CoronaVirus Vs. The Disease of Addiction & Opioid Crisis: a Comparison of Our Epidemic Response

To preface this post, I’ll just say that this is not written to downplay our current pandemic.

I am self-quarantining and have been for nearly 2 weeks. I didn’t even go out of the house for my 30th birthday last week! I also have no doubt that this virus is real and is hurting people around the world.

However, it doesn’t mean that there still aren’t some big questions in my mind regarding the way this is unfolding and why the world is responding in such an extreme manner, given the facts I'll lay before you in comparison.

This has been on my mind a lot and I don’t see it talked about much, so I’d love to have a respectful discussion with those of you who have an opinion on the disease of addiction, the difference in response to these crisis', or those that have been impacted by it personally like I have.

This is an opportunity to compare, contrast, and evaluate the way that we as humans make decisions, the impact that certain factors have on how we view circumstances, and to understand why one crisis is treated so much different when compared to another just as if not more serious.

____________________________

THE COMPARISON:

The world has several “pandemics”, a major one being addiction to drugs and alcohol. The US has a big problem with this, but it's an issue all around the world.

– Most Medical professionals call addiction a disease.

– This is a very real problem and has tripled in severity in the last 20 years.

– My family has been personally affected by it, and I know dozens of others who have experienced its horrible impacts as well. This spreads just like other diseases, but simply in different ways.

– We have the power to stop it if we tried. However, we promote the sale of alcohol, cigarettes, and prescription drugs, and we do not invest significant resources in keeping illegal drugs out (or may even contribute to them coming in).

– We do very little as a government, community or world to end this crisis and attempt to “slow the curve” if you will. Yes, things are done, but not even close to the level we're seeing with Covid-19.

– Just like a communicable disease, this disease knows no color, race, age, gender, background or status. It can touch anyone.

________________________________

THE QUESTIONS:

My question is, why are we responding so strongly to this epidemic when we live with others such as addiction each and every day, without much thought?

– What deems one “disease” more important than another?

– What are the factors that go into deciding where trillions of dollars will be spent or when the economy is shut down?

– Is it number of deaths?

– Number of people affected or “infected”?

– Number of people who have long term effects?

– How scared people decide to get?

My major question becomes, if Drugs (Pharmaceuticals primarily, alongside of Opiates), Alcohol, and Tobacco kill Millions upon Millions of people each and every year, has the same ability to spread (via hurting or killing those other than the consumer), has the same strain on our medical system, makes a major negative impact in the economy, and continues to grow at a high rate, why are we not as concerned?

Let’s take a look at the facts from the CDC, addiction specialists, and other statistics. All sources cited at the bottom for reference.

____________________________________

THE FACTS: DRUGS

– In America alone, over 700,000 deaths have occurred due to drugs and alcohol in the last 18 years. (2019 and 2020 not included) It's taken MILLIONS worldwide.

– Over 70,000 deaths occur each year from drug overdoses, primarily opioids, and a large number of them are prescriptions taken by those they were prescribed to.

– About 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose.

– From 1999 to 2017, 399,230 Americans lost their lives to opioids alone.

– In 2017, doctors issued 191,218,272 opioid prescriptions.

– Since 1999, the sale of opioid painkillers has skyrocketed by 300%, even though deaths from them continue to grow at alarming rates.

– About 494,000 Americans over the age of 12 are regular heroin users.

– Synthetic opiate deaths have increased by over 10% in the last 1-2 years from things like Fentanyl, which is prescribed by medical professionals.

– Nearly 20,000 deaths occur from heroin each year on top of the numbers above.

– There are many long term physical and mental deficits that addicts, recovered addicts, and loved ones of addicts live with resulting from the disease. Compare this to the "potential for lung damage" that everyone is concerned with in the CoronaVirus.

______________________________

THE FACTS: ALCOHOL

– Every year, worldwide, alcohol is the cause of 5.3% of deaths (or 1 in every 20).

– About 300 million people throughout the world have an alcohol use disorder.

– The harmful use of alcohol results in 3.3 million deaths worldwide each year. (according to WHO)

– On average, 30 Americans die every day in an alcohol-related car accident, and six Americans die every day from alcohol poisoning.

– About 88,000 people die as a result of alcohol every year just in the United States.

______________________________

THE FACTS: TOBACCO

– About 34 million Americans smoke cigarettes.

– Smoking cigarettes is the cause of over 480,000 deaths every year in the United States.

– Secondhand smoke causes approximately 7,330 deaths from lung cancer and 33,950 deaths from heart disease each year.

