by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
A week or so ago Donald Trump gathered some reporters and finally addressed the national health crisis posed by opioid addiction. Trump acknowledged the pervasive danger of the problem and declared it a "public health emergency." Trump's emergency declaration, a toothless and unfunded rant about a true health crisis, made for a day of headlines but little else.
The opioid crisis has captured the attention of Americans because it crosses the economic and color lines that continue to divide the country into "them" and "us.". It is a crisis that spreads into the nation's better neighborhoods, places where people tend to contribute to political candidates and vote. As these engaged citizens get caught up in the epidemic through their own addictions or those of friends and relatives, politicians necessarily begin to pay attention. The complainants are not "those" people, they are us.
So Donald Trump has spoken, and tweeted, and played another round of golf. He has tipped his hat to a problem, one of several, that is breaking the underpinnings of American society and quickly retreated into his fortress of privacy and privilege. Opioid addiction is a national crisis, he proclaims, problem solved.
There is much that the federal government could be doing to address and reign in the growing opioid crisis: tougher regulations and restrictions on physicians' abilities to prescribe opium-based products, better tracking procedures of patients who use multiple medical providers to obtain prescriptions, more money for public education on the dangers of the drugs, more available and better treatment programs, and programs to eradicate illegal opioid production.
Afghanistan is one of the world's major growers of opium poppies. American troops have been stationed and fighting in Afghanistan for the past decade-and-a-half, and during that time large portions of the country have been razed by the actions of our military. The abundant poppy fields, however, are apparently sacrosanct and never threatened by the troops of a nation slowly being destroyed by their opium. Just saying . . .
The suffering and death wrought by opium-based medicines and drugs, things like codeine cough syrup, Oxycontin, hydrocodone and Vicodin - and many others, is pervasive across the United States, extending even into isolated and remote rural communities. Yesterday my local newspaper, The West Plains Daily Quill, ran a front page article which revealed that the county where I reside, Howell County, ranks 30th in counties nationwide for the saturation of prescription opioids - and first for the state of Missouri.
My county's prominence in the opioid epidemic is sad, but it also a bit shocking. Despite my occasional tirades about all of the local knuckle-dragging Trump supporters, Howell County is a fairly decent place to live with several good medical centers, public schools rated above the state average, a four-year branch of a large state university, cultural outlets, multiple newspapers, good libraries, theatres, an exceptional civic center, beautiful parks and outdoor centers, recreational activities, and programs for seniors - and yet, when it comes to opioid use within the state - we're number one!
If the opioid epidemic is raging here, it is raging everywhere - and defeating it will take more than a few words from a disengaged politician. The problem is real, and it will take a real effort and hard cash to defeat it. It's time for the federal government to step in with something more substantial than mumbled banalities and tweets - because people are dying.
Donald Trump and Congress - quit posturing and do your jobs!
Citizen Journalist
A week or so ago Donald Trump gathered some reporters and finally addressed the national health crisis posed by opioid addiction. Trump acknowledged the pervasive danger of the problem and declared it a "public health emergency." Trump's emergency declaration, a toothless and unfunded rant about a true health crisis, made for a day of headlines but little else.
The opioid crisis has captured the attention of Americans because it crosses the economic and color lines that continue to divide the country into "them" and "us.". It is a crisis that spreads into the nation's better neighborhoods, places where people tend to contribute to political candidates and vote. As these engaged citizens get caught up in the epidemic through their own addictions or those of friends and relatives, politicians necessarily begin to pay attention. The complainants are not "those" people, they are us.
So Donald Trump has spoken, and tweeted, and played another round of golf. He has tipped his hat to a problem, one of several, that is breaking the underpinnings of American society and quickly retreated into his fortress of privacy and privilege. Opioid addiction is a national crisis, he proclaims, problem solved.
There is much that the federal government could be doing to address and reign in the growing opioid crisis: tougher regulations and restrictions on physicians' abilities to prescribe opium-based products, better tracking procedures of patients who use multiple medical providers to obtain prescriptions, more money for public education on the dangers of the drugs, more available and better treatment programs, and programs to eradicate illegal opioid production.
Afghanistan is one of the world's major growers of opium poppies. American troops have been stationed and fighting in Afghanistan for the past decade-and-a-half, and during that time large portions of the country have been razed by the actions of our military. The abundant poppy fields, however, are apparently sacrosanct and never threatened by the troops of a nation slowly being destroyed by their opium. Just saying . . .
The suffering and death wrought by opium-based medicines and drugs, things like codeine cough syrup, Oxycontin, hydrocodone and Vicodin - and many others, is pervasive across the United States, extending even into isolated and remote rural communities. Yesterday my local newspaper, The West Plains Daily Quill, ran a front page article which revealed that the county where I reside, Howell County, ranks 30th in counties nationwide for the saturation of prescription opioids - and first for the state of Missouri.
My county's prominence in the opioid epidemic is sad, but it also a bit shocking. Despite my occasional tirades about all of the local knuckle-dragging Trump supporters, Howell County is a fairly decent place to live with several good medical centers, public schools rated above the state average, a four-year branch of a large state university, cultural outlets, multiple newspapers, good libraries, theatres, an exceptional civic center, beautiful parks and outdoor centers, recreational activities, and programs for seniors - and yet, when it comes to opioid use within the state - we're number one!
If the opioid epidemic is raging here, it is raging everywhere - and defeating it will take more than a few words from a disengaged politician. The problem is real, and it will take a real effort and hard cash to defeat it. It's time for the federal government to step in with something more substantial than mumbled banalities and tweets - because people are dying.
Donald Trump and Congress - quit posturing and do your jobs!
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