Tag: opioids

How Fentanyl Changed The Opioid Crisis

The prevalence and potency of illicit fentanyl has changed the course of the opioid crisis for the worse.

While prescription painkillers were previously attributed to the most deaths in the opioid epidemic, they no longer do. Instead, the leading cause of death in this context is now illegal fentanyl, according to a recent Bloomberg editorial.

The National Center on Health Statistics states that in 2017, illegal fentanyl played a role in 60% of opioid deaths, in comparison to 11% of opioid deaths five years ago.

Fentanyl was created in 1960 and was used as a treatment for cancer pain. Illicit fentanyl has become common in the black market because it can be easily manufactured in a lab. Its potency also means it can be put into very small packages that are easy to conceal.

“Drug labs in China fulfill online orders from American users, or from traffickers in the U.S. and Mexico who add the fentanyl to heroin and other drugs to boost their effect, or press it into phony prescription-opioid pills,” the editorial reads.

Because of this, the editorial states, addressing the issue of illegal fentanyl needs to be focused first on China, which U.S. law enforcement officials claim is the source of nearly all illegal fentanyl.

The editorial states that the Obama administration had reached out to the Chinese government to ask for help in policing producers of fentanyl. But, with the Trump administration in place, that cooperation appears to have fallen by the wayside.

“What’s needed is a steady and purposeful diplomatic push, along with expert support for fortifying China’s capacity to inspect and regulate its thousands of drug labs,” the editorial board writes.

When fentanyl is exported from China, it mainly comes through the mail to both users and dealers. While Congress has allotted Customs and Border Protection more chemical-detection equipment, it is not possible to scan all packages entering the country.

“The task would be easier if Congress passed pending legislation to require the U.S. Postal Service to obtain basic identifying information from senders—including the name and address of sender and a description of package contents—as private parcel services do,” the editorial board writes.

In addition to being sold on the dark web, fentanyl can also be found on regular websites, the board says. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has spoken out about the need for internet companies to put more effort into taking down those listings.

While this all has to do with the supply, the aspect of demand must also be addressed, the board says. The more than 2 million Americans struggling with opioid or heroin use disorder need access to treatment, specifically medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and behavioral therapy.

“Fentanyl and other opioids are killing more than 130 people a day. The crisis demands a thorough, well-coordinated national response. What the White House and Congress have come up with so far falls short,” the board concludes.

View the original article at thefix.com

12 September 2018
Link Between Suicide And Opioid Use Examined

Researchers hope that the results of a new study will help them better identify those at risk for suicide.

A three-year, $1.4 million study will examine the connection between opioid use and death by suicide, in hopes of more effectively identifying high-risk patients.

“We know that opioid use, opioid overdose and suicide are related, but we need much more specific information to guide our efforts at prevention,” Gregory Simon, MD, principal investigator of the Mental Health Research Network and a co-investigator on the study, told Health IT Analytics. “The findings from this study will be a great asset to the public health community.”

The goal of the research is to develop predictive models that can help doctors better identify and intervene with patients who are at higher risk of attempting suicide.

Researchers will analyze data covering about 24 million medical visits, 35,000 suicide attempts, and 2,600 suicide deaths. They will try to predict how likely it is that a suicide will occur within 90 days of the time an individual visits a medical professional.

Opioid overdose deaths have increased exponentially in the past decade, while deaths by suicide increased 27% between 1999 and 2015. During that time suicides that involved opioids doubled, and may have increased even more.

“We’ve done preliminary work suggesting that 22 to 37% of opioid-related overdoses are, in fact, suicides or suicide attempts,” said Bobbi Jo Yarborough, PsyD, an investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon.

Despite the rising risks, doctors and mental health providers often have difficultly identifying which patients are at risk for suicide.

“While health care settings are ideal places to intervene to prevent suicides, clinicians aren’t able to easily determine which of their patients are at elevated risk,” Yarborough said. “Our ultimate goal is to develop the most accurate suicide risk prediction tools and put them into the hands of clinicians. If our study is successful, clinicians will have a powerful new resource in the fight against suicide.”

Researchers will look at risk factors including illegal or prescribed opioid use, opioid use disorder, discontinuation or substantial dose reduction of prescription opioids, and prior non-fatal opioid-related overdoses. They will also examine how these factors affect men and women differently in order to understand whether one group is more likely to attempt suicide while using opioids.

Healthcare providers say that while suicide is highly stigmatized, talking openly about it can reduce the number of deaths.

