Recent media coverage is pulling back the curtain to reveal another angle on opioid abuse. The facts are startling, and it seems there is a direct relation between those facing economic stress and hardship and abusing opioids.
“In 2015, Jennifer Silva, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Bucknell University, began interviewing people in the coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania. She was working on a project, which would become the book We’re Still Here, about how poor and working-class Americans were affected by the collapse of the coal industry—the major job provider in the region.
She was curious how the regional decline might have shaped her subjects’ politics. But she quickly noticed a startling trend alongside the growing unemployment: Her subjects and their families were struggling with opioid abuse. At community meetings, doctors and coroners would debate solutions to the problem. Should they be arresting people? Should they be creating support groups? She describes one desperate parent who asked whether Donald Trump’s proposed border wall would keep black tar heroin from getting to Pennsylvania.
Silva’s interviewees might have been representative of an awful connection between job loss and opioid abuse, a connection that continues to be bolstered by research. A study published on Monday in the journal JAMA found that counties with automotive assembly plants that closed had, five years after the closure, 85 percent higher rates of opioid-overdose mortality, relative to counties where automotive assembly plants remained open.” January 02 – The Atlantic
The opioid epidemic has seen approximately 700,000 Americans dies since 1999. And there are many people who have become victims – rich and poor. However, this recent finding may show a link that public health officials, law makers and addiction experts can further focus on, especially in areas of America facing current or impending economic strife.
There are a still lot of questions and that’s where we can help.
Dr. Marc Sweeney is the Founding Dean of the School of Pharmacy at Cedarville University and is an expert in the fields of drug abuse, prescription drug abuse and Opioid addiction. Marc is available to speak with media regarding this growing issue. Simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.
