You might think it won’t happen to you, but it could. It’s a truth writer and recovering addict Steve Wildsmith wants to impress on everyone. The opioid and overdose epidemic now sweeping the country spares no one.
I’m with Steve.
In April, I published “The Dark Underbelly,” my first blog about this topic. Since then, yet another friend has lost her child to a fentanyl overdose. She had no idea her adult child was using, and now her grief has no bottom. Why hadn’t she seen the signs?
As sad and depressing as this topic might be more can and should be said about it. We could argue endlessly about our open borders that give drug traffickers easy entry into the country. We could talk about societal ills. Or we could ignore the issue entirely. But burying your head and thinking it won’t happen to you won’t make the crisis go away.
On this point, Steve is adamant.
An Especially Pernicious Act
Consider this.
In two separate incidents just a few weeks ago, folded dollar bills were found at gas stations in Perry County, Tennessee. Both contained a white powdery substance that tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, takes a central role in the ongoing overdose epidemic. Even a small amount is enough to kill, and it’s now being found in heroin, weed, illicit opioids.
And now on money.
What if your kid or grandkid, nephew or niece picked up those dollar bills? Not unimaginable. Finding money on the sidewalk, in a parking lot, or on the floor of a restaurant is every kid’s dream. Payday.
And you think It won’t happen to you?
Getting Back to Steve
Getting back to Steve. He’s passionate about doing his part to end the misery.
For 15 years, Steve was a functioning addict. Despite his addiction to heroin and other injectable drugs, he maintained a career as a journalist…until “the wheels fell off” in the late 1990s. Lucky for Steve, his editor battled addiction himself and urged Steve to get clean through detox and recovery.
Steve’s life began.
“So many people in Blount County (Tennessee) were desperate to have a conversation,” Steve says, referring to The Daily Times column he started writing in 2003 about addiction and recovery.
In fact, he met Jan and Dan McCoy, a local couple whose son died of an overdose in 2014, because of his column. “I was at a tire store. He recognized me. I didn’t know him. He told me my column gave him comfort and he broke down. He’s a husband, a pilot, a Southern man, tough. It wrecked me.”
Steve became friends with the McCoys, and in 2018, Jan and Steve put together the first “Hijacked” seminar, an annual event held at Maryville College. The day-long seminar features presentations by recovering addicts, authors, public officials, doctors, and non-profit organizations dedicated to helping battle the problem.
As noted by one of the Hijacked speakers this year, it’s likely many of those who attended the seminar this year never thought addiction and overdose would happen to them…until it did. And perhaps many were also unaware of the issues that led to their loved ones’ troubles.
Understanding the Issues
According to experts, some people are genetically predisposed to addiction. For others, a traumatic experience—divorce, abuse, or the death of a loved one—triggers the dependence. Some even believe trauma can happen in the womb.
For these hurting people, drugs and alcohol offer a way out. These substances interact with the brain’s neurotransmitter systems—the brain’s natural reward and stress circuits—and produce a pleasurable high, and for some, the only means of feeling normal or at peace.
But repeated use and abuse rewires the brain, and before too long, the user must consume greater and greater quantities just to get the same high. At that point, the craving dictates all behaviors. Obtaining drugs becomes the user’s sole purpose in life, even though these substances could contain fentanyl.
It won’t happen to you? Think again. Drug overdoses claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people last year. In the 20-year-long war in Vietnam, the U.S. lost 58,220 soldiers. A sober comparison.
Getting Worse?
“The addiction problem isn’t necessarily getting worse,” Steve says. “The problem has always been there. The substances are becoming more deadly. That’s what has changed.”
He continues. “We must keep talking about it. A huge stigma still surrounds addiction. Addicts aren’t bad people who need to be good. They are sick people who need to get better”—before they buy something that could kill them almost instantly.
Detox is the first step, he said. Recovery through counseling and support groups lasts a lifetime.
Unfortunately, many people refuse to think about the epidemic. “No one thinks it will happen to them…until it does.” Here’s a wake-up. “The problem is not going away anytime soon, Steve says. “What are we going to do? Give up and let people die? I’m not going to do that.”
Stop thinking it won’t happen to you.
I’m wondering what those of us who don’t have any personal experience with addiction can do to help. I’d be interested in hearing any suggestions. Thanks.
Don’t want to get political, but fentanyl is pouring in over both borders.
Hi, Susan. Great question. I think, first and foremost, is reframing perceptions. So many people think of addicts and alcoholics as “bad” people who need to be “good” instead of what they really are: sick people who need to get better. Reading up on the disease concept, especially how addiction can actually rewire the brain, is a good place to start, so that when you run across the inevitable social media comment making fun of addicts and alcoholics, or — even worse — suggesting that they deserve whatever misfortune comes their way, you can push back, gently and intelligently. I think it’s always important to note, however, that so many people look at the disease model as a “get out of jail free” card, because they feel like ascribing it to a disease lets the addict off the hook. That’s not the case. One of the pillars of 12 Step recovery is taking responsibility for our actions and our choices, which led me to understand that regardless of what happened in my life, I CHOSE to use drugs. No one made me. Another pillar: making amends to those we’ve harmed. We can’t shrug our shoulders and say, “Sorry, I have a disease.” We have to understand that we must atone, morally and legally and financially, for the damage we’ve done. A very dear friend of mine had 9 months clean and sober but still had to report to prison and serve 3 years for things she had done while in the grips of her disease. She didn’t complain, didn’t fight it, didn’t do anything except what she was supposed to do: She made her amends.
That’s a lot, and I apologize for the lengthy response, but I hope it helps!
Your response is very much appreciated. 🙂
Thank you, Steve, for adding to this conversation.
Unfortunately you might think Our president must be making money off of the Illegal Smuggling in our Country since he never even comments about it. 100,000 deaths last year and nothing but Crickets.
He’s not the only one. I haven’t heard one politician address this epidemic. What scares me is the number of kids possibly exposed through weed and pills laced with this stuff, which from my understanding is cooked up in China and then smuggled into border countries where it’s further processed. I don’t want to get political, but you’d think people supposedly interested in the welfare of our citizens would be screaming about this.