Archives for March 2018

Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s
Opiate Epidemic

http://www.samquinones.com/books/dreamland/

In 1929, in the blue-collar city of Portsmouth, Ohio, a company built a swimming pool the size of a football field; named Dreamland, it became the vital centre of the community.

Now, addiction has devastated Portsmouth, as it has hundreds of small rural towns and suburbs across America — addiction like no other the country has ever faced.

How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic.

Acclaimed journalist Sam Quinones weaves together two riveting tales of capitalism run amok whose unintentional collision has been a catastrophic opiate epidemic.

The unfettered prescribing of pain medications during the 1990s reached its peak in Purdue Pharma’s campaign to market OxyContin, its new, expensive — extremely addictive — miracle painkiller.

Meanwhile, a massive influx of black tar heroin — cheap, potent, and originating from one small county, Xalisco, Nayarit, on Mexico’s west coast and independent of any drug cartel — assaulted small town and mid-sized cities across the country, driven by a brilliant, almost unbeatable marketing and distribution system.

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The Forgiveness Road:
Facing into Pain

In British Columbia, Canada, 1422 people died from drug overdose, in 2017.

“According to the B.C. Coroners Service, of those victims, 82 per cent were men, 88 per cent were alone in a residence at the time of death, and over half were 30 to 49 years of age and Fentanyl was detected in 81 per cent of the total fatalities.” (1)

Mostly men are dying alone in B.C.

What does that say about our society?

Stigma, connected to drug addiction, is forcing men to do drugs alone, not reach out for help?

Sorrow, anger, fear. . . not understanding the correlation between healing and feeling. . . facing into the pain. . . not numbing with drugs. . .?

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Drug Trafficking Facts

Extreme drug abuse, addiction to pain, is prevalent around the world.

Worth billions in illegal trade, the major drugs – methamphetamines (meth), cocaine and heroin – have been wreaking havoc individually and collectively for years.

Another narcotic, fentanyl, about 100 time more toxic than morphine, is being mixed with cocaine and heroin, imported, and sold illegally with tragic consequences.

Here are some facts about fentanyl according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police website (1):

“Fentanyl has been mixed with other drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

“It has been used in tablets made to look like prescription drugs.

“Overdoses have occurred where individuals were not aware they were consuming fentanyl.

“It is odourless and tasteless, and therefore hard to detect.

“It is often found in powder, pill, liquid and blotter form.

“2 milligrams of pure fentanyl (the size of about 4 grains of salt) is enough to kill the average adult.

“Unintentional exposure to pure fentanyl – touching or inhaling – can cause serious harm including death.

“Fentanyl-related deaths have been increasing in Canada.” (1)

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Seek Help
Receive Love
Heal Within

The heart is a door to everything. . .

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