“I have learned that it is important to talk about survivor stories. We know that suicide is preventable,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director at the CDC, said in June. “We are in a different era right now, with social media increased and also social isolation is high… We think helping overcome the isolation can improve the connectedness.”

View the original article at thefix.com

12 September 2018
CBD Oil Quickly Becoming Popular Opioid Alternative

One expert says CBD oil sales are growing nationally, particularly in states that allow medical marijuana but not recreational.

When it comes to pain management, there may be a safer alternative to prescription pain medication: CBD oil, also known as cannabidiol.

In Georgia, according to WSB-TV Atlanta, the hemp-derived CBD product is legal because it only contains trace amounts of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

CBD oil is sold at Little Five Points Pharmacy in northeast Atlanta, and pharmacist Ira Katz tells WSB-TV that it has been effective for some of his patients.

“We know that this can reduce pain,” he said. “I have several patients that we’ve been putting this on, recommending this to them, and it’s great. It helps. It makes a big difference.”

The oil does not give users a high. “People are turning to cannabidiol as an alternative when they can’t get low THC oil,” Anthony LaBorde, store operator for Discount Nutrition in Midtown Atlanta and Acworth, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We get people coming in here who say, ‘Oh my gosh, this is marijuana, I can’t believe you sell this.’ There’s complete confusion.”

Studies have found that CBD oil is effective for treating neuropathic pain, arthritis pain, anxiety, sleep disorders and depression.

“I’ve had some patients that have been able to get off some of those pain medications, which they hated taking,” Katz told WSB-TV. “It has no addictive properties and far less side effects than do a lot of the prescription pain medications.”

According to Bethany Gomez, research director for the Chicago-based Brightfield Group, sales of CBD are growing across the nation, particularly in states like Georgia that have some form of a medical marijuana program, but do not allow cannabis for adult use. In 2016, the market for the product was $174 million, compared to $590 million this year.

“CBD is very widely used by people who would not come anywhere near cannabis, who don’t want anything to do with the mind-altering effects of marijuana but want treatment for chronic pain, anxiety and women’s health conditions,” Gomez told the Journal-Constitution.

Despite the apparent benefits, CBD oil still concerns some local law enforcement officials. Wesley Nunn, president of the Georgia Narcotics Officers Association and commander of the Ocmulgee Drug Task Force, fears shops may be disguising THC oil as CBD oil, the difference lying in the potency of the product.

“You don’t know what’s in it. That’s the problem,” Nunn told the Journal-Constitution. “If it’s helping with seizures, appetite disorders and PTSD, let’s get it regulated… There’s so much money being pushed behind the marijuana trade, and people are trying to get on board.”

View the original article at thefix.com

11 September 2018
Former Purdue Pharma Exec May Profit From Opioid Addiction Drug

Richard Sackler’s involvement with a new formulation of buprenorphine has drawn a wave of criticism.

A new formulation of buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid addiction, is due to hit the market—but some have taken issue with one of the inventors’ ties to Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin.

Richard Sackler is listed as one of six inventors on a patent for a new formulation of buprenorphine issued in January, the Financial Times reported. Sackler is also the former chairman and president of Purdue Pharma, according to the Washington Post, and the son of Raymond Sackler, one of the company’s founders.

Purdue Pharma is the target of more than 1,000 lawsuits from cities, states, counties and tribes across the United States. The pharmaceutical giant and maker of OxyContin is accused of exaggerating the benefits and downplaying the risk of the opioid painkiller, and fueling the national opioid addiction epidemic.

“It’s reprehensible what Purdue Pharma has done to our public health,” says Luke Nasta, director of Camelot, a New York-based treatment center. The Sacklers “shouldn’t be allowed to peddle any more synthetic opiates—and that includes opioid substitutes.”

According to the patent, unlike the tablet or film formulation that’s currently available, the new drug will come in a fast-dissolving wafer that is placed under the tongue.

According to the inventors, the fast-dissolving formula will make it less likely for the drug to be abused and sold on the black market.

Colorado recently added to the mounting lawsuits against Purdue Pharma—accusing the company of playing a “significant role in causing the opioid epidemic.”

“Purdue’s habit-forming medications coupled with their reckless marketing have robbed children of their parents, families of their sons and daughters, and destroyed the lives of our friends, neighbors, and co-workers,” said state Attorney General Cynthia Coffman in a statement. “While no amount of money can bring back our loved ones, it can compensate for the enormous costs brought about by Purdue’s intentional misconduct.”

