Opioid Satire

Across the United States, opioid addiction - and overdose deaths - has increased exponentially. With this in mind, it is extremely important that citizens today keep up to date with the drug dilemma that has rocked our country to the very core. It’s a nationwide epidemic, and without proper education on the subject, the population as a whole - especially teens whose minds aren’t fully developed - may go on to use drugs without knowing truly how dangerous they are. For instance, one very dangerous and illegal drug is also an opioid - heroin. No one wants this to continue, for the consequences are devastating. No one wants to see so many of our own fall victim to this plague. Everyone wants to get our country back on track. Therefore, America …show more content…
They are used to relieve chronic pain; to help ease the users suffering. It’s an escape to a life where lingering aches aren’t so consuming anymore. Regardless, those with chronic pain can only enjoy this “high” for so long, hence why they continue to use it and use it until they literally cannot live without it. War veterans, who come back home after years - sometimes decades - of serving for our country, don’t only have to worry about the thoughts that haunt them at night. Something that comes with serving in the war is nearly inevitable injuries. So how do they get rid of this pain? Opioids. It has been proven that veterans are “...twice as likely to die from an accidental opioid overdose compared to the general population, according to a 2011 study of the VA health system.” (“Veterans and Opioid Addiction”). Granted, there is one proposal from Senator John McCain. This act is called the Veterans Overmedication Prevention Act. This act proposes that doctors prescribing medication to war veterans rely less on opioids. In addition to this, he is having the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) study the deaths of all veterans who have died either from suicide or opioid overdose. It ensures that the VA has “accurate information about the relationship between veteran suicide and prescription medication.” (McCain). In a press release, John McCain revealed that nearly a quarter of all deaths from suicide among adults in the USA are …show more content…
Those that do nothing are, more often than not, being controlled by Big Pharma’s power. Big Pharma is a collective name for all of the pharmaceutical companies. Our very own government is heavily controlled by Big Pharma. It has been proven that “pharmaceutical companies spend far more than any other industry to influence politicians. Drugmakers have poured close to $2.5bn into lobbying and funding members of Congress over the past decade.” (McGreal). WIth how much money they pour in, the government has a very hard time resisting them. In just the 2016 presidential race, Big Pharma donated a total of $951,018 to the candidates. This isn’t the only time they rolled in the cash. “ They spent $51 million in the 2012 federal elections and $32 million in the 2014 elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).” Big Pharma has an ulterior motive for their donating. They aren’t doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. They choose the candidate that “..they think they can influence once they are in office.” (“Hillary Clinton is Rolling in Big Cash from Big Pharma”). Once Hillary began to talk about curbing drug prices, Big Pharma began to enter a panic-like state, although they’ll never admit it. That’s when they started dumping money into Hillary’s campaign. They “donated $589,344 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, according to the nonprofit research group Center