The Opiate Cycle, Part 1

This article was originally titled, “How One Nashville Resident Beat His Opiate Addiction”, and was changed due to content edits.

Opiate Abuse is Epidemic – That’s Just Where We’re At
Opiate addiction is now at an epidemic state. No longer is the stigma limited to a homeless person living under a bridge. In most every single family in the United States there’s at least one, if not a handful of addicts and alcoholics.

Addiction in Nashville is no different than addiction in any other major city. Perhaps Nashville enjoyed a lull during its tremendous growth spurt from the early nineties through the current day. However, addiction has caught up with Nashville, or perhaps, Nashville has finally caught up with everywhere else.

Removing the Stigma
Used to be spotting an addict was easy. That’s because yesterday’s addict fit into a certain, very definitive stigma. An addict was typically a heroine user, walking blindly down the street in the wrong part of town, enjoying his current high, and/or seeking his or her next. Addiction these days, has a whole new face making it nearly impossible to detect.

Addiction’s “face” now is now the face of everyone you know, from attorney to homeless person. Everyone, is now in the “class” of addicts. Why? Because opiate prescripts are now readily prescribed at a rate of more than 10-times what it was just 20 years ago, making it possible, perhaps even easy, for housewife to homeless, pregnant mom to become addicted on a level never seen before, thanks to both slow and fast-acting opiate prescriptions flooding the pharmacies, and now the streets.

The Cheaper Alternative – Heroine
No one who injects or snorts heroine ever planned to become a heroine addict. Heroine is what you might call a “last resort drug” due to its low cost, and being readily available. The transition typically occurs when someone has been prescribed opiate medications for pain relief, such as oxycodone, Oxycontin, and then is either denied refills, or exceeds the prescribed amount.

Seeking an alternative, they turn to what’s available, and very cheap – Heroine. Most people are shocked to learn their doctor, barber, attorney, fellow housewife, coworker, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, mom, or dad, has fallen victim to the opiate cycle and drifted into either snorting or injecting heroine.

In part 2 of “The Opiate Cycle”, we’ll learn how easy it was for one prominent Nashville businessman to fall victim to the “opiate cycle” that drove him to the streets of Nashville to buy drugs to replace his growing narcotic pill addiction.

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If you, or someone you know is battling opiate addiction, call (615) 431-3701 today, to start a doctor-assisted Suboxone program that can help you get your life back.