The Opioid Epidemic from
a Rural Prosecutor’s Perspective

Given the 15% success rate of drug treatment, the answer at a local level probably lies in showing kindergarten kids and up what drug addiction does to a person's life and future. Stopping the free flow across our borders is a federal government responsibility. Families also need to understand what they are dealing with and stop helping their addict - "addicts are liars, thieves, and fiends during their addiction. They will tell you so in recovery."

There’s two types of people that do drugs. You have employed people, I’m talking everyone from janitors to CEO’s that like to party every so often. Cocaine is usually the drug of choice. Coke and alcohol make for a fun evening. They get their party on and the next day is recovery and the day after that is business as usual. They you have your actual losers who get hooked. Meth is the worst! We have a lot in our county. Some heroin and we hear of the occasional overdose. These people will usually weed themselves out. Not saying there’s no cross mixing of these two types but for the most part there’s a clear line of demarcation.

My tinfoil had in place- I really do consider this whole opioid epidemic a government caused situation. Really I do! In 2008 I was put on 10 mg three times a day by the VA for minor lower back pain. My pain was chronic but I had ways of controlling it. At first, OH! My God! pain free life again! What a blessing. Then I needed 20 mg...three times a day- the maximum. And the amount that really hooks ya! The VA made me sign a contract on my behavior and reporting schedule and urine testing...to make sure I was taking it and not selling it. A year after I was hooked, wife's Dr. prescribed her the same way- for her arthritis. Soon we were both hooked. She resisted the constant Dr. schedules and harassment. She refused to sign their little contract. "We've got to get off these things!" she declared. I agreed. I asked for a re-hab from the VA- "Not available!" She requested help from her Dr. to get off them. "Nope, not in the insurance plan!" I checked on private care to get off. "Sure, ten grand each! No guarantees!" We decided to go cold turkey- I went first, after six years on these things. What a nightmare. I sent her to stay with a friend for a week. I flushed my pills, and went to bed. It took two liters and a half of whisky, but, I did it. She came home and went off them a little at a time- tapering. it was hard as Hell. But, finally she quit them entirely after about two months. My Dr. was furious, so was hers. How dare we control our own drug lives! "Pi55-off, Doc! Cancel the Rx. Tear up that contract, too- you do not control me!" We've been happy ever since. But, live with constant pain. It is still better than being treated like convicts by the medicos.

FTA: "Basically, the punishment for selling drugs needs to seem unfair, draconian, and very scary to those likely to deal drugs. It must be sufficient to cause them to forego easy money and choose a life either of legal hard work or, as is the sad reality of our nation, government-funded dependency." Yet, so many keep pushing for LOWER sentences for these evil killers. And I am sorry, but IMO, anyone who EVER takes meth or any opioids (outside of direct physician supervised need) is suicidal from the start. I recently had a major surgery, and many weeks of pain during recovery, still ongoing. I was prescribed three levels of pain medicine above Tylenol. I have used the first level above tylenol six pills over six weeks, only when it became impossible to sleep. Otherwise, only tylenol. The opioids have been untouched. Even when prescribed for legitimate medical needs, I avoid them like the plague that they are. Much of this problem goes directly back to the people themselves, either wanting to be high at any cost (how sad) or being extremely ignorant and naive.

I know I am naive about this, but what I don't understand about this drug is if it is so dangerous that just handling it can kill you, how can anyone take it on purpose?

Thank you for posting this.

Good question #5, I think it is because opiate users become enured to the effects, so a dose that would kill someone who has never used it will just make them high.

When we are ready as a society to turn our backs on users and celebrate those who recover, when we are ready to institute the death penalty (by the thousands) for traffickers...this will stop.

I know someone whose nephew has been through rehab five times, only to come out and start using in a matter of months. I admit I don't know the answer, but I have to ask myself why we continue to enable addiction by allowing addicts to live on the streets in tent cities, stocking Narcan in every conceivable location where an addict might OD, and paying for an infinite number of stints through rehab.

