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Drug Overdoses: The Epidemic Inflamed by the Pandemic
The stress, isolation, and lack of human connection have caused a spike in drug overdoses and addiction
RICHMOND, Va. Jerry Barton lost everyone around him to opioids. First, he lost his sister. Then, his girlfriend. Later, he lost a close friend from suicide stemming from addiction. And, in February, he found his childhood best friend dead from an opioid overdose.
Before the pandemic and the lockdowns hit, Barton had been 21 months clean from drugs. But the isolation, stress, and lack of human connection took a toll on him.
“It was depressing,” Barton told The Epoch Times inside a recovery home provided by The McShin Foundation, a nonprofit recovery community organization in Virginia. “It bothered me a lot it actually led to my relapse.”
By COLLEEN CURRAN
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Editorâs note: Some names in this story have been changed to protect the personal health information of the women who shared their experiences.
In the beginning of the pandemic, Jill, 40, told herself that pouring a glass of wine would help her cope with the anxiety and stress of lockdown.
Sheâd be watching âPaw Patrolâ with her three young kids for the hundredth time and have a glass of wine to cut through the boredom. Then sheâd have another with her husband before dinner. Then there were Zoom happy hours, some of the only times sheâd see her best friends, where she started getting creative with mixed drinks.
Honesty Liller started using drugs when she was 12.
“I just wanted to fit in with my friends,” she said. It was the start of a rocky journey that Liller, now 40, said took her to many dark places and made her a very different person.
“With a name like Honesty I would lie, lie, lie,” she added. But when she was 26 years old,
a phone call with her father made her realize the “living hell” she had put her family through. That’s when she decided to reach out for help.
Liller’s story is one in a widespread opioid crisis that has gripped the US since the late 1990s. Since 1999 the number of drug overdose deaths has quadrupled, with nearly 500,000 people dying from an overdose involving an opioid between 1999 and 2019, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Father who lost son to addiction weighs in on marijuana legalization
and last updated 2021-04-01 00:16:14-04
RICHMOND, Va. Governor Northam s announcement Wednesday, that simple possession of marijuana could be legal in the state by July, sparked conversation across the Commonwealth many with opposing views on the decision.
A VCU professor who lost his son to addiction, said he isn t opposed to the legalization of marijuana as long as there are strict regulations in place to protect youth. I speak for all the parents and fathers and mothers like me who went through the journey, life is never the same after that, said Dr. Omar Abubaker.