Ryan Courtade lives in Highland Heights.
It was a cold night last February. Snow was starting to fall. I was driving down Houston Road and I felt something hit my car. I pulled over to look, and realized a homeless man had walked in front of my car. He was dead.
Ryan Courtade
I was upset, unable to sleep. I’ve always been emotional in a world that doesn’t appreciate emotion. But I didn’t know what to do. I had a lot on my mind and wasn’t sure who to talk to. I turned to my Facebook looking for answers. I was ridiculed and called a crybaby. That I was searching for attention. If I was upset, I needed to see a doctor and get a prescription. They told me to get sleeping pills rather than offer to talk, offering the easy solution versus what is best.
Medication Instead of Stimulation
The mentality that we can fix everything with medication has been on the rise. We would rather trick our brains into being happy than look into the underlying sadness. We would rather medicate our kids into zombie-like states of consciousness because they can’t concentrate, instead of stimulating them as much physically as mentally. We look for the quick fixes rather than being willing to actually address the problem.
People spend so much time diagnosing others, demanding treatment from doctors based on increased marketing efforts by pharmaceutical companies, that medication is being prescribed in record numbers. Prescription of opioids (hydrocodone and oxycodone products) have risen from 76 million to 207 million since 1991. Is it coincidental that as drug prescriptions rise, illegal drug use and overdose deaths rise? Are we causing a drug epidemic?
Are we creating dependency early by medicating children, requiring them to have stimulant medications instead of psychotherapy? Are these drugs being monitored correctly?
Drugs and Violence
There have been 35 school shootings where the people involved were either on or coming off of psychiatric drugs. Federal Investigators have yet to look into the link of this senseless violence and the effect the drugs might have on these kids that are being treated by health care professionals. Why?
Are we creating disturbed kids and not moderating their medication and the effects that the medication is having on their brains? Do we realize that one in every 15 students is diagnosed with ADHD? That one out of every 25 students is on a stimulant medication? And children on stimulant medications have a larger chance of developing a substance abuse problem.
Do abused women feel that our society is openminded enough to listen and help them through their abuse? Or are they meant to feel shame, judgment, and lack of compassion from anyone they may ask for help? Women who have PTSD from childhood abuse or sexual assault have a much higher chance of drug abuse. To prevent feeling shamed, they turn to drugs to not feel anything.
We Need to Change Our Thinking
A societal shift of thinking needs to occur before this war on drugs will ever be won. We need a war on arrogance and intolerance. A war on superiority and ignorance. We need to give time to those going through traumatic experiences. We need to give time to our kids to keep them physically stimulated. We need to focus on fixing the person, not changing them with chemicals.
We need to fill our hearts with love and our minds with understanding and tolerance. Instead of ridiculing someone, let's help them through their hard times. We need to focus on being the best people we can be.
