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America’s nationwide opioid epidemic is destroying cities and communities every day. In Austin, Indiana, injection uses of the pharmaceutical Opana and street drug heroin have shown correlation with nearly 150 cases of HIV within the very small population of 4,200. Every day we hear continuous ambulance sirens going off. Unfortunately they’re most likely responding to the most recent heroin overdose. The number of heroin-related deaths has increased abruptly in every region of America from 2000 through 2013. Heroin use among Americans has grown by 145 percent since 2007 according to The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. These statistics are disturbing, heartbreaking and distasteful. Heroin.net states that since 2014, 4.8 million Americans aged 12 or older have reported using heroin at least once. It is sadly disappointing that so many families are suffering because of the irresponsibility of the FDA and the greed of “Big” pharmaceutical companies. How else do you explain selling 780 million painkiller pills in six years to a single pharmacy in a city where fewer than 400 people live? Either this is absolute negligence, extreme greed or a preposterous attempt at population control. Overprescribing prescriptions such as Percocet, Vicodin, and OxyContin have caused many people to fall subject to opioid addiction. These companies in my opinion disregarded human life and took it upon themselves to “manufacture” these addicts. Most people that have become addicted to the prescriptions resort to using heroin once their supply of pills has been cut off. And because of this, heroin has made its way into the homes of communities that would have never been subject to such, had it not been “dressed up” in the form of a pill first.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and President Trump think the best way to combat the heroin epidemic is harsher consequences for traffickers and drug dealers. Sessions suggests that there be a reimposition of mandatory minimum prison sentences for heroin dealers and traffickers like the ones put in place during the crack-cocaine epidemic of the eighties. His solution to the nation’s problem is to pick drug dealers and traffickers up, lock them, and throw away the key. This solution sounds similar to the epic failed attempt in the so called “war on drugs.” President Trump went even further by seeming to imply that he supports executing people who sell illegal drugs. This is coming from the same man that supported legalization of drugs in 1990. But back to my point, we’re always focused on cartels and low-level drug dealers when we think about addressing the constant nuisance. What about the doctors and pharmaceutical companies that ignited the problem. What about the Federal Drug Administration that approved it? Anyone that can consciously research, market, and produce drugs knowing the outcome and still disregard the inevitable, has absolutely no respect for human life. If there is anything such as “justice” left in our broken criminal justice system, we will see to it that these CEO’s, board members, and doctors responsible suffer the consequences for their actions. Just as we push for drug dealers and cartels to face punishment.

The progression of the opioid epidemic has resulted in several different approaches to bring immediate response to the issue. President Trump declared it a State of Emergency that needs intense attention. Several states and counties have taken lawsuits out on pharmaceutical companies in attempt to hold them accountable for this disaster. Most recently a Surgeon General Warning has been advised by the nation’s top doctor. U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams is bringing the importance of naloxone to the public’s attention, advising that more people get trained to administer it, and keep on their personal in case of emergency. Naloxone is a medication used to counter the effects of opioid overdose. When a person is suffering an overdose, their breathing slows and then eventually stops due to their brain trying to fit in too many receptors for opioids. Naloxone is able to counteract life-threatening depression of the central nervous system and respiratory system by knocking the opioids off the receptors for a short time, which gives the sufferer a chance to breathe again resulting in escape from overdose and death. Naloxone is a non-addictive prescription medication that can be administered by not only emergency response personnel, but everyday citizens that are educated and trained on the use of the drug as well. It can be injected in the muscle, vein or under the skin or sprayed into the nose. Naloxone doesn’t work for any other type of drug overdose, only in the case of an opioid overdose. The temporary drug wears off in 20 – 90 minutes.

According to the Surgeon General’s office, research has shown that when community members are trained and educated on opioid overdose and naloxone, overdoses decrease in those communities. However, there are still mixed feelings about the second chance, lifesaving “miracle” drug. Some people feel that it is an enabling tool for addicts to continue to abuse illegal drugs. With respect to these opinions, they should take into consideration that users aren’t the only people subject to overdose. Children, police officers, and emergency responders can be given second chances at life in case of an overdose from incidental exposure to a high potency opiate. This alone is good enough reason for American people to consider being properly trained and educated on using the second chance, lifesaving medication Naloxone. Thank you Surgeon General. Your warning will definitely save lives.

