The Opioid Crisis: Epidemic By Design
An estimated 400 million people, of all ages, suffer from depression, a leading cause of disability worldwide. Yet, when the cure is worse than the disease, you have an epidemic by design.
Sixty percent of Americans are prescribed a prescription drug to compensate for a biological or mental imbalance. To escape pain, people are told to take synthetic opioids. In 2016, the opioid epidemic took 42,000 American lives, while overdose deaths from all drugs took the lives of 64,000 Americans the same year, an increase of 21 percent over the previous year.
According to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, more than one million American kids younger than six are taking psychiatric drugs. The CDC admits that opioid addiction has reached a crisis. When the number of children under 18 years of age admitted to hospitals for opioid overdose has nearly doubled since 2004, we are a nation under sedation.
Widget not in any sidebars
The opioid epidemic is an epidemic of pain and disconnection, the fallout of which shows itself in the number of deaths and addicts:
- 76% of deaths from all drugs result from opioids
- highest among those are in ages 25 to 54
- men are twice as likely to die of a drug overdose as women
- 3/4 of High School heroin users started with prescription opioids
- One-third of accidental overdoses are in the 1 and 5 year old age groups, noted as “accidental.”
- a rise in opioid-dependent newborns
Overdoses fall into one of two categories: either they’re teenagers using drugs intentionally, or they’re kids who got into their parents’ medication. More than half of all opioid prescriptions in the United States are written for people with anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders.
Therein lies the problem. People with mood disorders are at an increased risk of abusing opioids. And they receive many more prescriptions than the general population, according to an analysis of data from 2011 and 2013.
The Chemical Imbalance Theory
The sad truth here is there are no studies that have established a solid, cause-and-effect correlation between brain chemistry and the disorder called depression. The link was proposed in the 1950s and 1960s by various scientists, which led to the development of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) drugs Prozac and Paxil.
SSRIs increase the amounts of serotonin and other neurotransmitters at the synapse of neurons and block the uptake of serotonin into the neuron for reuse. Over time, SSRIs deplete the number of serotonin receptors and lose effectiveness. Therefore, these drugs do not address the underlying issues of depression or help the brain heal itself.
Just because mood can be artificially manipulated with drugs doesn’t mean that depression cannot be treated in other ways, or that the chemical imbalance theory is true. In fact, these drugs are proven to alter brain structure and rewire the brain, which may explain increased suicide rates and other side effects.
“One-third of people treated with antidepressants do not improve, and a significant portion of these people remain depressed. – University of California, 2009
Rates of depression and anxiety among young people in America have been increasing steadily for the past 50 to 70 years. By some estimates, five to eight times as many high school and college students meet the criteria for diagnosis of major depression and/or anxiety disorder as was true half a century or more ago. – Peter Gray, Psychology Today blog, Jan 2010
Since the 1950s we’ve been barking up the wrong tree. We’ve described depression as chemical imbalance of the brain and choosing anti-depressants to address a multi-faceted problem, stemming from many influences.
“If antidepressants correct a chemical imbalance that underlies depression, all or most depressed people should get better after taking them.” – Scientific American
The Underlying Causes of Depression: Mind, Body, Spirit
On a mental level, anxiety and depression correlate significantly with people’s sense of control or lack of control over their own lives. People who believe that they are in charge of their own fate are less likely to become anxious or depressed than those who believe that they are victims of circumstances beyond their control. Today, people are made to believe they hold no power over their lives. When people give up their power to authority they are vulnerable. They become victims.
On a physical level, depression is a disease of excess toxicity and nutrient deficiency. Toxins, such as glyphosate from Roundup Ready pesticide, pass through the blood-brain barrier as the brain becomes more permeable. In response, the body produces antibodies against its own myelin, the protective covering of nerve cells. This process releases opioid-like compounds capable of causing mental distress.
When toxins can be cleared and nutrients can be replenished, such as omega 3, 6 7, 9 fatty acids, and minerals such as iodine and magnesium, symptoms of depression can be reversed or controlled without synthetic medications. In the case of opiate addiction, when the body gets what it lacks—high doses of Vitamin C—the addiction and symptoms of withdrawal reverse. A 2017 nutritional study conducted at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, and published in PLoS ONE, found that 248 mg of mg Magnesium per day works better than prescription drugs without the suicidal effects of SSRIs.
On a spiritual level, humanity has disconnected from Nature through chemical and frequency technologies only to find itself locked behind the gates of hell with scientists and doctors holding the keys.
Nature Deficit Disorder
If there is any deficiency from which humanity is suffering it is Nature Deficit Disorder (NDD). In his book, Last Child in the Woods, author Richard Louv describes NDD as, “A condition we as a society have developed as a result of being detached from our natural environment.”
Humans are bioelectrical and energetic beings of Nature, living on an electrical and energetic planet. Our bodies operate electrically, with our cells transmitting multiple frequencies that run the heart, immune system, muscles, and nervous system. A return to Nature means accessing the Earth’s negative ions to reset the body’s rhythm.  Earthing is the act of planting your bare feet on the Earth for healing benefits. Grounding the human body to the Earth helps to feel centered, balanced, calm, less stressed, while reducing inflammation and increasing circulation. Accessing Nature through healing herbs and plants to rebalance biology, emotions, and spirit is another way to reconnect with Nature.
The Cannabis sativa plant known as industrial hemp, or cannabidiol, or CBD, is a non-psychoactive and non-addictive plant (without THC) that can reduce the risk of relapse among recovering drug and alcoholic addicts. CBD is credited with treating alcoholism, antibiotic-resistant infections, arthritis, chronic pain, depression, diabetes, epilepsy, MS, PTSD, and neurological disorders. CBD relieves anxiety, inflammation, pain, psychosis, seizures, and spasms.
Gateway to Freedom
When government attempts to reclassify plants as drugs, it tries to label CBD as a “gateway drug” to make it illegal to possess or distribute in states, including the State of Wisconsin. On April 27, the Wisconsin Department of Justice released an analysis to advise law enforcement, stating the following:
“CBD oil and other CBD products, with or without THC, are illegal to possess or distribute within the State of Wisconsin except for patients with a doctor’s certification in very limited circumstances.”
In other words, by government decree, natural and safe alternatives to opioids have become the property of the government and must go through the government-approved gatekeeper, a licensed medical doctor, because their gateway only opens in the direction of pharmaceuticals due to spending $4.6 billion to “fight” the opioid crisis. Government is also overseeing the destruction and recall of natural Kratom products.
As government patents Nature that only doctors control, you can try making your voice heard by working with State legislators to clarify the law and return access to Nature where it belongs, with the people. However, if Plan A fails to take back your power and find freedom from manufactured epidemics, then it will be time to talk about Plan B: how to redesign the gate, or remove it altogether.
Rosanne Lindsay is a Naturopath in Wisconsin. Consult with her to create a health plan that increases vitality at natureofhealing.org, where this article first appeared. Rosanne is also President of the National Health Freedom Coalition, co-founder of Wisconsin For Vaccine Choice and author of the book The Nature of Healing, Heal the Body, Heal the Planet. Find her on Facebook at Rosanne Lindsay and Natureofhealing.