Members of the otherwise little known Sackler family have come to light for their ties to Purdue Pharma.

This past March, a group of about 50 people came together at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to protest members of the Sackler family’s alleged involvement in perpetuating opioid abuse. Led by artist Nan Goldin, the protestors threw pill bottles marked “OxyContin” into the reflecting pool in the Sackler Wing of the museum, named for the family’s contributions to the museum.

The family has donated millions of dollars to arts institutions like the Met over the years.

View the original article at thefix.com

11 September 2018
Are Moms With Opioid Addiction At Heightened Risk For Overdose?

A new study examined pregnant women and new moms with opioid use disorder.

After finding out she was pregnant with her second child while in a Massachusetts prison, Katie Raftery entered treatment for heroin use. She stayed seven months, until her son was born. It wasn’t until he was about six weeks old that she began to feel the familiar urges to return to using.

According to the Sarasota Herald Tribune, a new study shows that women who use opioids, like Raftery, are at greater risk of an overdose in the year following their child’s birth.

Rather than return to using, Raftery was able to use her insurance coverage and reach out to her doctor to ask for buprenorphine, a medication that can treat opioid use disorder. But not all women in the country have the ability to take similar actions.

According to the Herald Tribune, in states that do not offer expanded Medicaid, low-income women lose their insurance coverage eight weeks after giving birth. Addiction experts say this is concerning, as it makes a relapse during postpartum depression and opioid cravings more likely.

“As a whole, women with substance use disorders do quite well during pregnancy, due in large extent to access to care, insurance coverage and attention from social services,” Mishka Terplan, an obstetrics and gynecology physician at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, told the newspaper. “Where things fall apart is postpartum. We actually abandon women after delivery.”

Terplan served as the co-author of the study published last month. During the course of the study, researchers kept track of more than 4,000 women with opioid use disorder in Massachusetts, for the duration of the year before and after giving birth.

The study’s results indicated that deaths from opioid overdoses decrease during pregnancy, but increase in the seven to 12 months following birth. Since all of the women involved in the study resided in Massachusetts, insurance coverage was not a factor.

Davida Schiff, lead author of the study and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, tells the Herald Journal that sustaining care for women well after childbirth is vital.

“Pregnancy seems to be a time for change. Women tend to make healthier decisions during pregnancy. So, for women with an opioid addiction, it can be a motivating moment,” she said.

“We should capitalize on the emotions women feel during pregnancy, and sustain their care or enhance it during the postpartum period, which is arguably the most challenging.”

The Herald Journal states that while the opioid epidemic has hit the country hard as a whole, it has impacted subgroups, like pregnant women and new moms, especially hard.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that between 1999 and 2014, the number of pregnant women who used opioids more than quadrupled.

View the original article at thefix.com

11 September 2018
All My Friends Are Junkies
Once we switched our attention away from getting high and learned how to stay sober, we quickly realized that if we put at least one percent of the same effort it took to get trashed into other areas of our lives, the results were astronomical.

All of my friends—each and every last one of them—are junkies. I’m not talking about your run-of-the-mill junkie. You know the one: steals your purse and helps you look for it. No not that kind. Not even the one that bangs four bags of boy then tells you five minutes later that they’re dopesick so you help them out by splitting your shit. Not that type of junkie. I mean yeah, they meet that criteria, but I’m talking about the other type, the been-there-done-that kind of junkie.

All of my friends have been to hell and back. They’re the type of junkie that society labels as hopeless. But for whatever reason, they’ve found a way out of their living hell and have begun living and pursuing a life worthwhile, a life greater than anything imaginable. Any goal they set, anything they dream of, it comes to fruition and then some! It’s unbelievable, very encouraging, and, from my experience, it’s very contagious. Words like: seductive, attractive, inviting, enticing, alluring and captivating come to mind.

They’ve entered into a lifestyle that appears to be nothing but hope to any outsider looking in. So much so, even “normies” wonder what the fuck my friends are on. It’s next-level type shit.

I bet you’re wondering why I still refer to my friends as junkies if they no longer get fucked up. It’s a valid question. Why would someone call their friend a junkie when they have years sober? Why would someone use a word that carries such a bad connotation when describing another individual that they themselves currently see as the opposite of that word? Why the hell does Walmart only keep two check-out aisles open on a Saturday afternoon?!

