Habili-blog 3/4/18
“An Equal Opportunity Destroyer ”
by Jared Mayes
If you’re from Hawaii, there’s a pretty good chance that you know someone affected by the Methamphetamine epidemic. For decades the drug has ravished families in a nondiscriminatory fashion, affecting everyone from the white collar working men and women of Hawaii, to prominent business owners and politicians. There is another evil who has been lurking around the underbelly of Hawaii just as long, yet somehow stayed out of the spotlight. It is now poking its death filled fingers out of the darkness and boasting its power like never before. From 2006-2014 overdose rates in Hawaii have risen over 83%, according to the CDC, most of which involving Heroin. The recent crackdown on prescription painkillers in the last decade has accomplished its goal of making it harder to obtain opiates from doctors, but where does that leave the masses who have a long-term opiate dependency, relying on the drugs to function in their everyday lives? Don’t worry because the death dealers have capitalized on this opportunity to the fullest making Heroin more accessible and reeling in otherwise law-abiding citizens to a life of crime, buying drugs and more likely than not committing other crimes connected to the drug world. Where’s the solutions? It’s like abruptly taking away someone’s oxygen and expecting them not to find another way to breathe. If we expect to eradicate the problem we must first offer a way for a drug addict to get help. For years the stigma behind being an addict pushed the problem underground and made it near impossible to find treatment. Then it became a thing only for the homeless junkie that everyone pictures when they think of a heroin addict. Now that this demon is finding it’s way into the suburban homes of the upper and middle class of America, we are forced to look deep into its eyes and muster up the courage to fight back. It’s time to stop worrying about what our neighbors, and pastors, and barbers are going to think when they find out that we are an addict or have an addict in our family and get them the help they need. We now know that just taking prescription medications out of the equation just gives a drug dependent individual validation to start using Heroin, and even if you could eliminate Heroin, addicts would find some other way to get high. It all starts with education. If you find yourself or a loved one at loss for what to do next, I recommend reaching out to someone who has walked a mile in the shoes of addiction. There’s no better source of information than someone who’s gone through the fire and made it out the other end.