Finn, Kenneth. “Why Marijuana Will Not Fix the Opioid Epidemic.” Missouri Medicine 115.3 (2018): 191-193. Web.

Voelker, Rebecca. “States Move to Substitute Opioids With Medical Marijuana to Quell Epidemic.” JAMA 320.23 (2018): 2408-2410. Web.

How the Back Pain Industry Is Costing Us More and Giving Us Less—and What You Can Do to Inform and Empower Yourself in Seeking Treatment

 

The first two sources being peer-reviewed articles I made my research very specific towards the question I have. Looking at the opioid epidemic and marijuana is a pretty popular topic and has a decent amount of research already done. But, I noticed a lot of subtopics arise as I kept reading with things like other countries and looking at illegal opioids like fentanyl and heroin would be productive. The first article looks at how Medical Marijuana would have no effect on the opioid epidemic which is counterintuitive at first but point me towards the challenges of proving that Marijuana can replace opioid-containing drugs. Some valuable information I learned was that it can help curb the epidemic but will not solve it. The research is still unsubstantial and is used better as a companion dug rather than as a primary treatment. Marijuana is a companion drug rather than substitution drug and that marijuana use may be contributing to the opioid epidemic rather than improving it. Now the challenge lies in trying to see how people who are pro-Marijuana treatment respond. The article looks at statistics that both help my case and contradict it. For example, although there is evidence of fewer prescriptions for opioids in legal states; Colorado saw the highest opioid related deaths in 2017 despite legalization starting in 2011. There is also information that ties part of the problem to illegal opioids by the cartel. Saying that when legalization started the cartels saw a 40% decrease in sales as US crop replaced it.

The second article looks at whether Marijuana fuels the opioid epidemic. However, in the journal, there cam more articles that provide equally useful. This article included lots of talk on Mexico and the Sinaloa Cartel. Saying that with marijuana legalization cartels had to up sales of other drugs to replace the 40% decrease in Marijuana sales as these were replaced by US crop. “legalized cannabis inadvertently may have contributed to today’s fentanyl and heroin epidemic by replacing Mexico’s illegally imported marijuana with U.S. produced crops, driving cartels to

seek a new source of revenue.” The employment part of the journal said that employer policies focus more on illicit drug use rather than misuse of prescription drugs. Stating that the cost of opioid use loses around 10 thousand dollars more than without an opioid prescription. Other statistics saying that around a third of employees surveyed in accidents found Hydrocodone in their system after driving vehicles, operating machinery, and being injured. This is a 30% increase from pre-employment surveys that found many come to work under the influence of opioid medicines and are injured due to misuse of the drug. Since none of those activities are allowed when taking hydrocodone it shows that these were accidents related to misuses of a prescription. The surrounding articles are the ones that are proving more information for my topic than the original article that the library found. A lot of these articles aim at providing a culture of widespread misuse of prescriptions that lead to more injuries and misuse.

The final article looks at painkillers the most and goes deep into the history and important movements that cause an increase in opioid prescriptions. Saying that the pain scale doctors use contributes to the increased pain medicine dosing. Patients who claim 5/10 pain will often get the prescription to keep patience less bothersome. Saying that part of this is the marketing and advertising that come behind opioids comes from a cycle of dependency. Like said earlier the cycle starts legally and can turn into addiction or dependence. It wasn’t until 1989 where there was a movement to increase opioid prescriptions for cancer patients and those in terminal illness. Yet, cancer is only about 8% of the reasons for opioid prescriptions, the most popular reason being back pain. Acknowledging that opioids at low doses can help with arthritis but due to dependency and tolerance it is an ineffective treatment.

1. How many opioid-containing pills are manufactured nationally/globally?
2. What is the most common reason for prescribing opioid medicines such as Oxycontin?
3. What are the leading pharmaceutical companies that manufacture these pills and who do they back or who backs them?
4. When did these pills become known as popular remedies?
5. What percentage of all pain killer medicine is opioid-based?
6. How do opioid-containing medicines work and what are the side effects?
7. When was marijuana made illegal? Why?
8. How much money is in the illegal pharmaceutical trade?
9. Percentage of opioid-related deaths sourced by legitimate prescription versus street origin?
10. Who are the major corporate leaders of current legal marijuana market?
11. Current issues with legalization amongst popular vote for legalizing?
12. Opioid statistic changes after marijuana legalization?
13. When did opioids begin to rise in media (music, film,etc.)?
14. Where does medical marijuana advertising circulate, pharma pain killers too?
15. Top medical marijuana advocates?
16. The interaction between opioids and medical marijuana?
17. How does opioid addiction work, mental vs physical addiction?
18. How is most addiction started according to statistics, not just ways?
19. Global attitudes towards opioid epidemic?
20. Medical marijuana in other countries, changes post-legalization?
21. Marijuana policing in other countries/states?
22. Depression remedies via marijuana?
23. Tax revenue of medical marijuana in legal states vs pharmaceutical drug values?
24. Rehabilitation from opioids?
25. National effort to solve the opioid crisis/global crisis.

 

Brett Kavanaugh Rape Accuser Admits She Made Up Her Story

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/11/02/brett-kavanaugh-rape-accuser-admits-she-made-up-her-story-doj-fbi/

What experts say about ‘corroboration,’ a keyword from the Kavanaugh hearings

https://abcnews.go.com/US/kavanaugh-hearings-wrong-corroboration-hurts-survivors/story?id=58254664

Both articles focus on the recent reports of Brett Kavanaugh’s rape allegations made by Christine Ford. Despite the allegations, Kavanaugh is still holding his seat on the supreme court. Both articles begin to dissect a lot of the language and things that were being said in the courtroom. Starting with some basic facts and the little background information needed to understand what this means for the country.

