Drugs and injuries

When the news hit that Tysom Hill’s brother, Dexter, has suddenly died, I searched for the cause but the news was scant until today,

My middle son has been fighting the fight of opiates for 15 years now. 18 of his friends have died from heroin and it did not phase him one bit. It not only robs him of his friends and freedoms but drugs have robbed him of any motivation to work or even get up in the morning to start the day. Anything that was precious to my wife, fly rods that have been around the world with me to special places catching special fish are long gone, sold to pawn shops for pennies leaving me angry and bitter.

I can only imagine the HELL the entire Hill family has had to endure and my heart aches for them and their loss.

The medical industry is fully aware of the torment of destruction and broken families they sow with opiates and yet they continue to prescribe this pestilence on our communities…there has got to be a better way.

Some good points. I feel terrible for the Hill family. In my line of work I deal with the addicts through recovery and restoration. It’s a nasty battle to be sure. Few make it out.

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Very saddened to read about this as I have seen so much of it over the years, so much pain and sorrow. In terms of addiction this is the telling point at the end of the article: “At some point there has to be some kind of outside help,” Jordan said with tears in his eyes. “The biggest fight of Dex’s life was thinking it was a battle only he could win.” A battle only he could win: it is only when that myth (a myth that lives in the minds of the vast majority of addicted people) dies and help is genuinely sought, accepted and acted on, that the battle can be won.

And there is growing awareness among health care professionals - including docs - that pain killers have a high probability of becoming addicting substances. But more, much more, needs to be done in awareness and action.

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I agree. This whole thing is very sad. I read the Dexter Hill articles, watched the video put out by the funeral home, and I literally cried.

I think it’s safe to say that the majority of people in prison right now are there because of some drug related issue. Our society has failed miserably when it comes to how we deal with issues related to drug abuse. The war on drugs is being lost every day, we provide prescription drugs that are often more addictive than the so called illegal drugs out there, we legalize drugs (alcohol, marijuana) and then wonder why society has so many ills.

There are many solutions, but none that people are willing to agree on and adhere to. Whether it is the greed of needing to feel better by drugging up or making money off drugging up, society is not willing to change or do what is necessary to stop it.

Jim H: Adherence is the key to overcoming additive drugs, whether legal prescriptions or illegal ones. Adherence means to stand tall against addicting drugs like pain killers and meth for example. Having had several surgeries in my old age I always take only the first RX of pain killers and take no more. My wife does the same thing. I am not claiming to be “better than thou,” my wife and I have just learned to resist the temptation or so-called needs for more drugs. We live is a cruel and evil world where as has been said in these posts, the lucre of money, not adhering to resisting drugs and illegal substances is a major weakness in our society. I grew up in an alcoholic family and the only thing that got me away from the alcoholic cycle was finding the LDS Church and trying to live the teachings of the Church, including the Word of Wisdom. That is a long long way from the alcoholic and tobacco ridden culture that I grew up in. I pray for all those who are temped or overcome by these addictive substances. Good points in your post Jim H. BB

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So sorry to hear how this scourge has affected your family not to mention the Hill family. I think we can probably all relate stories about someone close to us that is affected by pain killers or other drugs. My heart goes out to families impacted by this. I hope that coaches in college sports are paying attention. We need to let players heal rather than giving them pain killers so they can stay on the field. There is a moral responsibility. Max Hall is probably the highest profile player in recent years that had issues with this. You wonder how many others are out there with similar stories and we just never hear about it.

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I remember back in the mid to late 80’s, while I was a student at BYU, there were several football players who got in trouble for altering prescriptions for pain killers. I remember Trevor Molini, a gifted tight end, as one of them. I think the drugs were called Percodan or something like that too.

It was a bummer because I kept thinking to myself that they were only taking the drugs so they could play through the injuries they had and that they had become addicted and started doing illegal things. It just wasn’t a good situation.

I have met with several thousand addicts (alcohol being just a liquid drug) over the 38 years I have worked with them and not a single one of them wanted to be addicted nor believed (early on) they would become addicted.

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I don’t know how well they compensate you for your services but it has to be gratifying to look back through your career and remember the faces of people you helped out of addiction. I’ll just say that military servicemen are not the only heroes that deserve our respect and admiration! Thank you for the good work you do!

Thanks Glenn.