A community on the front lines of the opioid epidemic
I&#x27;m reluctantly commenting, throwaway account. I had spent an hour writing this huge note, but don&#x27;t think it was constructive. Check out the reddit description of opiates and heroin, the youtube spoken word video will help non-addicts understand the power of these drugs and the control they have over your life and your brain chemistry and how easy it is to become dependent.<p>I am an addict. I have been all of my life, and will be until the day I die (hopefully at an old age and happy).<p>I&#x27;m also business owner, young and I would say very successful compared to others in my age group.<p>Ironically, I actually credit Oxy for getting sober from alcohol (coming on 3 years), and I&#x27;ve been sober from cocaine for probably around 3.5 years (don&#x27;t remember, very blurry).<p>However I&#x27;m currently dependent on opiate pills and I feel very lucky that I can afford my addiction, at least for now.<p>I&#x27;m afraid to get sober. I&#x27;m afraid to tell the truth to the ones I love who supported and congratulated me on getting sober from alcohol and cocaine.<p>Instead of telly a long story, I wanted to offer some ideas to this community, from the perspective of an addict and entrepreneur, a few of these could even be successful startups that save lives:<p>1) doctors need to stop prescribing. I am very open with my Doctor, it is written on the front page of the screen that shows my health record: previously cocaine dependent, alcoholic. Yet when I went in for a bad burn, they prescribed Percocet. I went to the doctors seeking some numbing cream and to ensure I didn&#x27;t get an infection. But I got pills, and I&#x27;m an addict. I KNEW 100% I would become addicted. It didn&#x27;t happen over night of course, but here I am.  Replacement therapy is called liquid handcuffs for a reason: methadone is dangerous and deadly, Sub withdrawal I hear is worse than oxy&#x2F;heroin withdrawal. I would love to see an experiment long term between traditional replacement therapy, compared to actually supplying addicts with pure drugs.<p>2) make a reliable and widely available and free test kit to detect Fent and other deadly synthetic and powerful opiates.<p>3) make a cheap wearable fitbit like device. It will detect slowed&#x2F;stopped breathing and alert either authorities or maybe an app that has listed contacts who are trained and have access to naloxone, like a rape or danger alert sent to your designated contacts and if no response 911.  It would have to have little monetary value so it&#x27;s not sold, but maybe could help save some lives.<p>4) make an implant that can detect slow breathing&#x2F;overdose and administer naloxone during an overdose internally. Like a diabetes monitor&#x2F;pump.<p>5) sue Purdue and change our countries addiction to prescription pain killers. To me this is the big tobacco of our time. They spent millions and millions advertising and buying doctors telling them this is a non-addictive 12 hour pain reliever. Pain in the past was rarely medicated. Purdue changed this and made billions. The truth is Percocet&#x2F;Oxy usually lasts only 6-8 hours, maybe 10 if you&#x27;re lucky. Each individual is unique. Purdue advertised 12 hours non-addictive and that&#x27;s how doctors prescribed. so when the pain comes back before 12 hours or you start getting sick you take the next pill. And you use your entire script before the next refill.  They MUST have known this. Profiting on addiction is shameful. Marketing a product to purposefully create addicts to sell more pills is criminal an I hope that somebody can leak or a prosecutor can make this case and bring some justice, and badly needed funding to aid in recovery, research, and alternative replacement options.