A spike in overdose emergency calls is seen in Kentucky by Christine Hauser

This link above will link you to the New York Times article about the increase in overdose 911 calls in Kentucky.  This article is about the crazy amounts of emergency calls due to overdose. They received almost 2 calls per hour in a span of 32 hours. From the early hours  on feb 9 until the morning of feb 10th, officials report getting the most calls this year.

I think it is crazy that instead of getting help for people that are dying from a car accident or something that wasn’t intentional, doctors and emts are responding to drug overdose from people who buy antibiotics online without rx chose to do this to themselves. “The C.D.C. says that 91 people in the United States die every day from opioid overdose.” 100 people die every day from just opium.

This source is credible because it comes from a well known newspaper The New York Times. It has been published in New York since September 18, 1851. They also have over 1000 people editing and checking everything that they put out. The New York Times has also won 117 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other news paper.

In the article “Chasing The Scream” Bruce Alexander informs us on how much our environment can shape our compulsions in regards to drugs. Bruce states that “addiction isn’t a disease. Addiction is an adaptation. It’s not you but it’s the cage you live in.” In other words, it depends on the environment that you are surrounded by that will make you addicted to something, such as drugs. This shows that our desire to do drugs doesn’t come from the drug itself, but from where we grow up. Bruce also stated that the drug is not what causes the harmful behavior, but the environment does. For instance, he did an experiment on rats. One group of rats were isolated with nothing in their cage just a bottle of water and a bottle of morphine. The other group had these two bottles as well, but they had things to play with like colored balls, wheels, and good food. Bruce referred to this as “Rat Park”. It turns out that the rats in “Rat Park” didn’t consume as much morphine as the rats that were isolated. This proves how they chose to spend their lives doing other things, despite having the drug there for them. Being able to have a better environment seemed to reduce the need of wanting to use the drug.

Bruce also states in the article that “a happy social environment freed the rats of their addiction.” Now, in terms of human beings, being surrounded by drug users will determine how much you will consume. For example, if every day you surround yourself with people who are addicted to heroin with nothing else to do in their life, then most likely you will become an addict as well because now you are expose to it. Now, if you’re surrounded by people that are actually doing things for their lives such as working, going to school, or just doing productive things, this will most likely make you want to do the same. In other words, an addict can’t persuade you or make you crave the drugs, maybe you will try the drug once out of the blue, but this doesn’t mean that you are addicted to it. After all, is not as much pressure or force for a person to do drugs that actually has a good environment surrounding them because they will see themselves adapting to a better addiction like activities, a hobby, or just something that wouldn’t harm them mentally, physically, and emotionally.

The article, “A Growing Number of Veterans Struggle to Quit Painkillers”, written by Quil Lawrence focuses on Bryan McDonel, a man who has served in the military. He is among many of the troop members and veterans who struggle with drug addiction. Drug addiction in the military occurs because doctors often prescribe opiates as a reliever of pain, thanks to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is said that troop members are prescribed with these medications three times more than regular civilians, which also leads to a higher addiction rate. Often, when members of the army have any sort of physical problems, the doctor’s main solution is prescription medication. According to the Veterans Affair, drug addiction is also the leading cause of veterans becoming homeless.

Bryan McDonel is an example of someone who has experienced being homeless due to drug addiction; however, it didn’t start off as an addiction. During his second visit to Iraq, McDonel suffered a back injury. Before he even healed, he went back to working, being classified as “fit to deploy.” “I was hard-headed. I ended up probably reinjuring it before it had time to heal,” he explains. McDonel took many pills a day for the pain and stayed on them even after going home, eventually making him dependent on them. His dependency caused him to fail a routine drug test, which led him to resign his military position, and eventually got kicked out of his home due to stealing money for drugs. From then on, he officially became an addict. Brian McDonel is the epitome of what some troop members goes through, and the Veterans Affair is trying to change their approach to pain because of it. It might be too late for McDonel, but the Veterans Affair is using alternative methods, which can hopefully decrease the use of opiates within the military scene.