References

America and the Heroin Epidemic. (2018). Heroin.net. Retrieved 8 April 2018, from https://heroin.net/think/america-and-the-heroin-epidemic/

Angell, T. (2018). Forbes Welcome. Forbes.com. Retrieved 8 April 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomangell/2018/03/01/trump-talks-up-death-penalty-for-drug-dealers/#3f7bc6b34c2d

Cass, A. (2018). Should people carry naloxone? Surgeon General says yes.. News-herald.com. Retrieved 8 April 2018, from http://www.news-herald.com/general-news/20180406/should-people-carry-naloxone-surgeon-general-says-yes

Sederer, L. (2018). Retrieved 8 April 2018, from https://www.usnews.com/opinion/civil-wars/articles/2017-11-30/jeff-sessions-new-war-on-drugs-is-the-wrong-way-to-fix-the-opioid-crisis

Understanding Naloxone - Harm Reduction Coalition. (2018). Harmreduction.org. Retrieved 8 April 2018, from http://harmreduction.org/issues/overdose-prevention/overview/overdose-basics/understanding-naloxone/

#stopheroin #heroinkills

#blacklivesmatter A quote and hashtag that we’ve heard and seen consistently since Trayvon Martin died cold blooded at the hands of George Zimmerman one Florida night. But is there any truth to it? Do black lives really matter? History and current events like the one mentioned has proven otherwise. The life of a black man in the United States of America is constantly at threat. It seems that more often than not there is another unarmed black man gunned down by police officers. Not only are black men gunned down by police, we’re gunned down by one another as well.

In wake of Stephon Clark’s death, the conversation has begun again. Stephon Clark, like Trayvon Martin, has paid the ultimate price for being black at the wrong place at the wrong time. Like Martin, Clark was racially profiled and gunned down to his death. Police were notified of someone breaking car windows in a Sacramento, CA neighborhood. In the officers on duty pursuit of a suspect, Stephon Clark was pursued, and the officers made the costly assumption that he was armed. In what they called the fear for their lives, they fired twenty shots total from their firearms at Stephon. Ten shots from each officer’s handgun. After further investigation abc news reported that eight of those shots entered in his back. Implying that he was shot down from behind, resulting in the twenty-two-year old’s death in his own grandmother’s backyard. Stephon was unarmed and what officers thought was a gun, was just his cell phone. This is just another sad, unfortunate, far too common case of being a young black man in America at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Fatal Encounters, a database conducted by The Post, reported that since 2015 twenty-five percent of those killed by police were black. This statistic is disgustingly disproportionate since African-Americans only make up twelve percent of the nation’s population. According to civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, since 2015 seventy-three unarmed black men have been shot to death by police. Four unarmed black women were gunned down by police in this time frame as well.

I believe the officers should be held accountable for their actions. However, I also believe that America must take ownership for the way young black men are presently viewed and treated, as well as the way we’ve been addressed historically. It was 1955 when Emmett Till was abducted, brutally beaten, and shot in the head for being black at the wrong place at the wrong time. We’re in the year 2018 and black men are still murdered without sufficient reasoning. Over sixty years later and American still has no respect for a young black man’s life. To make things worse the murderers are often acquitted just like they were in Emmett Till’s case. The New York Times put out an article “In 15 High-Profile Cases Involving Deaths of Blacks, One Officer Faces Prison Time”. The title alone is shockingly disturbing. What’s even more astonishing is that in seven of those fifteen cases mentioned, the officers involved were not even charged. Three of the cases where no charges were filed didn’t even end with a settlement for the families of the victims. Eleven of the cases ended with a paid settlement. Now I’m not claiming to have any expertise in this area. However, settlement money is usually only paid out in this country when there is wrong done due to irresponsible negligence and the accused would rather pay a hefty price instead of taking the chance of losing in court. In this instance the accused would be America’s local law enforcement. Is it fair to say that our criminal justice system acknowledges wrong done in these cases, makes a settlement offer, and sweeps it under the rug as if nothing happened? Or even worse, disregard it and doesn’t act at all? Is it okay to pay the family for wrong done and turn around and not charge the perpetrator? Is there a distasteful, disrespectful price for a young black man’s life?

