The Opioid Drug Abuse Crisis

We wrote Robert Strang, Chief Public Health Officer for Nova Scotia on October 3, 2014, and communicated our views then on the Imploding Health-Care System and provided a long-term solution for all those interested. When The Chronicle Herald published an article by him last month, in which he spoke of drug use in Nova Scotia’s Correctional Services System and his recommendation for an urgent response for an OD Treatment of the use of the drug ‘fentanyl’, we decided once again to respond to the false and misleading information he provided. The only response we received was a form of self-justification, and he used the opportunity to falsely accuse us of a number of things that he was unable to understand (Matthew 5:11; 1 Cor. 2:14).

The story expanded when shortly after we wrote him, we learned of an inmate that was found unresponsive in his cell in a local Correctional Facility and died five days later in a local hospital, with his family at his bedside. More than two weeks after his death, the cause has still not been determined.

Before detailing some of the communication we have had, we would like to share some statistics provided by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).

Opioid Addiction - 2016 Facts & Figures

• Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illicit drug heroin as well as the licit prescription pain relievers oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl and others.
• Opioids are chemically related and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the brain and nervous system to produce pleasurable effects and relieve pain.
• Addiction is a primary, chronic and relapsing brain disease characterized by an individual pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviors.
• Of the 21.5 million Americans 12 or older that had a substance use disorder in 2014, 1.9 million had a substance use disorder involving prescription pain relievers and 586,000 had a substance use disorder involving heroin.
• It is estimated that 23% of individuals who use heroin develop opioid addiction.

National Opioid Overdose Epidemic

• Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 47,055 lethal drug overdoses in 2014. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 18,893 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 10,574 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2014.
• From 1999 to 2008, overdose death rates, sales and substance use disorder treatment admissions related to prescription pain relievers increased in parallel. The overdose death rate in 2008 was nearly four times the 1999 rate; sales of prescription pain relievers in 2010 were four times those in 1999; and the substance use disorder treatment admission rate in 2009 was six times the 1999 rate.
• In 2012, 259 million prescriptions were written for opioids, which is more than enough to give every American adult their own bottle of pills.
• Four in five new heroin users started out misusing prescription painkillers.
• 94% of respondents in a 2014 survey of people in treatment for opioid addiction said they chose to use heroin because prescription opioids were “far more expensive and harder to obtain.”

Impact on Special Populations

Adolescents(12 to 17 years old)

• In 2014, 467,000 adolescents were current non medical users of a pain reliever, with168,000 having an addiction to prescription pain relievers.
• In 2014, an estimated 28,000 adolescents had used heroin in the past year, and an estimated16,000 were current heroin users. Additionally, an estimated 18,000 adolescents had a heroin disorder in 2014.
• People often share their unused pain relievers, unaware of the dangers of nonmedical opioid use. Most adolescents who misuse prescription pain relievers are given them for free by a friend or relative.
• The prescribing rates for prescription opioids among adolescents and young adults nearly doubled from 1994 to 2007.

Women

• Women are more likely to have chronic pain, be prescribed prescription pain relievers, be given higher doses, and use them for longer time periods than men. Women may become dependent on prescription pain relievers more quickly than men.
• 48,000 women died of prescription pain reliever overdoses between 1999  and 2010.
• Prescription pain reliever overdose deaths among women increased more than 400% from 1999 to 2010, compared to 237% among men.
• Heroin overdose deaths among women have tripled in the last few years. From 2010 through 2013, female heroin overdoses increased from 0.4 to 1.2 per 100,000.

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The above crisis has become part of our communication on the Imploding Health-Care System with Politicians at the Federal and Provincial levels, Health-Care Ministers, Officials, Workers, Educators at the University level and Local and National Media.

To date we have four files detailing our communication on the issue since January, 2011, and would be pleased to forward copies upon request by simply emailing us. Our communication confirms that our message was indeed according to the Spirit of truth (John 14:17).

The following are excerpts of our email to the Federal Minister of Justice and was copied to over 150 individuals. Their names have been removed for this article. In our communication we also highlighted the impact local and national media has had on the issue.

From: Andy G. van den Berg
Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 3:19 PM
To: Jody Wilson-Raybould
Cc:  Removed

Subject: The Deadly Prison System and Conspiracy

Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice,

We wrote Robert Strang, Chief Public Health Officer for Nova Scotia on October 3, 2014, and communicated our views then on the Imploding Health-Care System and provided a long-term solution for all those interested. When The Chronicle Herald published an article by him last month, in which he spoke of drug use in Nova Scotia’s Correctional Services System and his recommendation for an urgent response for an OD Treatment of the use of the drug ‘fentanyl’, we decided once again to respond to the false and misleading information he provided. The only response we received was a form of self-justification, and he used the opportunity to falsely accuse us of a number of things that he was unable to understand (Matthew 5:11; 1 Cor. 2:14).

The rampant use of drugs and the flourishing drug-trade inside the Canadian Prison System is well known and if there was any enforcement of ‘The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act’ by Correctional Service Canada, they would not have to worry about any treatment for drug-overdoses. In his article Robert Strang totally ignored the flourishing drug trade inside Canadian Jails, an issue also ignored by other media reporters (e.g. the Canadian Press. Metro Halifax, Bell Media, etc.), in articles that have been published in the last few weeks. We have attached a file that details all over communication on the issue and on Health-Care Services in general.

On Monday’s CTV Evening News, Steve Murphy interviewed Jean-Michel Blais, the Chief of Halifax Regional Police about the gun violence this past weekend, but not a word was mentioned about the latest death inside a local Correctional Facility, or about the flourishing drug trade inside our prisons, which is totally ignored and resulting in so many deaths.

