Just so we're clear, anyone can get addicted to drugs, and it can be devastating. This post is not making fun of addicts.
It's taking a knife-swipe at people who swallow copaganda and spout all kinds of anti-medication rhetoric at me and people like me any time we mention managing our pain with anything other than "positive vibes" and exercise.
I've lost so many friends to the opioid crisis -- not from opioid use, but because the response to the opioid crisis was to start denying people (like me) adequate pain management, and they ended up seeking out other means to manage their pain. Non-legal means that killed them.
Me talking about being given fentanyl in a medical setting in an OR should NOT have resulted in as many people as it did, telling me I'm a bad person for "using drugs." (I kept scrolling and found even more, just like wtf)
And also, people who misuse substances are not bad people. They're sick. Usually in immense amounts of pain, be it physical or mental, and they deserve compassion and help.
Do not believe copaganda. Do not send people these kinds of weird moralizing messages about their healthcare because you've swallowed the copaganda. Use your heads.