Presenters' Statement
The struggle against opioid addiction has been a problem in society for a long time, although it only started becoming relevant in the news when the overdose death rate shot up between 2017 and 2018. Prescribed opioids is the number one way people are able to acquire drugs. Most people never intend to get addicted, but they end up getting pulled in by the sensations they get from taking opioids. Our goal for this exhibit is to expand your awareness of the opioid epidemic that is attacking our world, specifically the main source. If hospitals and pharmacies were able to limit the quantity of prescribed opioids they give out, or even prescribe medicine not as harmful, the rates of opioid-related deaths would be reduced. They have made an impact on both of our immediate families, and we know how negatively addiction can impact peoples' lives. We have both watched these people get taken over by drugs and come close to giving up because of how empty and lost they feel. Being two people who have seen and experienced these tragedies up close, we thought it would be a good choice to use our exhibit as a way to prevent these addictions from continuing in the future.
Camden Ryan Waker Spence