription drugs, including opioids. “Benzodiazepines have several known safety risks: in addition to overdose, they are conclusively linked to falls, fractures, motor vehicle accidents, and can lead to misuse and addiction,” Dr. Marcus Bachhuber, lead author of the study told Reuters. 

Long-acting benzodiazepine agents are associated with accumulation which may result in sedation, cognitive impairment, and psychomotor retardation. All benzodiazepines are listed as Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) schedule IV controlled substances because of the potential for abuse, addiction, and diversion.

Rockstar legend Ozzy Osbourne had been fighting substance abuse for decades when a physician prescribed 13,000 doses of 32 different drugs that included tranquilizers, amphetamines, antidepressants, and antipsychotics during one year, which turned Osbourne into an incoherent, stumbling wreck. “I was wiped out on pills,” said Osbourne. “I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t walk. I could barely stand up. I was lumbering about like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.” The pills cost $58,000 and the doctor’s “services,” $650,000.

In 1979, Sen. Ted Kennedy called a Senate Health subcommittee hearing on the dangers of benzodiazepines in which he said the drugs “produced a nightmare of dependence and addiction, both very difficult to treat and recover from.” In 2002, a group of doctors formed the Maine Benzodiazepine Study Group, which concluded: “There is no evidence supporting the long-term use of benzodiazepines for any mental health condition.” But the warnings have gone unheeded and profit before patients seems to have taken precedence.

Prescriptions for benzodiazepines more than tripled and fatal overdoses more than quadrupled between 1996 and 2013. Despite being mostly off-patent and selling at lower generic prices, benzodiazepines accounted for nearly $509 million in sales in 2013. In 2015 alone, there were about 9,000 benzodiazepine related deaths reported.

“The fact that any chronic benzodiazepine users exist at all,” Dr. Helen Gallagher of the University College Dublin medical school wrote in a 2013 review article in the journal Pharmacy, “highlights the fact that a convincing evidence base is being ignored by physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare providers who in essence facilitate their inappropriate use.”

With so many celebrities and other people’s deaths due to potentially dangerous prescribing practices — and consumers believing that because the drugs are “prescribed,” they are safe and can be abused — greater efforts should be made to monitor the prescribing patterns of psychiatrists and doctors, CCHR says. As with opioids, the high billing of benzodiazepines and other psychiatric drugs should be a red flag for investigators to determine who is profiting from placing some of our greatest artists and so many others at risk of addiction and death.

As a nonprofit, CCHR relies on memberships and donations to carry out its mission and actions to curb psychotropic drug use, including maintaining a Psychiatric Drug Side Effects Search Engine for consumers, parents and families to easily access information about adverse drug effects, studies and drug regulatory agency warnings. Click here to support the cause.

If you liked this, you may also enjoy: “This Should Scare You More Than Terrorism: The Opioid Epidemic”

Terrorists move over. There’s a far worse terror in town that is indiscriminately targeting kids and adults, killing well over 10 times more Americans a year than all terrorist attacks of the last 16 years combined.

That’s correct. While politicians have spent several trillion dollars on foreign wars, they’ve distracted us from the very real threat that can be found in our own homes, targeting our families. In 1997, the United States became one of only two developed countries on the planet that made it legal for pharmaceutical companies to advertise drugs directly to consumers, including children. Since then prescription drug addiction and prescription drug overdoses have skyrocketed – in fact, quadrupled.

We now have a generation of young adults who grew up with a drug dealer living in their homes 24/7 – the television, magazines and internet pushing pills as a solution to every imaginable condition. Eighty percent of opioid addictions begin with a prescription for pain medication at your doctor’s office. It must be safe if a doctor prescribes it, right? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2014 47,055 people died of an accidental drug overdose – 29,467 of those from opioid-related drugs, which includes prescription pain medication. To put that into perspective, firearms were used to kill 13,286 people in the United States over the same period (excluding suicide) with a total of 3,340 killed in terrorist attacks on American soil since 1995 (3,003 in the September 2001 attacks alone).

