As I look at the numbers for increased opioid addiction and its alternatives, I do not see a drug problem. I see a self-medicating problem. Similar to many other substance abuses, this is an escape from reality, a numbing from internal noise, and a running as fast as one can in place but needing something to calm the storms of soul and mind.

This is not a drug problem. It is a relational problem. People are overwhelmed by the bureaucracy of ingenious relationships. They are enslaved by emotional terrorism. They are falling victim to secondary and tertiary trauma. The images, the sounds, and the noise of others drowning in their own sweat and blood must be numbed, forgotten, and minimized. This is just a scratch of the surface. We have not discussed device drunkenness, the blithe of unhealthy body images; or touched the pathologization, criminalization, or beastialization of whole groups.
We do not have a drug problem. We have a humanity problem.