Drug overdoses kill more Americans under the age of 50 than anything else. More Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016 than during the entirety of the Vietnam War - and numbers are surging.
For years, Admiral James Winnefeld helped run the most powerful military in the world, but that was nothing compared to his battle to help his son combat addiction. Last year, Admiral Winnefeld lost his 17-year-old to the opioid epidemic. Following his loss, he turned tragedy into action and is now dedicated to urging solutions to stem this growing national catastrophe.
Admiral Winnefeld wrote an article for Atlantic after his son died at the University of Denver. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/11/an-epidemic-from-which-no-one-is-safe/546773/ You won’t agree with everything said, but it’s important to listen to those who have suffered this loss.
“There are several gateways to opioid addiction. Some people suffer a physical injury, and slowly develop a dependency on prescribed painkillers. Others self-medicate for mental ailments using whatever substance is available. Because the brain is so adaptable while it’s still developing, it’s highly susceptible to dependencies, even from non-opioids such as today’s newly potent marijuana strains. We now understand that early marijuana use not only inhibits brain development; it prepares the brain to be receptive to opioids. Of course, like opioids, marijuana has important medical applications, and it seems to leave less of a mark on a fully matured brain. It’s worth examining whether it would make sense to raise the legal marijuana age to 25, when the brain has fully matured.”
Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic (SAFE)
https://www.thecipherbrief.com/podcasts/familys-fight-reverse-americas-opioid-crisis Interesting interview with Winnfeld
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