The Opioid Crisis

I wish I had known that the cocaine and heroine That killed my friends in the sixties and seventies Would become an “Opioid Crisis” in my later years. I wish I had known that somehow the same bad choices That not only killed but criminalized my friends back then Would make today’s addicts poor victims who need accommodation. I wish I had known that the press and government Would create the battle cry “Opioid Crisis” as a way to get readers and votes Without considering the consequences in our healthcare system. I wish I had known that because of measures taken To protect other people’s children who chose to misuse an illegal substance My child dying of cancer would be treated like a criminal when obtaining prescribed pain meds I wish I had known that at almost 60 years of age I would be fighting To get pain medicine I clearly need for a diagnosed condition And be treated like an addict on the street was in my youth I wish I had known that despite friends and family who love and care This would be the loneliest, most painful time of life Because those with the power to help are busy completing forms and counting pills. But I didn’t know. And the life I’ve lived has been a clean one in which I always strived to make the right choices, No speeding tickets, no parking tickets, no arrests, church on Sunday; And no relief from the pain that now fills the long nights. I didn’t know that I would have to watch a sweet young woman with stage four cancer Jump through hoops to get the meds that make her comfortable While addicts who overdose are fawned over, given expensive drugs, and promised no consequence. I didn’t know that I survived an abusive household growing up With alcoholic parents who enjoyed belittling me Only to find myself understanding suicidal depression for the first time as a senior adult. But now you know. May 15, 2019