In Batman’s Bad Call, an excerpt from “Chasing the Scream” by Johann Hari, the author emphasizes that addiction is caused by a person’s necessity to fill their life with some type of meaning, as opposed to the chemical bond that is found within the drugs. A major example that Hari mentions is the Rat Park experiment created by Bruce Alexander to test this theory. Bruce compares the results of the experiment to the soldiers that served during the Vietnam War. In both cases, the subjects were, at one point, heavily reliant on the drug when they felt very much alone. However, when the person or creature was reintroduced to society their bond with the drug was diminished significantly, if not completely severed. He argues that the core reason that a person will live their life in addiction is due to their need to fill a void. Hari highlights Bruce’s theory that “the rats in solitary confinement and the soldiers in Vietnam weren’t being “hijaked” by the chemicals at hand.” Instead, it is the fact that the person is alone in their society that causes them to fall to the addiction and become a part of a society of the neglected. Hari defines addiction as “the psychological state of feeling you need the drug to give you the sensation of feeling calmer, or manic, or numbed, or whatever it does for you.” Hari uses Bruce’s results from his rat experiment to accentuate the importance of a healthy environment for people struggling with drug addiction.

In the article “America is in the middle of the worst drug epidemic ever. Obamacare’s repeal could make it worse” by German Lopez  mainly focuses on how millions of people suffering from drug use disorders could be in jeopardy of not receiving health insurance anymore. Donald Trump wishes to repeal Obamacare which will lead millions of Americans to be left with no type of access to treatment or health care needs. For instance, one of the reports found that “the amount of hospitalizations for substance use or mental health disorder in which the recipient was uninsured fell from about 20 percent toward the end of 2013 to about 5 percent by mid-2015.” Which means under Obamacare many people were able to get the care they needed. Obamacare worked adequately to benefit Americans in need. Unfortunately if Obamacare was to be repealed America could go back to this state and this could lead to great suffering if there was to be no type of replacement plan sufficient enough to cover these people.

Although Donald Trump and Republicans do not have a set plan, but the ones mentioned are detrimental. “The plans they have specified always leave a greater number of people of uninsured – anywhere from 3 million to 21 million, depending on the plan.” This shows how Obamacare is an “essential health benefit” and how it has saved many Americans. Also the death of drug overdoses have skyrocketed. More than 52,000 died in the year 2015. These rates are higher than ever and surpassed the number of deaths in car crashes, gun violence and Hiv/Aids. This goes to show how badly America needs Obamacare. With out this crucial care the number of individuals that die from drug overdose will continue to increase.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/opinion/young-victims-of-the-opioid-epidemic.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FPrescription%20Drug%20Abuse&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=collection&_r=0

This article from The New York times is written by the editorial board,a credible source. I consider the New York Times to be a credible source because it is well known. The New York  Times was instituted for a reputable amount of time and is accountable for the articles it produces. This article on the rising epidemic on the abuse of prescription drugs, highlights the horrific but realistic consequences of this epidemic.

Prescription drugs (painkillers) are being abused in even greater numbers across the United States. The article states that the overdose of prescription drugs have claimed some 300,000 in the last 15 years,including some 33,000 in 2015 alone. This horrific outbreak doesn’t only affect the abuser of the drugs; but also those who are connected to them,for example,their families. The New York Times concluded that in the state of Pennsylvania last month,a couple died from overdose as a result of that their baby perished from starvation. The horrific consequences of prescription drugs are apparent nation wide and at a rapid growth. one main issue discussed in this article is the rise of children in need of  foster care. Due to the family’s dependency on the drugs, their ability to function normally is jeopardized. Dependency on these drugs leads sometimes to extreme parental neglect . In these instances the children have to be removed from the home. The safety of the child is first. Foster care comes in to play as a secondary solution, which logically causes a rise in the need of foster care services.

