The brutal truth about opioids

Since 1999, opioid abuse has been rapidly racking up its death toll of more than 400,000 deaths nationwide and 742 deaths in Washington State prior to 2017. As this drug becomes more common in our community, it’s important that Liberty students are educated.
“If there’s a situation involving opioids or other drugs now or in college or in your adult life, you should have the right tools to make an informed decision,” Principal Sean Martin said.
Opioids come in many different forms, whether it be as a powder or pale pills. There’s also homemade pills, or the street drug opioid. These street opioids can bring more dangers to one’s health.
“What we’re finding now is that a lot of the homemade pills tell you they’re made from one thing, but there’s no way to ensure that there are the right amounts to be safe for someone who’s taking them,” Officer Hale said. “In measuring an amount for a batch, some of the pills come out with different strengths and intensities of drugs in each individual pill.”
Students also need to know the effects these drugs can bring.
“Opioids occupy the receptor sites for our happy hormone, inhibiting our pleasure response. Those are really strong natural responses within our body,” AP Psychology teacher Laura Henry said. “It’s been associated with the feeling we get when we eat food and have sex—basically, biological life functions.”
Withdrawal symptoms of opioids are very dangerous, including depression, anxiety, and tremors are just a few examples of possible symptoms. It’s best to avoid these at all costs.
“Teens think, ‘it’s fine, it won’t bother me,’ but it does. It’ll happen. Addiction doesn’t discriminate,” said Laura Henry.