Considering the number of deaths of inmates in Canadian Jails, as a result of the use of drugs, there does not seem to be any accountability or enforcement of ‘The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act’, and it is our view that Don Head, the Commissioner of Correctional Services Canada and Sean Kelly, the Director of Correctional Services in Nova Scotia need to take full responsibility of this deplorable situation. Who else should be held responsible for the deaths in Canadian Correctional Facilities? The work by Robert Strang, Chief Public Health Officer for Nova Scotia, has also become very suspect in this matter and the issue of ‘Opioid Drug Abuse’ in the Correctional Facilities in Nova Scotia, as are the articles written by Michael Tutton of The Canadian Press and published by The Chronicle Herald on the ‘Opioid Drug Abuse Crisis’. What purpose does it serve to have a Law or an Act, if those that are responsible for it, do not adhere to it themselves (Luke 11:46)?

As was reported by The Chronicle Herald, please be informed that on November 2, 2016, they found a 38 year old inmate unresponsive in his cell in a Nova Scotia Correctional Facility and after being admitted to a local hospital, he died on November 7, 2016, with his family at his bedside. At the time of writing this email, the name of the inmate or the cause of death has not been made public. We emailed Sean Kelly, the Director of Correctional Services for Nova Scotia, and requested the name of the victim, so we would be able to contact the family and minister to them, but our request did go unanswered. You will be able to locate a copy of our email in the attached file. The autopsy has been completed and the body was turned over to the family, but as was reported by The Chronicle Herald they required more time to determine the cause of death.

While keeping an eye on the Obituaries Listing, we eventually noticed an Obituary that fit the age and time of death of the victim, and after contacting the Funeral Home we were able to confirm his identity. We were pleased to have been able to position a draft Copy of this email with the mother of the deceased inmate. We also positioned a copy of our book ‘A World Deceived’ and a personal letter explaining the reason for our email to the Minister of Justice and the number of people we copied. Furthermore we were pleased that we were able to attend the Memorial Service earlier today and participate in the reading of Psalm 23.

Considering all of the issues, we have also made a request for a Criminal Investigation by the RCMP Nova Scotia/Halifax and the Halifax Regional Police into the use and trafficking of drugs inside the Nova Scotia Correctional System

We also request that the RCMP or the Halifax Regional Police will conduct an investigation into the unlawful business practices of The Chronicle Herald (one of our local papers). They blocked our email addresses four years ago for the purpose of blocking any communication by us to their Editors and Reporters, so that they would be able to publish any content without any interference or feedback to deceive the people of Nova Scotia. Much of the content they publish on social issues consists of false and misleading information that constitutes and involves Political Corruption and bias reporting on the current Liberal Government, the Economy, the Imploding Health-Care System, the Mental Health Crisis, and we can now add ‘The Opioid Drug Abuse Crisis’ and ‘The Imploding Correctional Services System’. The goal of the paper was to silence our voice, which is a difficult task during the days of the Internet. The information that was provided by Robert Strang and published by The Chronicle Herald on ‘The Opioid Drug Abuse Crisis’ is a good example. There should be laws or the introduction of improved standards against that kind of reporting. You can learn more by reading the article ‘Influence of the Media’ listed on our website www.aworlddeceived.ca

We launched our website in 2005 to compliment our book 'A World Deceived'. It has been the number one Listing on Google out of millions of results along with a number of our articles. It was visited last month by people from over 80 countries. It provides answers for people concerning every social issue, including Health-Care, Mental Health, Drug Abuse, etc., etc. We have ministered to the people of this world for over thirty years and there are those that will attest that our message of Repentance is according to the Spirit of truth (John 14:17).

We would look forward to answer any questions you may have and respectfully ask that you will consider a review of all the issues communicated in this email. We also ask that your Department will follow up on our request for a Criminal Investigation into the use and trafficking of drugs in our jails, and that the Justice Department will hold those in charge of the Correctional System responsible for the deaths of so many inmates and their failure to protect them.

In His Service.

Andy & Dianne van den Berg - www.aworlddeceived.ca

State of Emergency

Even though we have gone to great length to point out that the root-cause of the 'Opioid Drug Abuse Crisis' is 'spiritual' and not 'natural', Senior Health-Care Officials met for two days in Ottawa on November 18 & 19, 2016, and declared a State of Emergency. With all their worldly wisdom (1 Cor. 2:4-7) they have now decided to introduce guidelines for Physicians in prescribing pain relievers for their patients, in the hope that it will somehow bring relief from the State of Emergency.  

The future will confirm that people will become more depended on pain relievers, and as a result Opioids will become more readily available on the open market and more people will die from overdoses. This morning's news (11-22-16) on CTV's 'Your Morning' showed the horrors of the situation in Vancouver, where people are running around and emergency vehicles are driving through the streets, trying to assist those that are in distress from the use of Opioids and other drugs.

But do not fear not for a future explosion of the Opioids Crisis, a crisis that was self-created, as in all their wisdom Politicians are working hard to legalize the use of Marijuana now, as part of the continuous decline and degeneration of Canada. We can all thank the Prime Minister for his views on the issue, and his earlier campaign promise. Wasn't the use of Marijuana supposed to be the excuse for the relief of chronic pain? It is well known that most drug users start out with soft drugs and eventually get addicted to stronger drugs. Before legalizing it in Canada, please do check with Health Officials in the State of Colorado, and learn what impact it has had on their Health-Care System. Considering all of the facts, legalization does not sound like a good idea and will become another curse.

Trust us, God will once again show that the wisdom of the wise and this world is mere foolishness (1 Cor. 1:20).

However, it is God's will for all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4) and we invite you to review all the pages and articles of this website, that you may come to know the mystery of God, which was kept secret from the beginning of creation (Matthew 13:35; Mark 4:11; Romans 16:25; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 3:3-9; Col. 1:26; Rev. 10:7).

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