Competing With the Sound Bytes of the Day

The other day when I watched the news it was all about the opioid epidemic, of course that all revolved around the Drug Czar appointment fiasco. The following day it was about the President and how he dealt with Gold Star families, the Attorney General testified before the Senate committee investigating Russian collusion, and the President reversed his stand on the healthcare subsides for insurance companies.  That got me to thinking: "How do we compete with the sound bytes when we want treatment for addiction?"

While many of us are watching the television, with a deer in the headlights look on our face, the President thinks it would be a good idea to frack south of Yellowstone.  Not to sure fracking any where near a super volcano is a good idea.  CHIPS failed to get re-newed...last I heard.  North Korea threatens nuclear war "at any moment."  I do have to admit that I find all the late night humor.  But while we are caught up in this side show, real things are being done/not done.  These things are having an impact, or are going to impact the citizens in several sectors of our lives.  The insurance market is unsure, mining may impact salmon spawning grounds in Alaska, our standing on the world stage, can the world trust us as their ally?

I am old enough to remember the fight over testing the blood supply for HIV.  In a televised meeting one CDC worker got up and demanded to know, how many people have to die before it becomes cost effective to test the blood supply.  Treatment for mental illness and drug addiction seems to be going down a similar path.  I remember in the beginning HIV was considered a homosexual disease and many people believed that it was only what they deserved...they were going against God.  The LGBT community really had to fight for research, of course that was after they had the fight over who was going to get credit for isolating the virus.  So, it seems no matter how many changes, the more things stay the same.  By that I mean that we are in for a fight to get things done.

I would urge all of you who have been impacted by drug addiction to call your congressman or woman and tell them as much of your story as you feel comfortable with.  I was involved in a town hall meeting with my two senators.  They did take my call and I got a very positive response from both of them.  I do agree we need more pain killers that are non-addictive, but when I asked for a commitment to insist that insurance companies cover higher cost medications that deal with a medical issue but is not a narcotic, well that was a bridge too far I think.  Unfortunately, that is what insurance companies are doing, it seems that the narcotics are cheaper, if not as affective. So, we can take one issue at a time, with all of us working together we can eat this whale of a problem.  Maybe if we break it down we can be heard loudly and clearly.

Katie