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The Growth of the Opioid Crisis
The opioid crisis has been growing for the last 10 years, and continues to climb exponentially. Throughout time, the use and intentions of hard drugs has evolved, seemingly dependent upon the social and cultural influences. Three different time periods, 1960s/1970s, 1980/90s, and now, show how society has turned a rare, recreational use of drugs, to a dependency problem with addiction homelessness. -
Woodstock Music Festival
This photo depicts the lifestyle and culture around drugs in the late 1960's-1970's. Woodstock was a 3 day long music festival held in Bethel, New York. The people at this festival were, for majority, hippie adults who enjoyed the company of recreational drug use. Hard drugs were not popular before this time, and in 1969, they were still mainly used by stereotypical hippies and artists. -
Concerning NBC News Clip in Fort Worth, Texas
In this 1983 news clip, a community raises concern on a rehabilitation dormitory in a local church. This suburb area expresses their thoughts of feeling unsafe with previous addicts living and working so close to them. The dramatic shift of recreational use to possible threats proves how much drugs were infiltrating peoples lives. People were not used to or comfortable addiction taking "normal" people.
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1162063/m1/ -
Interview: Jesse Thistle's Addiction Recovery
Jesse Thistle is a man who beat all of the odds and overcame homelessness and drug addiction. His inspiring story tells the tragedy of a bad home life, unsafe childhood, and misguided directions and how it all led him to fall weak into statistics. Read his interview to understand his troubling experiences and all it takes to beat the odds.
https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-55559382 -
Conclusion
As you've seen, opioid addiction and hard rugs have taken over, and even ended, millions of lives. As our society has changed over time, so has the stigma around doing drugs and its outcome for those who partake. We as a society have to do better and reach out to those who are struggling. It is our job to end this pandemic and turn around those lives that have been taken. Worldwide, our culture needs to change to accept those who need our help and end the spread of addiction.