"It’s not easy to stay away from drugs once your body has a substance abuse disorder. The pump is primed. The brain wiring has been rewired."
— Jenna Portnoy and Dan Keating
Date
May 22, 2024
Metaphor
"It’s not easy to stay away from drugs once your body has a substance abuse disorder. The pump is primed. The brain wiring has been rewired."
Metaphor in Context
Frequently sold online at $2 to $10 a piece, addiction specialists say, pills laced with fentanyl are hard to spot, easy to hide and can quickly lead to powerful dependencies — or worse.
“It’s not easy to stay away from drugs once your body has a substance abuse disorder. The pump is primed. The brain wiring has been rewired,” said Daniel Smith, director of addiction services at Mary’s Center, a community health center that predominantly serves Spanish-speaking patients in D.C. and Maryland.
Smith and Sivabalaji Kaliamurthy, a pediatric addictions specialist who runs the Children’s National Hospital addictions clinic, have spent years treating young people addicted to marijuana or alcohol. In the summer of 2022, they saw a change that shocked them both: teens were seeking treatment for opioid dependency. Now they almost exclusively treat opioid use disorder.
“It’s not easy to stay away from drugs once your body has a substance abuse disorder. The pump is primed. The brain wiring has been rewired,” said Daniel Smith, director of addiction services at Mary’s Center, a community health center that predominantly serves Spanish-speaking patients in D.C. and Maryland.
Smith and Sivabalaji Kaliamurthy, a pediatric addictions specialist who runs the Children’s National Hospital addictions clinic, have spent years treating young people addicted to marijuana or alcohol. In the summer of 2022, they saw a change that shocked them both: teens were seeking treatment for opioid dependency. Now they almost exclusively treat opioid use disorder.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Jenna Portnoy and Dan Keating, "Fentanyl is Fueling a Record Number of Youth Drug Deaths," The Washington Post (May 22, 2024). <Link to WashingtonPost.com><
Date of Entry
07/18/2024
