THE
DATA:
According to the CDC[1], drug overdose deaths continue to
increase in the United States. From 1999 to 2017, (18 years) more than 702,000
people have died from a drug overdose.
In 2017, 70,237 drug overdose deaths
occurred in America, making it a leading cause
of injury-related death. Prescription or illicit opioids were involved
in 47,600 overdose deaths in 2017 (67.8% of all drug overdose deaths).
Leading causes of death
in US – 2017:
- Heart disease: 647,457
- Cancer: 599,108
- Accidents (unintentional injuries): 169,936
- Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 160,201
- Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 146,383
- Alzheimer’s disease: 121,404
- Diabetes: 83,564
- Influenza and Pneumonia: 55,672
- Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis: 50,633
- Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,173
The overdose numbers
were 70,237, right below diabetes.
The age-adjusted rate of overdose deaths
increased significantly by 9.6% from 2016 (19.8 per 100,000) to 2017 (21.7 per
100,000). Opioids—mainly synthetic opioids (other than methadone)—are
currently the main driver of drug overdose deaths.
Annual deaths[2] due to drug overdoses now
exceed those form motor vehicle deaths, gun violence and even HIV at the height
of the 1990s HIV epidemic.
In 2017, the states with the highest
rates of death due to drug overdose were West Virginia (57.8 per 100,000), Ohio
(46.3 per 100,000), Pennsylvania (44.3 per 100,000), the District of Columbia
(44.0 per 100,000), and Kentucky (37.2 per 100,000).1
States with statistically significant
increases in drug overdose death rates from 2016 to 2017 included Alabama,
Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York,
North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia,
and Wisconsin.
In
2016, the overdose rate reported by states to the CDC[3] was 63,363.
That translated to 174 people dying every day.
In
2017, the daily death toll jumped to 192 people per day.
To give you an idea
about the magnitude of this number:
Vietnam War[4] –
1954-1975 (21 years) 58,200 plus US soldiers died during this time
period.
World War II[5] –
1939-1945 (6 years) 407,300 plus US soldiers died.
World War I[6] –
1914-1918 (4 years) 53,402 plus US soldiers died.
The number of overdose
deaths since 1999 far surpasses the death toll of US soldiers in all three wars.
THE HARD TRUTHS
Addiction touches every single part of
our society around the globe.
According
to Center on Addiction.org article by Joseph A. Califano, Jr.[7] (11/01/08): Americans,
comprising only 4% of the world’s population, consume two-thirds of the world’s
illegal drugs.
How
does this staggering figure affect us?
Health
care.
Almost a quarter of a trillion dollars of
the nation’s yearly health-care bill is attributable to substance abuse and
addiction. At any given time, approximately 10 percent of the US population is
abusing drugs and alcohol, with multitudes of families, friends, neighbors,
employers, and co-workers being directly affected. The costs associated with
drug and alcohol use total nearly $600 billion in lost revenue, health care,
legal fees, and damages each year. – Source Addiction Campuses.com[8]
Prison
overcrowding.
Alcohol and other drug abuse is involved
in most violent and property crimes, with 80% of the nation’s adult inmates and
juvenile arrestees either committing their offenses while high, stealing to buy
drugs, violating alcohol or drug laws, having a history of substance
abuse/addiction, or sharing some mix of these characteristics.
Families broken: 70% of abused and
neglected children have alcohol or drug abusing parents. 90% of homeless are alcoholics or alcohol abusers; 60% abuse
other drugs. Drug
abuse is associated with higher rates of foster care child placements, child
abuse, college sexual assaults, prison sentences, and lost productivity coupled
with increased work-related injuries. Drug or alcohol
abuse is the primary cause of more than 75 percent of all foster placements,
and 80 percent of all child abuse and neglect cases cite drug or alcohol abuse
as a primary factor. Rates of substance abuse among youth in foster care are
significantly higher than in comparative populations. Specific drug types are associated with higher rates of
child custody losses. For example, fewer than 10 percent of babies born to
untreated heroin addicted mothers reside with their biological mothers at five
years of age. And sadly, children of drug addicted individuals are eight times
as likely to abuse drugs as adults.