To answer that first question, let’s break down the word “junkie.”

According to Webster:

Junkie

noun | junk·ie | \ ˈjəŋ-kē \
1. a narcotics peddler or addict
2. a person who gets an unusual amount of pleasure from or has an unusual amount of interest in something
Okay, that first definition sounds about right. My friends sure as hell qualify as addicts/alcoholics. They also know how to acquire and distribute their drug-of-choice quite successfully until that dreaded day comes where they break the cardinal rule, “don’t get high on your own supply.” If you’re a junkie like me, then you know we have another term for that rule: “mission impossible.”

Now, let’s take a look at what good ol’ Webby had to say in that second definition: A person who gets an unusual amount of pleasure from or has an unusual amount of interest in something. Sexy, right? Did you hear it? Did you relate when the word “unusual” appeared twice in that definition? Did something deep inside you begin to stir when the words “pleasure” and “interest” hit your shot-out way of thinking?

I hope so. If you’re fucked up the way I am, then you felt something. I also know from a personal collective experience that once my friends and I got sober, the world became our oyster. What I mean by that is, once we switched our attention away from getting high and learned how to stay sober, we quickly realized that if we put at least one percent of the same effort it took to get trashed into other areas of our lives, the results were astronomical. It’s like a one thousand percent return on our investment. Crazy, right? Sure. Sounds like bullshit? Fuck yeah it does. It took me a while to grasp it, understand it, appreciate it and then cultivate it.

When I see the word “unusual” appear in that definition I can’t help but laugh. I know that my friends and I—or any junkie I know, for that matter—are far from normal. When I think about “pleasure” and “interest,” I think about all the dreams that I had shit on in the past as a result of the bridges I burned. Now, those dreams have come back, I have goals that appear to be attainable, relationships that bring my life an overwhelming amount of joy, and opportunities to take part in unimaginable endeavors. Sound good? Sign me up!

I geek out over music. Since my money ain’t going to the dope man anymore, I’ve been able to create some really dope recovery-based music. I’m a music junkie. And I got friends that have turned their attention to their physical health and wellness, and they’re seeing amazing results. They’re fitness junkies. I got this one friend who’s got the “lick” on all the best spots to eat around town. I mean you can pick an ethnicity, voice your preference and he’s got a spot for you. My little, hipster, foodie junkie. He’s adorable.

Do you get it now? My friends and I are still junkies. We find ridiculous amounts of pleasure doing the things we love and pursuing the things that interest us. We enjoy it so much that you might call it unusual. Crazy ass ex-dopefiends turned into super-cool people.

I know we all have a million stories of where we’ve been and what we’ve done to get high and stay high. I know what it’s like to be in rehab and exchange “war stories” with the guy next to me. After a while it gets old. If you’re a repeat offender like me, then you know it gets old really fast when you check back in and hear the same shit again. It’s the same story with a different face. I get it.

Having said all that, I want to let you in on a little secret: I’ve solved my existential crisis that I’ve always run into when trying to stay sober. I never found my purpose before, that “something” that brings me an unusual amount of pleasure… until now.

It’s in these stories. It’s in the telling you, the reader, what my junkie friends and I have done, where we’ve been, what we’ve seen, what we’ve felt, how we’ve died, how we’ve lived, how we’ve found relief, how we’ve recovered, how we’ve relapsed, how we’ve come back and how we’ve survived one day at a time. If The Fix allows it, I’d love to share with you some of these “ghost stories,” as I lovingly refer to them these days. It would bring me an unusual amount of pleasure to get some of this shit off my chest and outta my head.

I want to let you into my world, tell you why “All My Friends Are Junkies” (and I’m pretty sure all your friends are, too). I want to take you through drug court, through my first time in “the rooms,” through my first love in recovery, through that heartbreak, through that first relapse after believing I’d be a one-chip-wonder. I want to take you through that probation violation, that geographical change I thought would help, and holy shit, I want to bring you to that six-month inpatient rehab I went to that turned into a 13 month stay, the place I “loved so much” that I went back for another six months. I want to tell you about the relationships I made in these places, the fun we had, the crazy cool road trips we took. I want to tell you about all the musical gigs and the junkies I met there. I feel like recovery has brought me around the world while my lifestyle of addiction brought me to the deepest darkest areas of Satan’s ass crack. I want to tell you about that too.

So for now, I’ll leave you with this: If no one told you today that they love you, fuck it, there’s always tomorrow.

