The Insidious Disease

The Insidious Disease

Over the course of a year I talk to hundreds, if not thousands, of people. It is one of my favorite things about my job that I can stop to take a few minutes to engage people in conversation and get to know something about them. I suppose that over the past decade the most mentioned subject has been the opioid epidemic in which we find ourselves. I believe it is fair to say that, at least over the past few years, every family I speak to has a story to tell of a family member who has fallen into the grip of these drugs. A while back I thought the big drug was going to be methamphetamine but the oxycodone, Oxycontin, fentanyl, heroin group has surged into the lead. The pervasiveness of the drug abuse that we now see are far above any that I have witnessed in my lifetime and I was alive in the 60s. It is no misnomer to call it an epidemic. The despair that I see in the eyes of those who have lost loved ones or who have loved ones in its throes is heartbreaking. Every family.

A while back I was having a Facebook conversation with a friend of mine who pastors in an inner city environment. He is one of the finest men that I know and , with his wife, they make a great team. They would never surrender but over the past few years I have witnessed the struggle they are going through. Remaining unjudgemental after facing this issue and the related crime that accompanies it has been difficult and has taken a toll. The conversation we were having had to do with what agency is going to have to take the lead if we are to combat this addictive crisis. His argument was that churches are in the best position to take the lead and I agree with their unique ability to address the issue. What I said to him was that, even so, churches are unable or unwilling to take up the cross.

Don't take me wrong. There are some churches that are elbow deep in the battle and who are doing good work that is profitable. Celebrate Recovery is a wonderful church sponsored addiction recovery program that is reclaiming lives all over but the efforts by the churches are just not enough. Let's face it. Until this problem comes home to someone and takes on reality most people just want to be insulated from it. Some churches don't want to be associated with those sinful people who are so needy and, to be fair, there are quite a few people who won't attend church with them. Well, that's on them. My position in this discussion was that I agreed that even if churches become healers the problem is too great, too pervasive for them to handle. And, it has to be recognized that addicts are not too keen on being looked down on by the righteous and don't look there.

Government agencies are going to have to take the lead if the numbers are to be met. Why should we have to deal with those miscreants who brought it on themselves? Well, other than the milk of human kindness we have to recognize that each one of them is costing us money in crime, medical expenses and, in many cases, disposing of the remains after they die. Hospital emergency rooms are filled with overdoses costing the taxpayer millions of dollars. Surely we can do a better job of rescuing these people. We will hesitate not an instant to imprison the addicts on any charge we can think up but this does not address the issue and it costs tens of thousands of dollars to house an inmate per year.

What do we do? First we have to take an honest look at the socioeconomic issues that drive addiction. It is not just a character flaw. Just get over that depiction. People know what to do but the problem is funding. Too many politicians make hay over castigating the addict which does absolutely nothing to deal with the issue but makes great stump speeches and 10 second campaign ads. After recognizing the problem we must get the addict off the street but not in prison. Prisons are only schools for criminals. We must get them into treatment facilities but even that is not enough. If an addict gets clean he is still not healed. Without further help the recidivism rate is astronomical. The recovering

addict will have to be housed in a half-way house or some other kind of supervisory method for months. Those months must be used to teach the recovering addict skills he or she is going to need for living without drugs. Without that there is only hopelessness and a return to addiction. Even with all of these things there is a high possibility that the former addict will once again become addicted and have to go through the whole thing again. This is just the way it is. It is an insidious disease.

Here's the problem. It is going to take money and lots of it. It is going to take social workers in numbers large enough to make a difference. And it's going to take a change of attitudes from people who only wish to be rid of the addict. In the long run it will be a big money saver because we will save those medical costs, imprisonment costs and the cost of the accompanying crime. Look at it this way. It will probably cost way less than fighting senseless wars.

Here's My Take on this one. Let's fight the wars at home.

Is it "too late baby, now it's too late" ?

The Beginning is Now

I suspect that what we are seeing now is the beginning.

