by Annie Yang
The opioid epidemic is a silent killer. Silent in the sense that in society, you hear about individual instances in which an actor or artist overdoses but collectively we fail to come together to talk about the entirety of the problem. We mourn the death of the individual and pass prayers and condolences. Sometimes we even shame the individual’s choices and decisions that ended them in the situation that they are in. But what we rarely do is talk about it. In a culture where we constantly point fingers and shift blame, we don’t see the damage it is causing when as a collective group, we fail to acknowledge the problem and work towards a common goal.