Check back next week for the first Ghost Story, “A Dopeman’s Grocery List.”

View the original article at thefix.com
7 September 2018
Can Pre-Birth Opioid Exposure Lead To Learning Disorders?

A new study examined the potential link between pre-birth opioid exposure and developmental issues.

Children born to mothers using opioids may grow up to demonstrate difficulty learning, a new study has found.

The study examined the potential long-term issues for infants born to mothers who used opioids while pregnant, according to NBC News.

The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that one in seven children affected by a mother using opioids needed to be placed in special education classrooms for various issues, including developmental issues and speech delay. In comparison, one in 10 children who were not exposed to opioids before birth required the same.

About 7,200 children from Tennessee’s Medicaid program were involved in the study, ranging in age from 3 to 8 years old. Of those children, nearly 2,000 were born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)—or, in simpler terms, withdrawal from opioids due to a mother’s use.

Tennessee has been greatly affected by the opioid epidemic, which is reflected in the number of infants exposed to opioids before birth. In 1999, it was one per 1,000 infants. But in 2015, it was 13 per 1,000.

Researchers said they took specific factors into account like birth weight and mother’s education and tobacco use, but that those did not change the results.

According to study co-author Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University, the results make sense, as other studies have determined that there are brain differences in children affected by opioids while in utero.

Dr. Mary-Margaret Fill, lead author and a researcher with Tennessee’s health department, tells NBC News that affected children “are definitely not doomed. There are great programs and services that exist to help these children and their families. We just have to make sure they get plugged in.”

Because the study was focused in Tennessee, it’s not clear if the results are similar in other U.S. states, and no other studies with the same focus have been conducted in the country.

However, a similar study was conducted in Australia last year, and found that children exposed to opioids before birth had worse academic scores in seventh grade in comparison to others their age. The U.S. study did not examine academic performance.

Dr. Matthew Davis, co-chair of the Opioid Task Force at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, tells the Chicago Tribune that the study results should serve as a sign that opioid use affects a wide range.

“There’s a sense that the opioid epidemic is somebody else’s problem, but it affects more than those who take the drugs,” Davis said. “I hope the study is a wake-up call, so people understand that this epidemic is a community-level, multigenerational problem that will only grow if we don’t take the proper steps to address it.”

View the original article at thefix.com

7 September 2018
Senate Considers Opioid Crisis Bill, But Critics Say It Isn’t Enough

“A little drama for little substance,” said one addiction advocate familiar with the bill.

The Senate is preparing to pass a bill to address the opioid epidemic, but critics say that the legislation skirts around the most important — and contentious — issues that could help change the way that opioid addiction is handled.

“A little drama for little substance,” one addiction advocate familiar with the bill told STAT News.

The bill addresses treatment and prevention, according to a copy reviewed by STAT. There are provisions that will better equip law enforcement to detect fentanyl being shipped in the mail system and that will help develop a have a better disposal system for unused opioids, in order to reduce the amount of opioids on the street. In addition, there are provisions to expand treatment by easing access to medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine, training doctors to screen for substance use disorder and increasing access to treatment via telemedicine.

However, treatment advocates say that the bill will do little to affect how treatment is delivered because it does not take enough bold steps to change the status quo.

“Overdose rates continue to rise, and our response is still falling short given the mammoth size of the problem,” said Andrew Kessler, the founder of Slingshot Solutions, a behavioral health consulting group. “We are in the early phases of our response to this epidemic, and I can only hope that this bill is the first of many we can pass.”

One big change that has a chance of passing is repealing the IMD exclusion, which prevents treatment centers with more than 16 beds from receiving Medicaid payments.

An opioid response bill passed in June repealed the exclusion, but only for treatment for opioid and cocaine addiction.

Despite the fact that the current Senate bill doesn’t mention the exclusion, Ohio Senator Rob Portman said that he is hopeful a repeal will be included in the final bill. He said that leadership has agreed on the repeal, but could not gather enough votes.

“We’ve worked out an agreement that I think most leadership on both sides agree with, but we weren’t able to get the signoff from everybody,” Portman said.

The Senate bill also includes a call for the development of best practices in disclosing a patient’s history with substance abuse. The House bill would allow a history of addiction treatment to be disclosed without a patient’s expressed permission, but Senate lawmakers are concerned that this could lead to breaches of privacy and stigma.

With the coming November election, many lawmakers are hesitant to vote on anything controversial, meaning that the bill may languish. However, some Senators are pushing to make sure it gets a vote this month.

