Thursday, June 13, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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The opiate crisis is continuing to get worse in the United States and is now being considered a “syndemic,” after graduating from being an epidemic. A syndemic is when two or three epidemics start playing off of each other.
Right now, besides the opiate epidemic, we also have the benzodiazepine epidemic and the methamphetamine epidemic. All three epidemics are fueling each other.
The opioid crisis has been around for quite some time, as has the benzodiazepine problem, and the methamphetamine problem has reappeared in the past few years.
The opioid epidemic came first and can be said to have spun the other problems alongside it. What’s happening is that these three problems have created major increases in new HIV and hepatitis C infections, sexually transmitted diseases and infectious endocarditis.
I knew that if we didn’t really step up and get a handle on this problem, it was going to get worse, and it has. The opioid epidemic that has claimed thousands upon thousands of lives has grown into a scarier monster.