I know that each individual case has different circumstances to take into account and these questions do not fully apply to each one. But it is something that must be taken into consideration and addressed. These shootings are as if the Civil Rights movement never happened and not a thing has changed since then. Like it’s not a crime to kill an unarmed black man. There remains a feeling of inequality among much of the black community. And to a certain extent it is. Black men are pulled over in disproportionate rates compared to whites. Black men are incarcerated at higher rates per capita than whites. Black men are paid less compared to our counterparts with equivalent qualifications. It’s really unfortunate that the thought of America without racism towards us is too far fetched to even begin to fathom. It’s fair to say that every black man will be subject to racism whether he’s aware of it or not. Racism is so embedded in the cloth that built this very country, it’s still possible for a young black man to be murdered at the hands of a white man and nothing be done about it in 2018. So back to my original question. Do black lives really matter? Or is that something that we wish to be true one day in America?

References

Emmett Till - Legacy - Biography. Retrieved 2018, from https://www.biography.com/video/emmett-till-legacy-109203523793

In 15 High-Profile Cases Involving Deaths of Blacks, One .... Retrieved 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/17/us/black-deaths-police.html

The death of Stephon Clark: What we know about the .... Retrieved 2018, from http://abcnews.go.com/US/death-stephon-clark-police-shooting/story?id=54039443

What are the facts on police shootings?. (2018). PolitiFact California. Retrieved 1 April 2018, from http://www.politifact.com/california/article/2018/mar/29/what-are-facts-police-shootings-following-death-st/#

#blacklivesmatter #dotheyreally #stephonclark #trayvonmartin #iamthem #justiceforstephonclark #equality #accountability #emmitttill #nothingchangesnothingchanges

Mass shootings in America have become a norm today. Before we get over one there’s another one. And after every tragedy, we have the same questions and discussions. Should we do away with the Second Amendment? Does it need modifications? Should we invest more money into mental health research? Yet we still have no preventative measures regarding these deadly, horrific mass shootings. On February 14, 2018 we suffered one of the world’s deadliest school shootings in history. Nicholas Cruz walked in Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. Armed with an AR-15, Cruz walked in the school and killed fourteen students and three adults. Injuring seventeen more. All with his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. An AR-15 is considered by some to be a “civilian” version of the M-16. Although the AR-15 is known by some to be the “platform from which the M-4 and M-16 assault rifles are built upon”, they are not classed as an assault rifle. These weapons are easily able to target and hit victims easier than it would be if a handgun or shotgun were used. In last year’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, an AR-15 was modified using what is called a bump-stock to fire rounds in rapid succession, mimicking a machine gun i.e. assault rifle. President Trump’s administration has filed legislation in hopes of making bump stocks illegal in the future. With all of this said, it brings me to this question. Why does anyone honestly need to have an AR-15 in their home? The president of the NRA believes the answer is recreational target shooting, hunting, and home defense. While all of this may be true to some extent, I don’t believe it to be necessary for each occasion. There are many of other guns to use for these very same purposes. Ones that may be better suited. “Real gamers” consider hunters that feel they need an AR-15 are amateurs and should consider playing video games. There are also contradictions to the reasoning of home defense purpose as well. AR-15’s could be difficult to maneuver and handle in case of an unexpected robbery or break in, due to the length of it. There are many people that use the Second Amendment as justification for ownership of semi-automatic rifles. I am not in favor of removing our constitutional right nor modifying it. However, I am in favor of limitations and restrictions of the AR-15. Possibly banning them from civilian use. The times has changed. Children are growing up on video games instead of school and parenting. The legal age to purchase a rifle is eighteen. Which would mean that today’s eighteen-year-old would had have to be born in the year 2000. Around this same time some of the biggest names in first person shooter video games were introduced. The Microsoft gaming console Xbox would introduce the world to Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001. Call of Duty would be introduced to the world shortly after in 2003. These very popular names in first person shooter video games would eventually consume pre-teens and teenagers spare time. Thus, creating a fetish for “kills” and “cool” looking assault rifles by today’s youth. Time that was once used during these key years of life to develop athletic and social skills, was know being used to develop marksmanship, a thirst to kill, and modify weapons. These games gave teenagers all around the world their own community to release any anger that may have been unpermitted elsewhere. Now I know that this theory of mine has holes in it and it doesn’t apply to all the recent mass shootings. But you cannot deny the correlation amongst these factors. For instance, what do we do when there is a teenager with documented mental illness, an unnoticed acquired rage for “kills”, and access to an AR-15? That’s a dangerous combination and a tragedy waiting to happen if left unaddressed. Do you not allow the child to play video games because you understand their mental illness? No! The reasonable answer would be to make AR-15’s unavailable to such persons. And if that includes restricting them from all civilians, so be it. There would be no violation of Constitutional Rights. There would be no harm done to those wanting to hunt or defend their home either. It would be a common ground solution. An AR-15 is a “cool” looking rifle and they appeal to video gamers as well with all their possible modifications. And I understand that these acts of terror could have happened with any type of weapon. However, maybe the number of casualties would have been less if another weapon would have been used instead.

