In a 12-month period, 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses.
 | By Alexandra Sifferlin Senior Staff Editor, Opinion |
Amid lockdowns, distancing and job loss, there was another epidemic ripping through America: Drug overdoses claimed over 100,000 lives from April 2020 to April 2021, a record figure. |
Maia Szalavitz, a writer who covers addiction and policy, argues that there's a reason times of uncertainty and economic inequality tend to be associated with higher levels of opioid addiction. On a chemical level, opioids can provide feelings of love and connection, potentially making these deadly and addictive drugs more appealing in periods of mass loneliness and disconnection. |
Some of the biggest risk factors for opioid overdose are social disconnection and using alone. And the pandemic has been associated with high rates of loneliness. Szalavitz, who was previously addicted to heroin, argues in a guest essay today that policymakers need to understand how opioids work in the brain. "It wasn't euphoria that hooked me," she writes. "It was relief from my dread and anxiety, and a soothing sense that I was safe, nurtured and unconditionally loved." |
Opioids mimic the neurotransmitters that are responsible for making social connection comforting, she writes. The human brain also makes its own versions of opioids, which help the body control pain and are critical to social bonds. |
Understanding the link between opioids and social connection can help policymakers better understand addiction and view it with more compassion, argues Szalavitz. "America can't arrest its way out of a problem caused by the fundamental human need to connect," she writes. |
Instead of jail time, people with addiction need a variety of resources and a chance to learn healthier ways to cope, she argues. "Some need psychiatric medications, including opioids themselves. (Long term use of methadone or buprenorphine is the only treatment proven to cut the death rate from opioids by half or more.) Some need therapy or stable housing or meaningful work. Some need new friends, and many need all of the above. None need jail simply for trying to feel OK." |
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