Drug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. Four out of five people who become addicted to heroin start out with a legal prescription from a physician – a result of injury, post-operative care or a medical procedure. Substance-abuse disorders affect 20.8 million people in the United States — as many as those with diabetes and 1½ times as many as those with cancer. Yet, only one in 10 people receives treatment.

It’s an epidemic that the CEO of CleanSlate, Gregory Marotta, says has crossed all socioeconomic boundaries. Forget about lecturing your kids on the dangers of drugs, white middle-class women are actually at higher risk. “It’s no longer considered a disease associated with race, religion or class,” he explains. “It’s indiscriminate, right across the board.”

It’s a sobering viewpoint that his colleague, Kelly Clark, the Chief Medical Officer of CleanSlate supports: “Drug addiction has always been viewed as something shameful, something to be hidden away from friends, employees and parents, but it’s actually not a moral failing,” she explains.

What if addiction was seen as just another chronic disease, alongside asthma or diabetes? Would this change your opinion of the almost 36 million people worldwide who are addicted to prescription opioid drugs? These are ordinary people who started on painkillers, prescribed by a doctor to relieve a medical problem, without realizing the risk of it turning into something deadly – addiction. We don’t talk about a diabetic being clean, or a diabetic being sober. Like other chronic illnesses, addiction is a disease that needs to be managed.  “We’ve always had a tendency to create stigmas around brain diseases,” explains Clark. “Whether it’s epilepsy or mental illness, we’ve historically thought that people with these conditions were cursed or possessed, or somehow to be made fun of.”

Most cultures have branded addiction as an issue of willpower. Society views those that take drugs as weak and unproductive, but ignoring this problem and banishing millions of people to the fringes of society is not working. Our modern healthcare networks, with clinics, hospitals, and insurance schemes, were established decades ago to service the sick and dying, yet addiction treatment was somehow sidelined – with blame, guilt and shame replacing proper care. When last did you write off a relative for being in the hospital for high blood pressure or a heart condition?

Weekend Read: Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “God Is Not A Christian. Nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu…” Is it possible to be a good human being without being religious? 

Clark thinks about 50 percent of addictive diseases are genetic, but surprisingly, we already have opioids in our brain –  endorphins – our body’s natural painkiller and feel-good chemical. Pills and opiates created in labs, or broken down from poppy seeds, contain levels of opiates our brains were not designed to handle.

Morphine makes most people sleepy, but some will experience an energy rush that makes them want to clean the garage. This type of person is a high addiction risk and shouldn’t be given opioids. Extended use will actually change your brain and it won’t change back if you stop.     

“It’s very difficult to fight your own brain,” says Clark. Most people who abuse drugs, alcohol or marijuana don’t end up with a problem, but with opioids we see many people with permanent problems.”

At some point in the 1980s and 1990s, the medical profession came together to discuss how best to treat pain. There was post-operative pain, pain from dental procedures, and pain from accidental injuries. The world’s economies had just fired up and downtime was frowned upon. Doctors became time constrained with their patients and pharmaceutical companies had just discovered new markets for new drugs. The solution? Prescribe opioids freely and widely for all pain. Opioids began to snowball and the problem got bigger. The cure was overplayed, the consequence less considered.

“The medical community at the time didn’t look deep enough into the potential harm of opioids and didn’t understand what those opioids could do chemically and physiologically to the brain,” says Marotta.

It ended up being the perfect storm of circumstance, commercial opportunity and timing which has delivered a worldwide opioid epidemic, with America at ground zero.

To combat this epidemic, CleanSlate has attracted USD25 million in private equity to grow patient treatment from the current 7,000 per year to 50,000 by early 2019. There is a desperate need for more businesses to expand services to serve the needs of those people seeking recovery from the disease of addiction. Marotta thinks there’s a large consumer aspect to helping recovering addicts that has yet to be explored. To help with government legislation and lobbying, CleanSlate has former Congressman and mental health advocate Patrick J. Kennedy on their board. Addiction treatment is something that needs to be considered within legal frameworks too.