The U.S. Military is on record as stating that climate change is the biggest threat to our national

security. By avowing this they put themselves squarely in the sights of Congress which promptly forbade them from using any money for research. After all, what you don't know can't hurt you can it? The Navy is acutely aware of what climate change means for their naval bases and Army and Marine units feel the pinch of procuring diesel fuel for their forward bases. The are already sending solar units out with each deployment since the major use of electricity in the field is for air conditioning.

Climate change is affecting the barrier reefs around the world and contributing to a die off of species that depend on the reef for sustenance. Inevitably the result of this travels up the food chain and

creates shortages of the fish that so much of the globe's population depends on. Food sources that once sustained inter-generational families now can't and those who can are forced to move on for work so they can feed the families.

What does this mean? Of what is it the beginning? Much of the news of the past couple of years has been about the migration of Asians and Africans to Europe. Only a small percentage are fleeing the ravages of war. The majority are fleeing their homes because they can no longer sustain life there. Climate change has already made such a difference in these formerly marginally sustainable areas that the tipping point has been reached. When people are hungry or distressed they will eventually seek out a place where their lives can be better.

Our recent election season was dominated by xenophobia and racism toward the migrants that have come from south of our border to try to find a part of the American dream. Most are eager and hard-working people who will be an advantage to our country but more important are the reasons for which they are moving. In the countries from which they come there is little economic opportunity and where that is happening there are often totalitarian governments that are corrupt or a lack of governmental control over safety. In many the economy is based on illegal drug trafficking and if one does not cooperate they are murdered. Guatemala and Nicaragua are destitute countries that

contribute to the illegal migration across our borders. Mexico is troubled by cartels that make it impossible to live a normal life. In England we have seen xenophobia rise too as a motive to exit the European Union. As in the United States victory for the exit was fed by the premise that the migrants are responsible for the loss of low skill jobs that have been lost to other factors. In France the right wing extremists led by Marion LePen have a decent shot at overthrowing the present government using xenophobia as an issue. Austria has just rejected the opportunity to bring a more authoritarian government to power as has Italy. Turkey, long a bulwark against jihadists, is now becoming more authoritarian under Prime Minister Erdogan. Even thought there are other issues that demand attention the appeal to racism and nationalism threatens to undo democratic societies all around the globe. The point here is that these people are on the move because, as one factor, climate change has made their homes impossible to live in.

The loss of subsistence fishing in the area around the South China Sea and Malay peninsula is forcing people off their homes and into cities. In this area alone there are 333 million people under threat of rising sea levels caused by climate change. In China we are seeing a more autocratic leadership that is strengthening the bonds of the ruling Communist Party. China sees a future in which natural resources are more critical and are attempting to secure domination of their future supply chain. With well over a billion people Chinese leaders understand what could happen when a restive populace begins to move. Recently we have seen Russia attempting to regain a foothold in the Middle East not only to assure oil supplies but also to gain access to warm water ports from which to import and export. Right here is the main reason you see confrontation between these superpowers and the United States and it is the main reason the United States can't just withdraw from these areas.

One can deny that climate change is brought on by human activity or not but that does not change the facts on the ground that it is happening. The question is what will we do. Instead of preparation would we prefer altercation? Is war preferable to developing technologies that we already have to provide us with critical energy supplies. If you wonder why authoritarians want to increase the size of the military look no further. These people aren't stupid, they just lack imagination and a commitment to democratic government.

Many are under the mistaken perception that wars are fought over ideology and conquest and that is a mistaken perception. Wars are fought over economic advantages and access to raw materials. The days of Alexander the Great and Charlemagne are gone. Nobility has nothing to do with war. It is a

dollars and cents game and climate change is going to raise the stakes. Whether or not we can whip the Russians or Chinese makes no difference since the outcome is the same. Climate change is not going to be a respecter of nations, democratic, totalitarian or communistic. What climate change will do is eat up more and more of the dollars available to create a more equitable nation and put us and each others throats for mere survival. It has potential to destroy civilization and in the end, possibly bring extinction.

Some say that it is foretold, the end of the ages. My Take is that we better plan as if that is not true.