Crisis
at the border:
People
in Central American countries where drug cartels rule are under siege by the
cartels, specifically in the area known as the Northern Triangle of Latin
America – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. These criminals run everything. The
people and government are held hostage by their own countrymen. The violence
inflicted on citizens of these countries is the main reason so many flee,
illegally, to the US.
An
online article on June 20, 2018 via NBC News[9]: “…communities in El
Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala are so racked with violence, so terrorized by
gangs and so infiltrated by drug cartels, they had no choice but to leave.”
Time reported on
June 21, 2018[10]:
“People are leaving because they are
suffering from high levels of violence from gangs and other organized criminal
groups. These gangs want to recruit minors, they carry out extortion,
kidnapping, sexually abusing girls,” says Francesca Fontanini, spokesperson for
the UNHCR in the Americas. “This flow of families from Central America will not
stop because if the root causes are still there these people will keep coming
to the U.S. or to other countries.”
The
violence in the region is driven by a mix of crime groups, from street gangs
such as the Mara Salvatrucha to drug cartels that move billions of dollars. The
gunmen not only target rivals but regularly go after “civilians” sometimes just
for being in the wrong place in the wrong time.”
Excerpts from a video posted on
Vox.com by Christina Thornell and Sam Ellis on February 12, 2019: “One of the
main sources of this border crisis is cocaine routes, and their damage can be
traced back to the 1970s. The US users were spending tens of billions of
dollars on cocaine annually. To prevent the growing influx of the drug, the US
cracked down on the most popular cocaine route, the one that brought shipments
from Colombia to Miami through the Caribbean. As a result, the cartels shifted
their routes toward Mexico and Central America, triggering a damaging cycle of
violence fueled by criminal organizations, corrupt governments, and “iron fist”
policies supported by the US.” Source: Vox.com[11]
Epidemic[12]:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared
a public health emergency in 2017 regarding the opioid crisis.
U.S.
Arrest Rates are soaring: According to DrugWarFacts.org[13].
"Crime in the
United States 2017 - Arrests," FBI Uniform Crime Report (Washington, DC:
US Dept. of Justice, September 2018), p. 1, and Arrest Table: Arrests for Drug
Abuse Violations.
2018: Of the estimated 1,654,282 drug law violations in the
US in 2018, 86.4% (1,429,300) were for possession of a controlled substance.
Only 13.6% (224,982) were for sale or manufacture of a drug.
2017: Of the estimated 1,632,921 drug law violations in the
US in 2017, 85.4% (1,394,515) were for possession of a controlled substance.
Only 14.6% (238,404) were for sale or manufacture of a drug.
2015: Of the estimated 1,488,707 arrests for drug law
violations in the US in 2015, 83.9% (1,249,025) were for possession of a
controlled substance. Only 16.1% (239,682) were for sale or manufacture of a
drug.
2010: Of the estimated 1,638,846 arrests for drug law
violations in the US in 2010, 81.9% (1,342,215) were for possession of a
controlled substance. Only 18.1% (296,631) were for sale or manufacture of a
drug.
THESE PERCENTAGES NEED TO CHANGE –
arrests should be focused on the manufacturers and dealers. Addicts need
medical intervention immediately upon the first drug offense.
Costs
of Substance Abuse
(according to National Institute on Drug Abuse)[14]:
|
|
Health Care |
Overall |
Year Estimate Based On |
|
Tobacco |
$168
billion |
$300
billion |
2010 |
|
Alcohol |
$27
billion |
$249
billion |
2010 |
|
Illicit
Drugs |
$11
billion |
$193
billion |
2007 |
|
Prescription
Opioids |
$26
billion |
$78.5
billion |
2013 |
***
WHY I WROTE THE REMEMDIUM SERIES: Tainted
Cure, Tainted Reality, Tainted Future, and Tainted World
REMEMDIUM – Latin, noun:
1.
