Donna I watched the video and thought it was great, thanks for the work. I buried a son who was addicted to opiates. I will add as an anecdote that when I had an accident and tore my quad muscles loose from my knee in 2009 I was thankful for the sleep OxyContin let me have till I could have the repair operation and I didn’t take them all nor continue taking any medication. There are alternative narratives.

Which leads me to my bias. I am for education, treatment, calm facts and the calm level way you presented this material. It seems to me “war” (in this case the “war on drugs”) has been counterproductive with increasing drug use, massive incarceration, destabilization of the Americas, lots of money and lives spent with the “problem” getting worse. I apologize for responding to your article with a “soapbox” but it it is one aligned with your closing statements — there is hope through unification, treatment and honesty. I’d propose in the presence of the crisis we might be better served to pull together and restrain our “feelings” of lashing out in fear/anger and maybe better served to choose restrained reasoned empathetic investigation and compassionate solution using data and calm rational steps toward humane results.