I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more

I love this scene. One of my favorites of all time from the memorable 70’s movie, Network. I have not seen a movie this good in years. It illustrates how frustrated I feel about the loss of so many lives of young people especially in the last few years

How many thousands more kids do we have to lose to overdose and suicide before we make genuine change? Before we talk more openly? Before we demand more affordable treatment options for people with mental illness? Before we declare addiction as a disorder and not a moral failing?

How do we fix all this? The heroin epidemic is this century’s bubonic plague. Created by us and not some alien mystery bacteria. There are things we can do yet we still point fingers.

I hear almost nothing about suicide related to this opiate epidemic. Yet almost all the addicts I’ve talked to who went through withdrawal told me they thought about killing themselves. Taking shoestrings and drawstrings out of sweatpants is protocol for admission to detox. Yet I see nothing in the media about it.

I talk to so many parents that have lost a child by suicide. I know we talk a lot about it here. But it’s generally not ever considered as a possible cause of death because those who need to hear about it don’t.

Suicide rates have tripled since 1999 yet very few high schools screen for it, talk about it and even fewer have resources for a transition plan for kids from a psych hospital back into a school setting.

I see things are changing. I am grateful for that. But not fast enough!

I think I’m mad as hell today because it’s too late for my son, Charles. And I miss him.

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This is what I live for. It doesn’t get better than this