America has been in the grips of an addiction epidemic for decades. While the drugs and substances change, the end result is the same: chaos, broken families, overdose, tragedy, and death. While hope remains due to the millions of individuals and families that find recovery, millions more stay in the painful cycle of addiction.   The biggest recent issue within the addiction epidemic in America is the ongoing opioid crisis. Years ago, due in large part to the marketing of the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin, America was gripped by opioids. Millions of Americans became addicted to prescription narcotics, some doctor shopping for multiple prescriptions, others turning to illicit street drugs like heroin, and more just staying in a cycle of [...]

Although it seemed for a time that the nationwide opioid epidemic was starting to get under control, the isolation and social disconnection due to the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown America’s opioid crisis into overdrive. Throughout towns, cities, counties, and states throughout America, the number of fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses are rising, and more and more individuals are in need of detox and treatment for opioid addiction.   Although America’s opioid crisis is an ongoing national story, regularly covered in the news media and in publications, because opioids are often prescribed, there is still some concern that people do not know what to look for regarding if they are developing a physical dependency to, substance use disorder with, or full-blown [...]

The dangers of heroin and other synthetic opioid painkillers are well known. For over a decade, America has been waging war against the opioid epidemic, until COVID-19 the worst public health crisis in the country. However, over the last several years, America’s dangerous relationship with opioids has taken an even more deadly turn with the rise in use and misuse of the powerful drug fentanyl. As the numbers of non-fatal and fatal drug overdoses increase annually, spiking with the most drug-related overdoses in a 12-month period during the coronavirus pandemic ending in May 2020 (the latest available statistics), the main culprit taking the lives of thousands of Americans is no longer heroin or prescription pills like OxyContin, but rather fentanyl. [...]

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues throughout the United States, and the country deals with the civil unrest and racial inequality issues boiling over after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, we must deal with these issues head-on without forgetting about another public health epidemic that continues to plague America: The opioid crisis.