Opioids

Millions of people across North America have been impacted by the ongoing opioid crisis, but why has it taken so long for us to make a serious dent in this crisis? And why is it still plaguing us today?

Here, author Reggie Caverson, an addictions expert with over thirty years in the field, tries to answer these unwieldy questions, tracing the crisis back to its roots and offering solutions that could possibly mitigate some of the unimaginable harm caused since. In Opioids: Burying the Truth One Person at a Time, she outlines . . .

• A chronology of the crisis since OxyContin was first marketed as a "miracle drug" in 1996 and the egregious mistakes that have been made by health regulators since that time
• How police, as the initial whistleblower, witnessed a surge in opioid-related crimes which persist to this day
• The impact on people with acute or chronic pain who continue to be prescribed highly potent and addictive opioids
• The many other interwoven issues including the lack of data, the disproportionate impact on Indigenous peoples, on families, on those who have been incarcerated, on emergency responders, such as police, paramedics, and hospitals, and many others
• The spill over into a new wave of addiction-related harm and crimes caused by manmade opioids such as fentanyl and other drugs found on the street

To give hope, Caverson offers the need for an integrated four-pillar strategy aimed at addressing this crisis, focused on health promotion and prevention, addiction treatment, harm reduction, and enforcement.

Powerful, compassionate, and incredibly thorough, Opioids: Burying the Truth One Person at a Time is a call for all hands on deck and the need to work together to face this crisis head-on.