We’re not that far removed…far removed from the announcement by our govt in February of ‘21, that “suicides were down” over the last yr. How could that be w all the world was facing?
If you remember that post, it was so infuriating to me, that the powers that be made that proclamation – announcing it over a specific 12 month span, leaving out the “minor” detail, that over the same span, overdose deaths had gone up 30k!! They listed those deaths, in a hidden way, under “accidental deaths.” It wasn’t till months later, after the news abt the suicides had no longer been in the cycle, that they revealed what those accidental deaths were from. Infuriating, as BOTH those types of deaths are due (in large part) to underlying MH.
Now, yesterday, we get the news, that the latest statistics show that from April of ‘20 to April of ‘21 – for the 1st time EVER, overdose deaths surpassed 100k in a 12 month period.
That is a STAGGERING #. The word has stopped bc deaths due to this p@ndem1c have been in the hundreds of thousands. You can’t turn on the TV w/o hearing abt it. But overdoses now over 100k…where is the outrage?? Where is the policy? Where are the changes? Who’s sounding the alarm?
This gets me so fired up. There are many reasons why the answers to the above are “nowhere” & “no one.” But a big one is: overdose is still looked at as “deaths of those drug addicts.” You know – the problem kids from HS. The ones who are “damaged.” When are we going to wake up that use of drugs (& alcohol) & so many other vices, are directly linked to one’s escape from social & emotional pain…that MH & substance abuse GO TOGETHER. (I’m not downplaying how big a part the use of fentanyl in these drugs & how easy it gets here is a BIG part of the issue. Just highlighting why ppl use in the first place.)
100k! We didn’t learn anything from the “Just Say No” campaigns not working. If the powers that be won’t do it, we must all hold hands & get this message out there: MH underlies most/all of this use. With the compound trauma of the last 2 yrs, those overdose #s aren’t getting any better unless we address the CORE of what’s causing them.