Some have claimed the opioid epidemic is merely part of the "epidemic of despair" [1]. I am inclined to agree.
This may sound harsh but I am inclined to say, instead of sifting shit, cities might consider ways to find to decent jobs, housing and recreation for their citizens.
What else can be said? All this a product of the redistribution of wealth upward in an ostensibly wealthy society? What could possibly go wrong?
Unfortunately, those that need those jobs and need help with their addiction cannot advocate for this. No one will listen. Until the rich and successful advocate for it, it will never happen.
I vouched for this comment specifically to refute it: it's not uniquely American at all. With 5 seconds of searching I get this article: https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2015/04/18/... which states: "A painkiller becomes Egypt’s favourite recreational drug". It's from 2015 - just yesterday I read on my local news site that there are at least 3 million people addicted to opioids in Egypt. The topic comes up fairly regularly in the Middle East context.
It's not just the Middle East, you can find a lot of other examples all over the world. So, no: not uniquely American at all.
Coming to the US as a European, I was shocked by your medical ads. We just don't (did not) have this in the UK.
Some well produced advert, showing happy people leaving full lives "ask your dr about this now", side effects may include <lighting fast and scary long list of nasty side effects.
Combined with a private health care, which I think makes people want to appear to be getting their money's worth. I see this with my wife and her family (from another country). They are visible happier when come back from the Drs with a big bag of drugs. The wife things UK Drs are no good as most of the time when she went she was told, rest, lots of fluid and take a paracetamol (tylenol?)
I've also read that poor labour conditions / welfare / unemployment pay / sick leave / holiday pay means in the US working poor cannot afford to be ill off work, so need strong painkillers to get through the pain and back to work.
The current US opiod disaster is the result of many factors
You should really do your research, as the UK is suffering a similar opiod crisis (80% rise in usage over the past decade) and the Evening Standard just did a series on the problem. It isn't just the rural US that is suffering from the Sackler's greed. Oxy prescriptions are growing rapidly and it has reached the point where the NHS and Healthcare Products Regulator Agency are trying to get ahead of the problem before it reaches an epidemic level similar to the US.
This may sound harsh but I am inclined to say, instead of sifting shit, cities might consider ways to find to decent jobs, housing and recreation for their citizens.
What else can be said? All this a product of the redistribution of wealth upward in an ostensibly wealthy society? What could possibly go wrong?
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5607670/