Imagine going to wake your child up from what you think is a missed alarm. You yell for him." Johnny wakeup you're late for school". He doesn't budge, so you walk over to him to give him a nudge, He seems cold to the touch, so you begin to panic, "why isn't he waking up?"  You start shaking him and screaming his name "Johnny wake up please." You can't see him breathing and his lips have turned blue. A parent's worst nightmare, could it be true? You call 911 and tell them to be quick, you never knew your child was this sick. Paramedics arrive just in the knick of time. They rush him to the hospital; you pray he'll be just fine. They tell you he has overdosed, and you ask yourself how? Johnny was a good kid, you never would have thought, but he took just one pill that night, he got it from his friend.

The narrative above happens more often than anyone would think. Why do people continue to use opioids in a time where fentanyl is being laced into almost every street drug? This is such a scary time, and it is up to us to educate those around us of the deadly consequences of taking any drug. Understanding that addiction is a disease of the brain instead of an immoral compass will help end the stigma so we can begin to talk about the realities of what is really going on.