“As soon as both parties agree, we can have a roll call vote next week. When we do that, it’ll get virtually unanimous support, and then we’ll work with the House and put the bills together,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who has spearheaded the bill.

View the original article at thefix.com

6 September 2018
Older Americans Sorely Under-Informed About Opioid Risks

A new poll uncovered a major lack of communication between doctors and their older patients who use opioids.

A new poll from the University of Michigan involved a nationally representative sample of 2,000 Americans between ages 50 to 80.

According to The Atlantic, the results of the poll were an indication of why elderly patients at high risk of opioid overdose: 40% aid their doctor’s did not speak to them about opioid side effects or how to decide when to cut back on the medication.

SAMHSA reports that the population of those 65 and older expected to use opioids will most likely double between 2004 and 2020.

The University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging asked the patients what their health-care providers discussed when prescribing opioid medication to them.

Of the responders, 589 said they had filled an opioid prescription. While they indicated that they knew how often to take the medication, the majority said their doctors or pharmacists did not address the risk of addiction, the risk of overdose, or what to do with excess pills.

Interestingly, the poll also showed that respondents overwhelmingly support policies that require providers to receive special training for opioid prescribing, as well as to review prescription records and requiring patients to disclose prior opioid medication.

The populous of the poll include baby boomers (which CNN defines as people born from 1946 to 1964). Sheila Vakharia, a policy manager at the Drug Policy Alliance, told The Atlantic that this group “used alcohol and other drugs at higher rates compared to other generations of older people that have preceded them, which means these same people are at higher risk of overdose and adverse effects because they may be drinking a little bit more often and a little heavier than some folks who are in their 80s.”

Doctors can sometimes find it difficult to communicate effectively with their older patients for a variety of reasons. Many doctors are overextended, “burnt out,” and simply don’t have enough time with each individual patient. In addition, doctors often don’t think patients’ of a certain age are at risk for addiction, Vakharia mentioned.

“The messages that doctors give to patients are largely dictated by how they perceive patients,” Vakharia told The Atlantic. “You don’t often see the elderly as a population at risk for developing substance-use disorders.”

Indeed, older patients who use opioids are not only at risk for addiction, but they are at a higher risk of overdose death than the younger population.

View the original article at thefix.com

5 September 2018
"Killing Pain" Docu-Series Spotlights Oklahoma's Opioid Crisis

Oklahoma’s Attorney General, who is interviewed for Killing Pain, lauded its coverage of the “many tragic aspects” of the state’s opioid crisis.

A new seven-part documentary focuses on the impact of the opioid crisis on Oklahomans.

Killing Pain, which is free to watch online, is a multi-faceted exploration of the opioid crisis, from the perspective of Oklahomans.

The seven-part series was produced by the Oklahoma City-based non-profit organization Fighting Addiction Through Education (FATE). The docu-series is just another arm of founder Reggie Whitten’s fight to spread awareness about the risks of opioid drugs.

Whitten has been doing this for 16 years, since the death of his son Brandon. Brandon’s addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs led to his death in 2002 at the age of 25.

“That’s when a part of me died and my life changed forever,” said Reggie Whitten. “I really don’t even remember who I used to be. It’s hard to believe the power of this little molecule called an opioid.”

Whitten travels to Oklahoma communities to tell Brandon’s story and speak about the opioid crisis. “You can’t fight an enemy until you know everything there is to know about it and I’ve spent the last 16 years obsessively learning about the enemy,” said Whitten. “Addiction is a very difficult adversary.”

Whitten noted that opioid-based prescription drugs are important for some, but that education about the risks is just as important. “For every one person that dies, we have tens of thousands who are living a life of misery,” said Whitten. “They’re highly addicted to this… drug.”

FATE also offers various programs designed for specific audiences such as the Life of an Athlete program, Native Fate (designed for Native American communities), elementary schoolers, college students, working professionals, and everyone in between.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunger, who is interviewed for Killing Pain, lauded the documentary’s coverage of the “many tragic aspects” of Oklahoma’s opioid crisis.

“Although the reality of the story is painful, the good news is, Oklahoma is rising to meet this challenge,” said Hunger, according to News 4. “State officials, business leaders and community organizers are tired of watching our families suffer and are stepping up and doing something about it.”

The entire Killing Pain series is available to watch for free on YouTube.

View the original article at thefix.com

5 September 2018