Beth Macy (Photo by Josh Meltzer courtesy Little, Brown and Company)
Another year, and the opioid epidemic continues.
In mid-2018, Virginia health officials had projected a downward trend in overdose deaths in the commonwealth, but deaths spiked in the third quarter. Earlier in the week the state revised its report on fatal drug overdoses and now says it expects 1,229 deaths from opioid overdoses for 2018 when it finishes assessing data through year’s end. There also were 1,229 opioid overdose deaths in the commonwealth in 2017.
Drug overdoses have been the leading cause of early death in the state since 2013, but the epidemic goes back decades. Currently, heroin and illicitly produced fentanyl account for most of the deaths, though the epidemic has its roots in prescribed painkillers. Bestselling author Beth Macy has chronicled the history of the opioid epidemic and provided perspective and stories of some of the families devastated by opioids in her nonfiction bestseller "Dopesick," subtitled "Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America."
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Macy says the book traces the history of the opioid epidemic through three different Virginia communities that serve as surrogates for what’s going on across the country. She says that she “tried to cover all aspects from a holistic way.”
The Roanoke resident will discuss her book at an event set for Jan. 26 at Meadowdale Library in North Chesterfield. Registration is required. A reception and book signing for the Friends of the Chesterfield County Public Library begin at 6 p.m., and the public presentation, followed with a question-and-answer session and book signing, begins at 7 p.m.
The title of the book refers to the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. Macy seeks to give an up-close view of how opioids became entrenched in our culture, and offer some perspectives on what it’s going to take to make positive changes and turn the tide.
The author says treatments need to be science-based, and that science shows the best approach involves the use of medications including buprenorphine or methadone with counseling and other measures instead of relying on abstinence on the part of the addict. Studies show that medication-assisted treatment can prevent deaths, relapses and criminal behavior.
“The science is really clear,” says Macy.
Just as there are misconceptions regarding an abstinence- versus a medication-based treatment approach, there is still a stigma over all aspects of addiction. It’s often perceived as a failure of character, though science shows that “the brain has been hijacked for the drug,” says Macy.
People realize they need to educate themselves about addiction, Macy says, and some readers have told her that the book has helped provide insight, that they never previously understood that a son or daughter dealing with addiction couldn’t stop on their own.
“It’s so easy to blame a person,” Macy says.
Some attendees at her book signings have had to deal with the overdose death of a person close to them. They come asking Macy to inscribe the book in honor of the lost child or friend. It’s hard to know what’s going on when you’re intimately involved with a loved once in crisis, what happened that put that person in a personal hell.
“There’s so much pain out there,” Macy says. “The book helps people reframe what happened.”
And while she says she was somewhat pessimistic regarding the opioid epidemic, her optimism has grown as she’s seen a more positive public response, with more harm reduction efforts and increased community collaborations.
She noted one example in her hometown in which the nonprofit medical center Carilion Clinic emergency room has taken a more holistic approach to treating people dealing with overdoses, offering medication-assisted treatment and follow-up care instead.
She also noted the implementation of a syringe exchange program in Wise County in Southwest Virginia. A similar program has been offered since October in metro Richmond through Health Brigade, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch report.
The 384-page “Dopesick” was released in August and is a New York Times bestseller. It is one of three nonfiction finalists for a 2019 Carnegie Medal for Fiction and Nonfiction.
The author says she is not really surprised, but has been heartened by the public’s response to such a difficult and demanding subject. “It’s a hard topic, a somewhat hard read. I’m grateful that people are reading it,” she says.