Thanks for posting this. Too many think of rural areas as some serene, conservative environment when in many cases it is not. Every day I go through small towns which consist of run down, collapsed buildings and old cars and trash scattered everywhere. And some of these have companies which provide jobs right next door. Hell, I've seen better looking towns in Bosnia. Drug use is rampant and beware of truckers playing Mario Andretti in the dark and the rain. Students and their parents are no exception, with some parents on their fourth trip to rehab. Think the Grapes of Wrath describes a bygone era? Think again, as workers camps are still with us. A sickness of the soul has taken over I think.

I am highly insulted by the anti-opiate crowd. I have several back issues and use an opiate, as prescribed by my doctor. I had to buy a safe to store the opiate. A "friend" was stealing it. I had to file police reports in order to replace the stolen drugs. I have since purchased a safe to keep the opiates secured. To the people against opiates, SHUT UP. The opiates give me some help, but it's far from making my spine feel normal. I hope one day YOU may need an opiate and had your doctor, so sad, too bad, live with the pain. Sellers of non-prescribed opitaes should face capital punishment.

There ought to be a "Once in a lifetime" rule on narcan. Save you once, after that, you die. We are doiing NOBODY a favor by saving these suicidal people time and time again. Let them have the results of their choices.

Gee, we're all up to our elbows in opiod pills, and yet somehow I'm not addicted. Logically, blaming the pills for addiction is the same as blaming guns for Dayton and El Paso.

Addiction has baffled mankind throughout history. It is complicated, different substances have different risk for addiction, different individuals have different risk of becoming addicted, some individuals can use heavily and not get addicted, etc. (Addiction = loss of control). End stages of addiction can be Abuse or Dependence, Abuse is a bad habit, dependence is loss of control. Statistically, 10% of users became true Addicts.

I have had hydrocodone prescribed a few times, I take them as prescribed or even less since I do have some left over. Don't know if hydrocodone is one of the weaker ones. I have not had a problem with addiction. And I don't know anyone who has a problem with addiction - of anything.

There are two groups. One are the losers who get their drugs any number of ways. There are are people who are under their doctors care for medical reasons. The government needs to stay out of that second group ... and so does everyone else. Some people can live with the pain others cannot. It is subjective. Their doctors know how to evaluate the need. That the first group is a problem for the public - with stealing and assault, smuggling, and all the rest of it - well good luck with a government remedy. So far how much have we spent on the "War on Drugs?" And how much worse is today than it was 50 years ago? Then main result I have seen from it is that the police are more militarized now than they were 50 years ago. I\Leave grandma and grandpa alone and their pills alone. Capital H, if the government would get their nose out of people's lives they would have a much closer relationship with their doctors and the doctors could do a much better job of helping their patients. But when the doctors have to spend a good percentage of their time filling out government reports they have less time for patients' needs. How can you take medicine away from someone like #11? Or agree with laws that cause her to be treated like a criminal and that allow her medical information to be passed around. The government has created Medicine Nazis. They need to concentrate their efforts on the first group. So far they have done a poor job of it so they want to look like they are doing something by grabbing ma and pa's medicine. It's simple answers that give rise to a single rule for everyone that is the most damaging.

I was on opiods for 20 years. Never had a dose increase, nor asked for one. My dr told me in January that he could no longer give them to me. I was off, completely, by Valentines day. I was never emotionally attached to the pills but I figured I was physically. Working off them was the easiest thing I ever did. No withdrawal, no nausea, had trouble sleeping a couple of nights, but that's it. I was shocked. I think medical marijuana is why the medical community is dropping opiods. Imagine how much money they will make from the sale of this stuff, and believe me, people will go for the cards when they can no longer control pain with opiods.

The so-called "epidemic" is a huge hoax. It is none of my business what others do if it doesn't affect me personally. What does affect me personally is the government denying me access to pain medication. I have chronic pain. It takes 6 months to get a spinal epidural that lasts a week for ruptured disc pain. The only thing that aspirin, acetominophen and ibuprofen are good for is destroying your stomach and liver. So, I have to go to the black market. My life would be so much better if the government would just disappear. Like over-the-counter pain pills, the government is good for nothing and harmful to your health.