Junkie? Or someone struggling with opioids?
Opioid addiction doesn't make you a druggie or a loser. It can happen to anyone. Someone you work with. Someone you love. Or even, to you. In fact, some people are more susceptible to addiction than others. It can happen even when medications are prescribed and taken as directed.
Opioids can be a particularly diabolical. At first it seems like a miracle relief from severe pain. But for some, over time, the body needs a higher dosage to achieve the same level of pain relief. By the time the pain begins to subside, opioids have changed your brain chemistry. So when you try to stop taking them, you have intense physical and psychological symptoms of withdrawal.
Someone addicted to opioids is a real person with a real illness. And they deserve to be treated humanely, and with understanding of the challenges they're going through.
In many ways, opioid use disorder (addiction) is a chronic condition like other chronic health conditions, requiring ongoing care and behavioral lifestyle changes.