______________________________

POLITICAL & FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

As you can see, the number of those "infected", affected and dead from this epidemic far outweighs what we've seen so far, and has not slowed down, but continued to grow over the years.

This is not to say we should ignore Covid-19, but why the special treatment?

Let's evaluate. As a country, we have clearly allowed political funds to impact decisions, as is made evident by the money spent on lobbying.

– In 2019 alone, lobbyists spend $3.47 billion on influencing political policy, representing the highest sum spend on lobbying since lobbying spend peaked in 2010.

– Pharmaceutical companies alone are the biggest spender on lobbying, Spending $3.9 billion over the past 20 years, and far exceeding other industries.

– In 2017, tobacco lobbies paid $21.8 million, and alcohol lobbyist are right up there with them.

– Even though… Alcohol and drug addiction cost the U.S. economy over $600 billion every year. Billions worldwide are lost.

– CNN's article entitled "The more opioids doctors prescribe, the more money they make" (linked below) details the financial compensation that drug companies provide to the medical field in exchange for pushing their product, knowing the damage it causes, but suffering no backlash or consequences.

– Financial Greed of BigPharma is what started us on the path of this epidemic...

“As pharmaceutical companies were looking for new pain killers, they began to push synthetic and semi-synthetic opioids to doctors. The companies would say that the drugs were either less- or non-addictive in comparison to morphine and had no dangerous side effects. Naturally, doctors began pushing these drugs as they saw no repercussions to patients taking them. This growth in the prescription opioid business directly pushed the distribution of opioids to levels that remain to this day, contributing to the epidemic we are now dealing with.”

______________________________

THE SPREAD: EXPONENTIAL GROWTH OF THOSE AFFECTED

A major point I've heard regarding why the CoronaVirus lockdown is totally warranted is the fact that "it spreads exponentially". This may be true, but it's not the only epidemic that is reaching far and wide.

– The negative effects of the disease of addiction touch millions outside of the person consuming drugs or alcohol.

– Entire families are torn apart by drug and alcohol addiction. I’ve experienced this first hand. Mental, physical and financial consequences are real for so many.

– 80% of domestic violence cases are fueled by alcohol or drug use.

– Those that experience that domestic violence are then 15x more likely to develop drug or alcohol addictions themselves, causing the cycle to continue, such as a contagious infection.

– Secondhand smoke causes approximately 7,330 deaths from lung cancer and 33,950 deaths from heart disease each year. This is someone who did not choose to smoke. Sids has also been associated with second-hand smoke.

– Fetal Alcohol Syndrom is a direct result, impacting an innocent child’s life and those that love them.

– Workplace accidents, DUI’s where innocent parties are killed, and many more issues arise from this, spreading far beyond the source.

______________________________

HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL STRAIN:

Another point has been the fact that we don't want to overwhelm our medical system. This exerpt from a medical expert (in 2017, so it's even worse in 2020) shows that addicition has absolutly strained our hopsitals and medical professionals. We have built completely separate facilities to treat the addicted because of it. So many facilities.... but we don't worry about the cause, just the symptoms, unfortunately.

– “The impact of this [addiction] epidemic on the medical community is dramatic. Emergency system resources, already on overload, are further taxed and drained by the increased 911 calls for overdose incidents. This means that instead of responding to heart attacks, strokes, or other emergencies, first responders are spending time stabilizing overdose patients and taking them to hospitals. This resource drain spreads to emergency rooms and hospitals as they treat these patients. Eventually, the epidemic results in higher insurance costs to cover the impact on medical resources.” – TheHospitalist.org

These statistics show that this, like a communicable disease, does not simply affect the person who chooses to consume the substance, It can impact us all, and has long been impacting the medical system we seem to be so concerned with overwhelming right now.

_____________________________________

THE CONCLUSION:

– Based on the facts I’ve listed, do you consider this to be an epidemic that we should all be taking more seriously?

– Why do you think this epidemic has gotten little to no financial, governmental or media attention (especially in comparison, but in general as well)? Could 2 trillion dollars have made an impact in saving millions of lives?

– Do you believe that these statistics change anything about the way we’re currently looking at the current pandemic?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

______________________________

Sources:

https://www.centeronaddiction.org/what-addiction/addiction-disease

https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/addiction-statistics/

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db356.htm

https://www.alcoholjustice.org/press-room/press-releases/79-californias-alcohol-lobby-spends-big-bucks-to-buy-big-results-.html

https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/domestic-violence/

https://www.lung.org/quit-smoking/smoking-facts/health-effects/secondhand-smoke

https://www.the-hospitalist.org/hospitalist/article/149858/mental-health/opioid-epidemic-and-its-impact-health-care-system