for The Fix

The national conversation around the opioid epidemic in this country is often focused on prescription pain medication like OxyContin, Percocet, and fentanyl. The increased prescription of these highly addictive drugs results in addicted people who don’t adhere to our preconceived notion of who an “addict” is. Grandmothers, star athletes, devoutly religious folks who otherwise abstain from drugs and alcohol—these are not the type of people our society generally associates with the word “junkie.” These people are not to blame for their circumstances, some argue; it’s the doctors or the pharmaceutical companies or simply an accident—an unfortunate consequence of the addictive nature of these drugs (continued)…