Chasing the Dragon: The Life of an Opiate Addict

Viewing at the Grand Rapids Area Library. Following the film, local Law Enforcement representatives will share information about what is happening locally. Pizza served.

RSVP appreciated: robertf@kootasca.org or call 218-999-5883

This meeting is free and open to the public.

An opioid and prescription drug abuse epidemic is sweeping the country, impacting all segments of society. To help raise awareness of this epidemic and to help educate young people on the dangers of addiction, the FBI and DEA released the documentary Chasing the Dragon: The Life of an Opiate Addict, a compilation of heart-wrenching first-person accounts by addicts and family members of addicts about their experiences.

The opioid epidemic was ignited with the overprescribing of prescriptions to treat pain that emerged in the 1990’s and the inability to identify, engage and treat clients with evidence-based opioid addiction treatment. The full impact of these changes weren’t fully recognized until the increase in deaths associated with opioid abuse emerged; from 1999 to 2015, the number of deaths involving opioid drugs quadrupled in the United States to over 30,000 in 2015. In 2016, 395 Minnesotans died from opioid overdose, more than six times higher than the opioid overdose deaths in 2000. Prescription opioids account for the greatest number of overdose deaths in Minnesota, but since 2010, heroin and fentanyl-involved deaths have increased in Minnesota. People addicted to prescription opiates all too frequently convert to heroin, because heroin in Minnesota is easily accessible, affordable and of very high quality. – Federal Opioid Briefing Paper