ABC’s headline has the word “corroboration” in it. Which is kind of what this assignment is, it’s looking at news articles about the same topic and looking at the differences between the two. Both being respected or accredited news sources yet, two different articles and headlines on the same event. This is where the story begins to change and where people begin to enter the “echo chamber”. A theory that says people of a certain side will only believe truth if it is produced by their media.

We look at this situation thinking we don’t want to put an innocent man in jail while also respecting the rights of the victim and listening to them.  ABC’s article looks at some of the legal opinions that the “experts” voice. The lawyers claiming that corroborating is not required despite the popular beliefs. The use a good example of saying that if someone were to get robbed its like telling them that they are not believed until they see security footage. As though someone would go so far to fake a disturbingly popular crime.

ABC looks at another case at a smaller scale without a political powers name in it. Helfert Moësse is a sexual assault victim and advocate but spoke about the “evidence burden”. What victims often go through is no support from the authorities to conduct an investigation and the difficulty of evidence presentation. As these crimes are done away from others it is difficult to present evidence. Additionally, it was added that her mother had told her that if this wouldn’t pull through it would be difficult to pay for her school. It brought more to light on the victims suffering outside of the courtroom.

Breitbart article was on the same court hearing but had a drastically different headline. Breitbart article claims that one of the accusers were lying about her allegations. This however, was in less focus in the article. It focused more on the conspiring of  the accusers to set out a democratic plot against Kavanaugh. “When questioned by Committee investigators she admitted it was false, a “ploy,” and a “tactic.” She was opposed to Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation.” Adding the fact that she opposed Kavanaghs confirmation makes the article seem more like this was the reason for an allegation.

All in all the two really leave out the “moral” of the story. Surely not every story has meaning but if it did have a meaning it would be a real story. The two just seemed like the regular reporting that goes on under the Trump presidency. Where both side blame the opposing party for irrelevant things and just claim the news is fake.

 

How do you respond to these two representations of millennials? Do you identify with the positive and/or negative traits they characterize the generation with? Do you consider yourself a millennial? Why or why not?

I think the two articles did sum up the millennial work ethic problem. The two focused a lot on work and how well the older generations did it versus how well the Millenials are dealing with it. Mostly looking at becoming “adults” and having a financial/asset based image (home, savings, etc.) I liked how the Buzzfeed article put it saying it has become more of a verb than a noun or title in the new generation. I felt that both articles were a bunch of finger pointing and not looking at the winners of the millennial generation. Looking at the millennials with some kind of liberal arts degree is not going to bring out the best of the generation. Not that liberal arts are not profitable or foolish to work towards, but, they are not the moving forces of the generation. I find that the millennial generation is really lazy and feels entitled to complain. That is not to say that other generations have not complained, but, millennials especially like to complain of the small problems. Furthermore, its that they bring problems up more and don’t choose to adapt to the conditions but would rather work towards changing them.

I would say that I am too young for the millennial generation. As a freshman, I simply do not compare to what the article wrote about. However, I would also say that the articles don’t compare to me in some ways. Problems like work and expectations for becoming an adult are different for me compared to the Buzzfeed articles narrative of working to get “The Job”. I have had 5 different jobs since the age of 16. I simply look at work as nonbinding. I read some of the paragraphs thinking about how some of these people didn’t hear of making quick money for example. When it came to the burnout talk I couldn’t relate. I don’t want to give the idea that I am some superhuman that doesn’t burn out, but, I find that I need 20 minutes to a couple hours and I am back to normal. Quitting the financial job as mentioned in the article would not be an option for me. Before quitting I would be looking for a better job rather than quitting out of a temporary feeling of being tired. Actions like that feed the wrong image of Millennials. I find that what differentiates and draws a line between Millenials and my generation is the branding and consumer behavior. I find that the Gen Z people are stronger with branding and understand how simple becoming a brand can be. For example, the Instagram fame cycle is so easy to decipher and seems like an option for many. Understanding that marketing today has greater heights than ever before feeds into the Gen Z way of living. I find that we buy a lot of stuff we can do ourselves. We would rather buy a juice than to buy the fruits and vegetables and blend them in the same amount of time. Millennials like to wait on the bus that will come in 20 minutes while Gen Z will just walk to the stop. I feel that Gen Z separates itself from Millenials due to a stronger sense of entitlement and image. We may seem narcissistic but its because we are passionate about what we want and do. It may be narcissistic to not vote because the mailing is complicated, also, can be seen as a push to digitalize and make voting easier. Millennials are like editors of our current “systems” (voting, school, etc.) and they are able to pick out the inefficient parts of it.

I am Adam Borys, I’m a freshman studying CIS specifically cybersecurity and information assurance. I have always liked working with computers and find the CIS field is not as saturated with people like accounting or finance. I enjoy long walks on the beach and hitting the gym. Most people refer to me by my last name “Borys” which is pronounced like, Boris. I chose the image of pizza with peanut butter because of how controversial it became amongst new yorkers in general. It was posted by the up and coming rapper, Lil Tjay, who claimed that peanut butter was meant for pizza.