Resisting Drug Hysteria Part 4: An Epidemic of Horseshit With A Side of Snake-Oil

"Opiate Addiction Epidemic"...

How do you define an "epidemic"?

The bubonic plague wiped out (killed) 25 million people - One-third of Europe’s population.

The Irish famine of the 1800's led to the death of roughly one million people out of a population of eight million; for those who can't do the math, that's 1/8th of the country's population, wiped off the face of the earth (as opposed to 1/16,735th of the population struggling with a bad habit, which seems to be an appealing alternative).

Over 40 million people around the world are currently HIV positive. In the year 2003, 5 million people became infected with AIDS.

All would most likely be considered epidemics by any standards...

Now in regard to opioid abuse....

...Which is not contagious, does not catch individuals off gaurd, does not inevitably harm or kill anyone, and most importantly, is an inarguably consentual behavior in which the initiation & outcome is completely up to the user.. - The fact that 1 to 3 out of 100 individuals (at most) become opioid addicts as a result of prescription use, or that 80 percent of OxyContin abusers have a previous history of cocaine abuse, or that less than 2 percent of americans report using heroin at any point in their lifetime -

...Suggesting that overindulgent opiate use (i.e. addiction) is a "disease" which is at "epidemic" levels is a major fabrication. Only fearmongering moral crusaders, politicians, devout christians and journalists would suggest such a thing. Only "recovery" industry capitalists, underfunded law enforcement bureaucrats, and self deceiving addicts or 12-steppers would so eagerly embrace and perpetuate such a myth - and all purely out of monetary interest, commercial growth, increased funding, and evasion of personal responsibility for one's actions.

One could assume a contributing factor to the high rate of actual narcotic addiction in our present time is the very removal of social stigma towards self destructive drug use. The failure to take drugs responsibly is no longer considered a personal weakness, but rather a chronic illness - making the user out to be a hapless medical victim. Compound this with the law of self-fulfilling prophecy, and the learned helplessness instilled by the 12 steps and recovery industry; and you have a much greater rate of problem opioid use, with characteristic overdoses, and endless self-indulgent binging by assholes who conveniently absolve themselves of responsibility by claiming "their disease made them do it." (This indeed might take away a level of guilt and stress - I myself have some bad drug-taking habits and can understand the relief one might feel to abandon all responsibility and become a 'victim'. But It sure as hell isn't true.)

Still, based on the facts, what we have here is not an opiate addiction epidemic, but rather an epidemic of horseshit and addiction to blaming.

For fucks sake. Loading up with morphine, oxycodone, or even heroin over an entire lifetime could be virtually non toxic to anyone if opioid users just put down the benzos, stop partying like a spring break college dumbuck, and used some COMMON SENSE.