Today's Prompt: The Opioid Crisis
We are going to be focusing our attention next on the opioid crisis in America. Today, we will be doing some background research to educate ourselves about the problem. By way of introduction, please watch/read a recent Time Magazine multi-media report on America's opioid crisis. First click on the link saying "Behind the Project" to learn about the documentary project culminating in the article. After reading the article itself, you are also encouraged to click on the "Video" link and watch some of the videos that go deeper into some of the stories presented in the article. You should use headphones to do so, if you have them.
Once everyone has finished, each group should work doing research and creating a Slides presentation to share with the class what they have learned from pursuing the task listed for them below:
- Group One: What is the history of opioids? Where do they come from, and how long have people known about them?
- Group Two: What are synthetic opioids? How have they complicated the problem of addition and overdose in the current crisis? Be sure to cover the synthetic opioid Fentanyl.
- Group Three: Opioid use in America in the 19th century. How did opioids get the nickname "Soldier's Joy"? What public health problems were created by opioids in the 1800s? What responses did the government take at the time to combat them?
- Group Four: What are the sources of the drugs currently fueling America's opioid crisis, and how do they get here? Who profits from their sale?
- Group Five: Where is the opioid crisis worst in the United States? What information can you find about the demography of the problem?
- Group Six: What other countries suffer from similar rates of addiction and overdose to the US? Are there countries that have worse problems than we do? What are the rates of addiction and use in Canada?