Being a McDonald’s cashier, you never expect to see one of your customers pass out over the front counter from being extremely inebriated/ overdosed on drugs. I recently experienced this, and I can’t seem to stop thinking to myself Why have people let their lives get to this? Why have we turned to drugs to help solve our issues? Why did some people laugh, and others just act like that just didn’t happen?
No one tried to help him, maybe it’s because they didn’t know how, or they just didn’t care or maybe it's a stigma that people have built up against people of this nature. The death rate due to opioids and other narcotics is at an all-time high.
The man who passed out in the store I work in is okay, he got arrested and booked in jail but for a moment I caught myself thinking, is this guy going to be ok? While everyone else around me was laughing at the situation or just acting like they don’t care that a grown man is falling over the counter from being tweaked on some drug. Him being an adult he should know better, but some people get into these habits and just can’t shake them.
Or they stop and do good for a while then relapse, but there are very few who beat it completely those of you who are out there reading this and have beaten the addiction I’m proud of you. You overcome one of the greatest issues in your life.
The only thought that came to my mind was this guy is going to have to have Narcan (a solution that is administered in emergency situations by emergency personnel in the event of an extreme opioid overdose) but the guy eventually came to he was conscious and aware but severely inebriated/ high on a drug like I stated before. The thought is what if he had passed out and never came to before the police and EMS got there would the people surrounding me still be laughing and not acknowledging him? Or would they try to help? This man could have easily been another victim of the opioid crisis and no one not a soul would have cared.
Just because someone is a “crackhead,” “druggy,” “pill popper,” “junkie,” whatever you call people of this nature that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care.
Many of us probably know and love someone who is an addict have you ever thought that maybe that’s the last time you would see them alive? People who struggle with addiction isn't an issue that should go uncared about it should be taken seriously. The more and more they turn to the drug the more and more of a dose they take, and the human body can only take so much.
We should pay more attention to those who are in this state of life where they think drugs are the answer because it's not. I know addiction is hard. I’ve witnessed it in my own family with my aunt she overcame her addiction to meth and even though we don’t talk I just want to say I’m truly grateful she overcame it.
If you see someone struggling with addiction, please try to help them don’t just brush it off like its nothing. They are a human being too and they need help.