In Johann Hari’s book “Chasing The Scream” he reflects on how environment has a larger effect on drug use than the addiction itself. For Example he talks about Bruce Alexanders rat experiment. “The rats in solitary confinement and the soldiers in Vietnam weren’t being “hijacked” by the chemicals at hand. They were trying to cope with being dislocated from everything that gave their lives meaning and pleasure. The world around them had become an unbearable place to be – so when they couldn’t get out of it physically, they decided to get out of it mentally.” The experiment itself proved that rats that were isolated were more likely to rely on morphine. Meanwhile the ones in the modalert 200mg rat park living with other rats did not feel the need to go for the morphine water. Bruce also explains how it is not addiction itself but people trying to escape real life and fill a void. He states, “todays flood of addiction is occurring because our hyper-individualistic, frantic, https://www.health-e-child.org/ crisis-ridden society makes most people feel social (ly) or culturally isolated. Chronic isolation causes people to look for relief in addiction… because (it) allows them to escape their feelings, to deaden their senses- and to experience an addictive lifestyle as a substitute for a full life.” People aren’t getting the attention somewhere in their lives so they lean towards drugs to help. Bruce explains how the culture you are in plays a huge role in to taking drugs. That it is not the chemical you are addicted to but the void you are filling.

In German Lopez’s article “America is in the Middle of its Worst Drug Epidemic ever. Obamacare’s Repeal could make it Worse,” he reports that America is facing  terrible drug crisis, and Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare)  provides health insurance for many people both for their annual medical checkups and day-to-day drug abuse treatment. Lopez also reports that Donald Trump and the Republican Congress wants to repeal the Obamacare, and this will result to about twenty-two million people uninsured including those with drug abuse treatment.

    Some people legally obtain drugs like opioid painkillers and synthetic opioids  through prescriptions and become addicted, and that caused the increase in the opioid abuse and deaths. Realizing the effects of the painkillers, doctors were warned not to prescribe such drugs unnecessarily. Those addicted and could not have access to painkillers through prescriptions or can no longer afford them turned to cheaper more potent opioids; heroin and fentanyl that are produced illegally for non-medical use. According to Lopez, “a 2014 study in JAMA Psychiatry found many painkiller users were moving on to heroin, and a 2015 analysis by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that people who are addicted to prescription painkillers are 40 times more likely to be addicted to heroin”,and these people are supported by the Obamacare.

    Federal and state officials have to find a solution and Obamacare came to play a leading role letting access to care for millions of Americans. If the Obamacare is repealed many people might be left without adequate health care. Donald Trump and the Republican Congress are trying to repeal the Obamacare and that will leave millions of Americans without health insurance. The Republican dominated Congress  have not yet come up with any plan to fill the cap.  Lopez further reports that the Republican replacement plan may not have adequate coverage for both annual medical checkups and treatment of drug use disorder. Therefore, if the Republicans repeal the Obamacare without replacing it with a proper health insurance, about 22 million Americans  will be left uninsured.

http://www.fox5ny.com/news/133721986-story

The main idea is about  people in New York use and sell more drugs on the street than in 1980s . Even though it is hidden but still many people are into drugs. There has been a lot of frequent major drug raids. This is from a credible source because it is recently updated, and the author Lisa Evers has written a lot of articles. Fox5NY is widely read by many people and it also has a TV station which is widely viewed,too.

In Johann Hari’s book chapter “Batman’s Bad Call,” the author argues that the true nature of addiction to drugs is based on absence of social bonds that people lack nowadays. He describes an experiment where opiate addicted rats were moved from isolated cages with no mates or entertainment to populated cells filled with all kinds of happy social factors.  The goal of this experiment was to establish a social factor within an addiction.

Hari believes that the chemical drug addiction is not as strong as how the traditional scientists think it is. He argues that instead, it’s the absence of social bonds that leads people to fill this void with drug use. The results of the rat experiment showed that the rats quickly recovered from the physical addiction and started to enjoy their new life without drugs. Hari draws a parallel between rats and humans and proves that the main reason of drug addiction is the poor social atmosphere that can be compared to an isolated cage people live in. Moreover, he continues with the attempt to find out how modern society creates these individual cages.

Hari introduces the idea that consumerism plays a significant role in social isolation that leads to drug addiction. He arrived at this conclusion by interviewing numerous addicts and scientists who spent many years working on the problem of addiction.  He uses an example that our global economy supports never-ending consumerism. This environment forces people to constantly buy things similar to rats stuck in an empty cage, who have nothing to do but get more of the drug. Hari concludes that we live in a highly addicted society, and the only way to alleviate drug use is to remove the factors that shattered our historically established social bonds in the first place.