Cure created in memoriam
2.
How the end of the world began
The
post-apocalyptic genre tends to allegorically reflect current hot-button issues
in society.
Ever
since The Magic Island by W.B. Seabrook in 1929 hit the
bookshelves, the reasoning behind our collective morbid infatuation with
dead bodies rising from the grave, all gooey, rotten, rank and hungry, wreaking
havoc on those still alive, tends to change due to current societal fears of
the time.
An
online article, “How the zombie represents America’s
deepest fears[15]” written
by Zachary Crockett and Javier Zarracina discusses the “…sociopolitical history
of zombies, from Haiti to The Walking Dead.”
These include:
From Haiti to Hollywood:
fear of voodoo and primitive culture
The atomic zombie: fear
of nuclear extinction and the Red Scare
The apocalypse zombie: a response to civil
rights and the Vietnam War
The pandemic zombie:
fear of mass contagion
The post-apocalyptic zombie: fear of each
other
***
Biological
pandemics, government experiments gone awry, otherworldly gunk or some crazed
dictator intent on making all the subjects of his or her country mindless
followers—again, what more could I add to the genre? After all, I write
suspense novels. What in the world made me think I could—or should—jump into
sci-fi?
Unfortunately, the answer was the culmination of a painful, eight-year-long
journey. It wasn’t until dealing with a family member struggling with addiction
and all the ripple effects drug culture has on the addict, those who love them,
and society as a whole did the idea spark to life.
I think a few of my family members thought I finally snapped the last tendril
of sanity. I jumped from the porch swing and yelled, “Yes! I’ve got it! The
zombie apocalypse happens from a cure for addiction falling into the wrong
hands!”
Tainted Cure, Tainted Reality, Tainted Future and Tainted
World incorporate the zombie genre as a way to explore how drug
dependency, abuse by multi-generations, and the horrific overdose death rate,
effects our society every day, and how if localized epidemic zones aren’t
addressed—right now—will turn into a worldwide pandemic.
Addiction,
just like mindless zombies, cares not of your race, creed, ethnicity, sexual
orientation, religious views, age, social class or intellect. The difference
between the two is if bitten by a zombie, you die; if addiction bites you,
there is hope for recovery.
Sometimes.
You
may not be an addict and maybe you have never experienced the agony of loving a
family member or friend suffering with addiction, but those things do not grant
you immunity to the devastating effects of drug abuse in our culture, which, by
the way, still glamorizes getting ‘high’ and the ‘party’
lifestyle, and occasionally, glorifies the life of dealers as though the
soulless, evil individuals are people to emulate.
This
glorification of criminal activity needs to stop. Right now.
Throughout
the four-book Rememdium Series, I wanted to expose the truth about
the epidemic of addiction, and yes, it is an epidemic.
Babies.
Adults.
Teenagers.
Elderly.
Addiction, like justice is supposed to be, is blind; everyone is welcome to
partake in the deadly game by the poison.
Despite
years of educational courses in schools starting in elementary and all the way
through college, multitudes of news reports, parents teaching their children to
steer clear of drugs, the overdose rate has risen every single year.
The crisis in our world is terrifying—the stuff of
nightmares—actually worse than any nightmare because it is real. It
is happening right now.
The post-apocalyptic zombie: fear of destruction
from within due to addiction – and it has already begun
THE MORE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
How do we stop it before it’s too late?
Why do American citizens use the highest
percentage of the world’s drugs?
Where will U.S. citizens flee to when our
country is overrun with cartels and violence?
If the war on drugs, education, arrests
and rehabilitation clinics aren’t stopping the upward trajectory of U.S. drug
abuse, what will?
[2]
Ciccarone, D., International Journal of Drug Policy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.01.010
[7] https://www.centeronaddiction.org/newsroom/op-eds/high-society-how-substance-abuse-ravages-america-and-what-do-about-it
[9] https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/central-america-s-violence-turmoil-keeps-driving-families-u-s-n884956
[12] hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html
