Do you know anyone dealing with overdose, addiction, substance use disorder, or dependence on prescription painkillers?

Well, chances are you do know someone – a friend, colleague or family member. But they may be hiding their struggle so well that you have no idea they’re in trouble.

In fact, in the United States, more people now die from opioid painkiller overdoses than from heroin and cocaine combined. The U.S. is in the throes of a drug addiction epidemic. And it kills more Americans daily than car accidents, gun deaths, or AIDS.

In the U.S. more than 175 people die every day from opioid overdoses. These people aren’t all ‘junkies’ living on the street. They’re people with jobs and families who happen to have been prescribed opioids for pain relief. And then they start needing more and more of the drug as addiction sets in.

Opioid overdoses increased by roughly 30% across the U.S. in just 14 months between 2016 and 2017. (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

No-one is immune to overdose

Although many people blame street drugs for spiking overdose statistics, it’s not just illicit drugs that are behind the dramatic rise in overdose deaths. Legally prescribed opioids have caused widespread addiction in cities and suburbs. In fact, the majority of today’s drug overdose deaths happen as a result of opioid abuse.

Opioids are prescribed to reduce pain. But many patients end up addicted to the synthetic drug. And since governments have begun cracking down on opioid prescriptions, the cost of the painkillers has increased as much as ten-fold. (In many regions, heroin is cheaper and more available than opioids. This has caused a sharp rise in heroin addiction.)

When taken in large quantities, opioids can depress functions such as normal breathing and heartbeat, until the user eventually stops breathing, leading to death. 

With fatalities from prescription drugs increasing, it’s important to spread the word that prescription medicines are not always beneficial.

Painkillers and other pharmaceutical drugs can play an important medical role, but when used (or prescribed) carelessly, these chemicals often have tragic long-term consequences.

Where there’s addiction, there is unresolved emotional pain

I began using drugs in my 20s to cope with anxiety, depression and unprocessed childhood adversity.

My dabbling in drugs for fun turned into substance use disorder, which increased in direct proportion to the growing turmoil in my marriage. I spent eight years under the influence of drugs and I was lucky to survive. I fell deeper and deeper into cocaine addiction. It systematically destroyed every aspect of my life before I started my recovery.

If you know someone who may be affected by an addiction to painkillers or illicit drugs, your first step is awareness. And compassion.

Addiction can happen to anyone.

Other ways you can help

To support National Prescription Opioid and Heroin Awareness Week, please use these hashtags:

#Opioid

#Prescription

#Addiction

#OpioidCrisis

#Drugs

#Painkillers

#Heroin