#oneless #onlessgun

As I got off work the other day and began to wind down, I turned on ESPN to catch the highlights of the day before I got ready for bed. Unsurprisingly, they talked about the NBA briefly and a couple of the latest NFL roster moves. Much of the show was centered on the 2018 Winter Olympics. For some reason, this bothered me. So, I turned off the TV and went to bed for the night. The following day I woke up with this on my mind and tried to figure out why I was so displeased with the coverage of the Winter Olympics. It finally dawned on me. There is absolutely nothing I can relate to, as far as the activities are concerned. I mean, I’ve never been snowboarding, ice skating, skiing, or any of the other sports involved for that matter. And then more was revealed. A light turned on in my head. For the most part neither has any other African-American kid raised in the inner city. At least not any that I have met or known. Subsequently, that allowed me to arrive to my next personal observation. The Winter Olympics are the most subliminal form of White privilege. This subject of matter is not frequently spoken of and goes pretty much unnoticed. How could this be possible in an event that is supposed to represent a country as a whole? The United States is clearly misrepresented. So, I decided to investigate the matter. Not to my surprise, since the very first winter version of the Olympic Games in 1924, of the close to 1,000 medals given out, only 12 have been to African-American/Black athletes. And out of the 45 different nations represented, these 12 African-American/Black athletes were from just three of those countries. The award recipients were from the USA, Canada, and Germany. It wasn’t until a shocking 64 years since the first Winter Games that Debi Thomas of New York (photo below), USA became the first ever African-American/Black athlete to win a medal in 1988. And it took fourteen more years for there to be an African-American/Black athlete to win gold in an event. In 2002, Vonetta Flowers (USA) took home the top honor in the bobsleigh event and Jarome Iginla (Canada) did the same with his representing country’s hockey team. That same year USA had 3 African-American participants win silver in bobsleigh as well. 2010 would be a standout year for African-American/Black athletes at the Winter Games in Vancouver. They would bring in a total of 8 medals at the event. Fast forward to where we are now, Team USA is introducing a few of its “firsts”. The 2018 games will include Team USA’s first African-American/Black long-track speedskater (video included above), first African-American/Black hockey player, and first African-American/Black short-track speedskater. These are remarkable achievements that deserve affirmation. However, with only four percent of Team USA being African-American there’s a lot of room for growth. There are a couple of factors that come to my mind when I think of why the number of African-American/Black participants in the Winter Olympics is close to nonexistent. The first reason that comes to mind is opportunity. Since many of the activities included in the Winter Games are unheard of and unrepresented in our community, there’s very little pursuit or interest in them. If a kid has never seen anyone snowboard, ski, or speedskate chances are he or she won’t attempt to or be interested either. The lack of role models or people encouraging participation in these activities closes the door even more. The second factor that comes to mind is income. The average African-American family can hardly afford to miss one day at work, let alone go to the mountains to train their child in skiing or snowboarding. Because we all know that the only way to get good at anything, is to practice at it. Practice for quite a few of the Winter Olympics games requires to be in the mountains or an icy location. It’s not something you just get good at by going outside and playing with friends. The equipment can be very expensive as well and out of reach for families with a median income of $43,000. So, it’s simple to understand why we are left out of these games and the #OlympicsSoWhite movement was initiated. These reasons, along with geographical disadvantages, have created a racial structure within the Olympics. I consider this subliminal white privilege because investing time and money training a child to participate in an event that’s only seasonal and won’t guarantee a job or career is unheard of in our community. Training for the Winter Olympics in the African-American/Black “urban” community sounds like a fairy tale when spoken out loud.

#OlympicsStillSoWhite

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