JELLYBEANERS
by
Gene Scott
The scourge of opioid addiction is deeply woven throughout world history, and our own Civil War produced roughly 200,000 addicts who spent their remaining years navigating shattered limbs and unstable minds.
Fast forward a century-and-a-half.
A 2016 report by the American Society of Addiction Medicine revealed that approximately two million Americans were addicted to prescription opiods in 2015. Specifically, overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers took 20,101.
Jellybeaners is a contemporary novel set in the heart of Appalachia, revealing the money ties, political corruption, wasted lives, and overall cash churning nature of the prescription pill culture from perspectives spanning both sides of the law.
MY THOUGHTS
Drug addiction of all kinds is at epidemic proportions, It just didn't happen in the last few years. This has been going on for decades. This book deals with opioid addiction starting after the Civil War when thousands of soldiers came back with shattered bodies, in pain and their minds tormented.
Here we are today, only the problem is worse, much worse.
A lot of times it starts out as young teens wanting to be in the "in crowd" and it escalates. They try one drug and it leads to another. It's not just young people, so many men coming back from the wars that are going on and their minds and bodies are in turmoil. The problem doesn't discriminate. It hits all levels of people, the rich, the poor, different professions, anyone. Prescriptions are written for the pain of the body and pills for the torment of the mind. Soon those pills gain a tolerance in your body and you need more and then more isn't enough and it goes to harder drugs. Soon you are addicted and the addiction can ruin entire lives, not only theirs but their loved ones. Often times you can try to help but that help is turned away. It isn't that they don't love you, they have lost their sense of reason. All they know is drugs. They will sell anything, do anything for drugs. Sure there are times it is obvious a person is an addict, but there are also times when you can't recognize it. Drug addictions lead too often to overdoses, just to get that high, to forget whatever is tormenting them. Those overdoses KILL. The drug culture is a big business. People are getting rich off of ruining lives. Getting rich off of KILLING people. The book talks of prescription drugs. This often is the start of the addiction but drugs can be gotten off the street, for a price. As time goes on the price becomes more and more.
We want to blame the person who decides to take the drug and sometimes that is so very true. But think, sometimes the pain, the torment, the trying to survive day to day or moment to moment is too much to bear, so they resort to drugs. Don't pass judgement till you have walked in their shoes. Some can deal and some have a hard time dealing. We need to care, more and more addictions are happening every day and more and more are dying every day.
WHAT CAN WE DO? WHAT WILL WE DO? to save our loved ones, our mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and friends.
I received a copy of this book from the author and Word Slinger Publicity and voluntarily decided to review it.
I would give this book 5 STARS.
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