For the last year, I’ve been writing about two Franklin County undercover cops and their experiences in drug enforcement. Opioids, LSD, and cocaine and their effects on individuals have permeated my brain. Last Monday, I had my right hip replaced, and the first goal that I had once I woke up was to get off of Oxycodone. Yes, I am a drama queen. At any moment, I was going to be an addict!
I felt I dealt well with the pain until the block wore off the second day. I understand the rating 10 of pain. It’s the pain that makes your stomach turn over and your head light.
Right after my surgery, the Columbus Dispatch published a revealing article by Bethany Bruner and Jim Woods: Drug Overdose Deaths Pushing Franklin County Morgue to Capacity. No, I don’t believe that I would become dependent and experience dopesickness because I was taking prescribed medicine. But how many individuals who have had surgery innocently took the drug and thought the same thing. Personally, I’m not fond of the feeling of sleepiness and detachment that came with taking the medicine. It did relieve the intense pain that I felt with the surgery aftermath. But that’s not the way it is for some people. It has to be a chemical reaction or something that changes the brain to require this drug or the following wouldn’t be happening.
Drug overdose had already taken the lives of 300,000 America over the past fifteen years, and experts now predicted that 300,000 more would die in only the next five. It is now the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of fifty, killing more people than guns or car accidents at a rate higher than the HIV epidemic at its peak. (Beth Macy author of Dopesick)
“[Franklin County Coroner] Ortiz also said there were 34 suspected overdose deaths from Jan. 31 through Sunday[Feb. 9 in Franklin County]” Columbus Dispatch. February 13.
According to the article, “The surge started with 10 overdose deaths reported in a 24-hour period from Jan. 31 to Feb. 1.”
Of course, I am not taking street drugs, which is playing the game of “risk your life roulette. Still, in some cases, medication taken due to an injury or surgery can trigger the need to continue. When the prescription is no longer available, the street is the only other option. What is it in our society makes the innocent turn into an addict? Or is there individual chemistry in people that could predict this dependency?
Mike Powers, one of the undercover policeman in my book, always says (and I am paraphrasing here), “To halt the opium crisis, there is a need to address it on three levels: Enforcement, Education, and Prevention.
Becoming Street Smart is my work in progress.