When people I went to school with die, I no longer ask what the cause was because I already know. It’s pretty much overdose 9 out of 10 times. Well over 10 people I know from high school have died of an opiate overdose, maybe more than 20. I lost 2 this week.
It can seem like every time I open Facebook, it’s someone else who “died suddenly,” and it’s always their friends and family hoping they “finally found the peace they were looking for.” Sadly, people of my generation are accustomed to former classmates dropping dead all the time. It’s par for the course. Of course, it’s sad, but the frequency of it happening almost numbs you to it.
Entering high school in 2000, I saw the pills hit the hallways of my school. All of a sudden, “junkie” didn’t mean some derelict individual living under a bridge somewhere; it was the prom queen and the captain of the football team. Everyone was using prescription painkillers, and none of us had any idea what we were getting into until it was too late.
The pills got harder to get and too expensive. The cheaper and more potent heroin came into the country in record amounts from the fall of the Taliban and the Mexican cartels, and then the cheaper fentanyl started mixing in from clandestine Chinese laboratories. It was a perfect storm for fatal overdoses.
I should probably be one of those Facebook posts. I overdosed twice in one week last summer when I was specifically trying to permanently escape a very painful life on the street. I got Narcan-ed by NYC EMTs on the sidewalk. I guess it wasn’t time for me to go yet. Thank God, I think I still have some things to shake out of this life.
I don’t know what my point is here, just an observation. I’ve never kept score of how many people I know that have died of a drug overdose, but I bet it’s more than I think it is.
I hope they found the peace they were looking for.
Hey , I know it’s sometimes pretty depressing, but if you like my work you can actually buy me a coffee, which I would be very grateful for.
