It’s not the chemicals that cause addiction (2017)
I've got a friend who recently was hospitalized for fentanyl addiction.<p>Twenty years ago he was my first investor in my first startup. He was the guy that taught me about mediation. He was the first vegetarian I knew.<p>He owned four cab licenses in Portland. Then Uber came in and shredded his retirement plan. The cab company forced him out so he wouldn't even capitalize on the partial ownership of the land they owned. He lost everything. He has nothing left.<p>He discovered some awful things about his father. His brother died in a gruesome car crash at 25.<p>I remember him telling me about oxycotin (edited: I misremembered it as oxycodone), this "miracle drug" without the addiction of morphine. He got on that.<p>Ten years later he was using heroin. Then fentanyl more recently.<p>I'm pretty angry at the Sakler family. I'm mad at the drug cartels. I'm not mad at my friend. He's a generous and loving person.<p>Everyone has a story. I'm sure some are full of awful actions that led them to where they are, but I don't see my friend in that way.