Business leaders can also increase productivity by helping support employees who are dealing with addiction and recovery. Instead of focusing on absenteeism, switch to focusing on presentism, to ensure people continue to be productive. “Identifying the early warning signs of addiction in employees can be problematic,” says Marotta. “Be aware of any health claims from employees that show surgical procedures – opioids are sure to be part of that recovery process. Keeping a watchful eye on staff in the months after surgery or an accident can help identify signs of addiction sooner, to enable early intervention and treatment. With fewer doctors available, and increasing numbers of patients with insurance, business needs to be creative and help in solving this problem,” explains Marotta.

The United States is only 5 percent of the global population yet uses 85 percent of all opioids. Opioids have their place in the medical world; it’s the after effects we should be wary of. Last year, the United Nations released 17 “Global Goals for Sustainable Development.” It identified key problems facing our planet and encouraged business to help find solutions. In 2013, only about one in six people worldwide suffering from drug-use disorders received treatment. It’s a reminder of the huge market demand for business solutions that have the potential to create fulfilling jobs –  and most importantly, save lives.

www.CleanslateCenters.com

Related: A Mothers Story. My Son is Dead: Changing The Way We Treat Addiction

Good Read: Archbishop Desmond Tutu: “God Is Not A Christian. Nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu…”

“But Dad, you’re a successful drug addict.” Those words spoken by my teenage son, Nick, chilled me to the bone. The charade I’d lived for more than a decade was crumbling. My son was following in my footsteps, using a drug that could kill us both.

I need to do something before one of us went to prison – or worse. But first, I need to snort the two bags of heroin he just left me so I won’t be dope sick.

You can’t read the news without hearing of the opioid pandemic sweeping our country. You may wonder how it starts – and who an addict really is. My name is Tim Ryan and I’m an alcoholic and drug addict. I know addiction better than most, because I lived it for 30 years. You name it, I’ve done it – booze, LSD, angel dust, cocaine, crystal meth, amphetamines and heroin.

But if you saw me years ago, you wouldn’t peg me as an addict. Addicts aren’t world-class barefoot water skiers or six-figure tech recruiters with office space in downtown Chicago, right? Addicts don’t own large houses in the suburbs, marry beautiful wives, and raise four kids. Yet that was my world and I was in control – until I wasn’t.

Most boys grow up wanting to be a rock star, pro athlete or firefighter. Not many dream of becoming a felon with drug charges. But I thank God daily for the prison where I started to recover my life. It was here that I outlined a business plan for my non-profit, A Man in Recovery Foundation. I shared a cell with gang leaders, humbled and grateful for another day to breathe.

When I left prison I got busy helping anyone I could. I started groups for addicts and formed one where loved ones of addicts could join to get support and talk openly. I met with law enforcers and legislators, creating programs to put people into treatment instead of prison. I got calls from the media and was on national news.

And for the first time in my life, I acted like a parent to my children – and not a friend. Nick, my son that I introduced to heroin, bounced in and out of jail and treatment centers as he continued to battle his own demons. Visiting him at a center, I saw him experience a small taste of recovery. He said, “Dad, once I get clean, we’ll go on the speaking circuit together and save lives.” 

Addiction affects and involves entire communities, and as an addict, I knew that we were short on solutions and hope. As an addict speaking to addicts, the world started to listen.

As my recovery strengthened, Nick’s began falling apart. When I got the call that he’d overdosed, I flashed back to his words: “Dad, you are a successful drug addict.” I wanted to respond, “Nick, there is no successful drug addict.” But it was too late. When I saw his cold, lifeless body on a hospital gurney with tubes coming out of his mouth, my former self would have reached for the drugs. Instead, all I could think was, “I need to get to a meeting.” Some people let their losses bury them. There are moments I want to do that. But I can’t. I’m relentless in my pursuit of finding solutions to the opioid epidemic, because I couldn’t save Nick. And I’m living, breathing proof that recovery works. I’ve attended hundreds of funerals, and as sick as I am of burying people, I will attend hundreds more if I can guide one person into recovery. Addressing our opioid epidemic starts with helping the addict next door – or yourself. We cannot hide from this problem, because it touches us all. Reach out today.  

www.TimRyanSpeaks.com

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