When you think of the word epidemic most people think of something along the lines of small pox or the SARS virus. With today’s medicine we can generally contain or eliminate the fear of outbreaks of such diseases. Unfortunately in our society we have something way more deadly and powerful than any virus known to mankind; substance abuse. Different than a biological virus, drug addiction is a societal virus. The scariest of it all being the opioid crisis. Right now in America alone, we lose 100 people a day due to opioid overdose. Experts say that by 2027 that number could reach 250 deaths per day. There’s a saying that “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Well in this case something is very broken and if we don’t want this death toll to become a reality we must fix something. The outdated approach of addiction is a disease is a crutch that gives drug addicts a justification to why they use drugs. Habilitat’s behavior modification approach instills in me everyday that I used Heroin because I chose to make bad decisions, not because something is physiologically wrong with me. The sooner we as a nation begin to take a look at why these individuals are using drugs and not incarcerating or shipping them to band aid treatment centers, the sooner we can begin to put a dent in the estimated 500,000 overdose deaths over the next decade. For most of us addicts the only solace from our lives of homelessness and incarceration is long term treatment. I leave you with this thought; if you go to Vegas with one dollar to spend, you want to play the game with the best odds right? So if you’re trying to change your life why wouldn’t you go with the best possible model of treatment?
Source: https://www.thefix.com/opioid-death-toll-will-get-worse-it-gets-better