Over the last few years, several American states have filed lawsuits against major pharmaceutical companies for the unlawful and immoral methods of selling opioid pain medications. Colorado has long since been one of the states taking action against Big Pharma, with its targets set specifically on Purdue, the company who created Oxycontin. In a recent turn of events, the state of Colorado has amended and added to their ongoing lawsuit against Purdue Pharmaceuticals, adding more allegations and defendants. As of now, the lawsuit remains private under a confidentiality agreement, but Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser is working to make it available to the public. The Opioid Epidemic in Colorado As with just about every other American state, the opioid epidemic has been a silent killer, taking hundreds of thousands of lives over the last decade. For a large majority of that time, it went undiscussed. People often blamed those that were addicted, for moral weakness or a product of their environment. Once “white collar” Americans, soccer moms, and the elderly started coming forward about their unwilling and accidental decline into opioid addiction, people started to take notice. Inpatient treatment also became an absolute necessity for many new people. Over the last ten years, over 5000 Coloradans have died at the hands of the opioid epidemic. Records have shown that deaths of pregnant women have increased due to opioid addiction over the last few years, yet the state is ill-equipped to house and rehabilitate pregnant women and mothers with addiction. The goal of Colorado’s lawsuit against Purdue is not just to make a statement, but to open more substance abuse and...
Back in the early days of this whole recovery world we now find ourselves in, drunks and addicts pretty much had one option, sober up in the clink, and then go back home. If they were unsuccessful in their first few attempts, they would be locked up in an asylum and labeled insane. Today, we have a much more diverse variety of sober living and inpatient treatment to choose from on our journey of recovery. For many of us, some sort of halfway house or sober living is to be expected. So why exactly is attending sober living so important for us, what role does it play in our recovery, and do we really need it? What is Sober Living? In what has pretty much become the norm of people in recovery these days, the usual “getting sober” timeline looks something like this: Detox Inpatient treatment Sober Living (often with outpatient treatment) Life! In that wonderful and chaotic period of becoming newly sober, sober living is usually the stepping stone that separates those who want it and those who don’t. In that period of time, people are leaving treatment and entering the real world. Rather than just jumping into their own apartment or going back to live with their parents, sober living provides a nice gentle cushion to help them get back onto their feet without going too deep too fast. Also, let’s be honest, moving back in with parents or family is not always the healthiest emotional place for many newly recovering addicts, as the same old triggers will always be there. Comparatively, moving into a year-long lease by...
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