In Memoriam

Today would have been the 26th birthday of my foster sister/my brother's biological sister. She died of an overdose when she was 21. I wish I had meaningful words to say but I don't. Her death was awful and it's still awful. The world lost a sweet, caring, and hilariously funny person for no good reason. It was a tragedy. And the worst part is that it's not a unique occurrence. Instead, it's a tragedy that continues to repeat itself over and over because we as a society treat addicts like garbage. So in her honor, I'm going on a rant about addiction and society.

Hands in the darkness holding a lit memorial candle. 

We criminalize people struggling with addiction instead of getting them treatment. I've got friends who are in recovery and friends who work in treatment and prevention and they will all tell you that. If you need proof, just look into the Massachusetts crisis surrounding Narcan, a drug that can reverse the effects of opioid overdose. Basically, during an overdose, opioids slow breathing to the point of death. If taken soon enough, Narcan (which is the more commonly known brand name for naloxone) blocks the opioids and restores normal breathing, saving the life of the person who otherwise would have died from an overdose. It's safe, it's an easy to administer nasal spray, and it has no potential for abuse. If my foster sister had gotten it in time she'd be turning 26 today and this would be a very different blog post.

Picture of a stone angel weeping on a grave.

Here's what happened in Massachusetts.

In 2010 there was a federal push to get people off prescription opiates. This is something I support but the unintended consequence, which many people predicted but which the state entirely failed to prepare for, was an uptick in heroin users. This eventually led to a spike in overdose deaths in 2014, at which point then-Governor Deval Patrick declared a public health emergency because of the epidemic. By that time, even though it could easily have been made more widely available, AIDS Project Worcester was still the only place providing Narcan to the public in central Massachusetts. This happened for a variety of absurd and ridiculous reasons. Such as the position held by many politicians and police officers that we shouldn't make Narcan available because it's the addicts' own faults, because they think it could enable addicts to keep using, and because they think it's a drain on resources. Let that sink in. They didn't want to make a drug that reverses overdoses and saves lives available because they think that helping someone who is suffering from addiction survive an overdose is both enabling and a drain on resources, and because they blame them for their addictions. That is deeply, deeply fucked up. It's like saying that we should let people who got lung cancer from smoking die because treating them is enabling them to keep having lung cancer and draining our resources, and they smoke anyway so it's their fault. To make matters worse, this issue was exacerbated in 2015 when the pharmacy that makes Narcan doubled its price, causing really troubling shortages during an epidemic when they were already short. This situation is a perfect example of us treating drug users as garbage instead of people. Because you can bet if it were another type of epidemic (well, except for AIDS) we'd be making treatments available and nobody would be arguing that we should let sick people die because they deserve it.

A woman screaming with birds flying out of her chest.

Anyway, that's my rant about drug use and how we treat people with drug addictions. I hope it helped someone out there understand the problem a little better. Drugs killed my foster sister and I want to work towards a world where that doesn't happen. I hope that someday nobody else has to get that phone call telling them that their loved one has overdosed and the doctors can't save them. And I think that making Narcan widely available and by really caring about people with drug addictions and enacting policies that help them recover, we can make that possible.

Woman in a t-shirt that says "You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.

If you are struggling with drug addiction, please know that there are people who care about you. I care about you. God cares about you. And you CAN keep fighting. It's so worth it. I promise. Try AA, try NA, try ACA, get a therapist, go into a treatment program, get acupuncture - whatever you do don't give up! And in case you haven't learned this yet - relapsing is part of getting better - if you've relapsed it's a sign you're spiraling up, not down! You can't fight demons without expecting some battle scars. Like that cheesy saying goes - if you're going through hell KEEP GOING!