With opioid and prescription drug abuse on the rise across the nation, Chaffee County Public Health has arranged for a special documentary video screening from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, at the SteamPlant Event Center Theater in Salida. The video, “Written Off: The Journals Will Explain Everything,” is a look at the stories and statistics behind this national epidemic, focusing on the human tragedies behind each addiction reality.
The documentary, based in northern Wisconsin, focuses on Matt, who recorded his struggle with addiction in journals during the last two years of his life. They reveal his repeated unsuccessful efforts to quit taking painkillers after becoming addicted following surgery. His mother, Jane, and best friend, Rose, both reveal the effects of addiction through their eyes. Matt told his mother, “I write everything that happens in there every day. So if anything happens to me, I would write about it, and you would know what happened to me.”
The video doesn’t just document the last two years of Matt’s struggle with addiction. It also includes an expert panel discussion on the science of addiction and the unintended overdoses that often occur when those addicted to opioids and pain medications try to pull back from addiction.
Nationwide, addiction to opioids is on the rise, particularly in rural areas and small towns. Every day, more than 115 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids, prescription pain relievers, heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. The Center for Disease Control calls it a “serious national crisis,” estimating the total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse in the United States is $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment and criminal justice involvement.
According to the CDC, as of 2016, the latest date for which data is available, there were 536 opioid-related overdose deaths in Colorado. This is a rate of 9.5 deaths per 100,000 persons, compared to the national rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 persons. Between 2012 to 2016, the number of heroin-related deaths increased from 91 to 234, while deaths related to synthetic opioids rose from 52 to 72.
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