Light Overcomes Dark

Light Overcomes Dark

There is a mad game of money going on in our world yet most of us are unaware it’s a game and we are the pawns. Unfortunately, the by product of this mad game has been people’s lives. A few of these games have been the cigarette industry, the banking investment industry, and the latest is the pharmaceutical industry. In all three of these cases the people at the top knew they were enslaving their customers to a lesser life leading in many cases to destroying their lives, however, they kept their dark game going since it meant more money for them. However, the light has exposed the first two and is shining brightly on the third.

The tobacco industry knew nicotine was addicting to the human brain. They knew what harm it could cause the human body. They knew once addicted, the customers would not be able to stop regardless of the affect on their lives. This dark game was finally brought into the light. The tobacco companies were made to pay. Advertisements to fully announce what nicotine does and what the tobacco companies did now play along with any advertisement for nicotine products because of their court settlement.

The banking and investment industry knew they were selling subpar investments based on shaky real estate mortgages. This was certainly a house of cards built on false information which involved banking, investment, insurance, real estate and the government. When it all came tumbling down in 2008 we were led into another distortion of the facts. Our government felt some of these companies were too big to fail due to the devastation it would cause in people’s lives which led them to prop up the companies. We have come into the light since these events to learn the truth of what went on including the players in this dark game. Many lives were forever changed from these events.

Now we are living the opioid crisis. Another dark game played on innocent lives. The shadow behind this game is the pharmaceutical industry. I am a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer. I see the effect on children with drug addicted parents regularly. I recently attended a training session on Opioid addiction and treatments. The session was very enlightening.  This video was shown during the presentation to explain the history of the epidemic. The first five minutes discusses addition overall and then narrows in on the opioid crisis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnm8xPUGSA0&feature=youtu.be

A few points to note from the video:

• Prior to the 1990’s opioids were mainly used for chronic pain in cancer patients
• Shift in the late 1990’s
• Pharmaceutical companies convince physicians that opioids were not addictive
• Push for opioids to be used for both acute and chronic pain
• Offices had to do satisfaction surveys which impacted their income
• Increase in the amount of prescriptions for opioids

OxyContin is highly addictive and its parent company Purdue Pharma knew it. (See https://www.foxnews.com/health/oxycontin-maker-placed-profits-over-people-lawsuit-reveals) Probably what is most unsettling to me is that same company is working to patent a drug to treat the addiction and reverse the damage done by its own oxycontin. (See http://fortune.com/2018/09/07/oxycontin-opioid-addiction-treatment-patent-richard-sackler-purdue-pharma/ ) Buprenorphine/Suboxone is one of the most effective drugs to treat the opioid addiction in a medically assisted treatment plan. Buprenorphine/Suboxone is highly regulated and restricted in its prescriptions.

The US leads all other countries in opioid abuse. “If you want to understand how we got here, there’s one simple explanation: It’s much easier in America to get high than it is to get help” a quote from the article The Opioid Epidemic, Explained (https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/8/3/16079772/opioid-epidemic-drug-overdoses)

Another disturbing fact I learned was fentanyl is now being laced into THC, marijuana. Fentanyl the other highly addictive drug being added by dealers into the street drugs is now in weed too. Why? The same reason it has been laced in many of the other drugs in the past few years. Known addiction means repeat customers. Fentanyl is highly addictive to the human brain. Imagine the effect of all those smoking weed to feel good because it is the non-addictive and won’t hurt you recreation drug. Laced with fentanyl this now becomes a lethal drug which will chemically alter the brain causing full addiction leading to the drug spiral to get a fix from anything or from anywhere… that is if it does not kill you first.

We all must wake up and stay awake! Ask questions. Dig deeper for the answers. Stay vigilant. When something seems wrong, not right, dishonest, then it probably is no matter how convincing the narrative might be. The good news is we are, as a collective whole, working to address the opioid crisis. The light has been turned on. Don’t be afraid to talk about it or tell your kids about it.

It is easy in times of stress, anxiety and fear to lose sight of universal principles that ground us and stabilize our world bringing peace and order to calm the worry and chaos that may be going on around us. One of these principles is that light always overcomes darkness. Darkness ceases to exist when the light is present. There are many spiritual teachings on the light overcoming the dark. In fact, in the bible alone there are multiple versus describing how light shines out of the darkness. In times of trial, hold on to the light. Be the light.