On November 15, 2017, up and coming singer/rapper Lil Peep was found dead on his tour bus with a suspected drug overdose to blame. Lil Peep allegedly posted videos of himself on his Instagram story, taking 6 Xanax pills, and captioned one of his most recent Instagram photos: “When you die you’ll love me.” The music community is still grieving the loss of this young performer, and multiple celebrities sent thoughts and prayers out onto Twitter, saying he was “one of the friendliest” and was “constantly inspiring others.”
So that leads us to the question: When is society going to stop downplaying the danger of pills?
Benzodiazepine (drugs such as Valium and Xanax) deaths have continued to skyrocket over the years and accounted for 30% of drug-related deaths in 2013, second only to opioids which account for 70% of drug-related deaths (reported by Cnn.com). Benzos are ranked as a schedule 4 drug as reported by Drugs.com, with Schedule 1 drugs currently ranked as the “most dangerous” and Schedule 5 drugs currently ranked as the “least dangerous.” While that scale may not accurately depict the safety of each drug, drug education in this country seems to be failing as sedative drug deaths are on the rise, and show no signs of slowing down.
*Withdrawal symptoms from benzodiazepines are said to be extremely cruel and lurk after consumption, helping fuel addiction.
Perhaps instead of avoiding hard topics such as drugs or alcohol, we should have educational conversations about them with our friends and family, and raise awareness about what each drug can specifically do and how many deaths these drugs cause. Drugs are too much of a taboo topic in my opinion. They are out there, they exist, and some of them are deadly. And as long as painkillers are continually being overprescribed and their danger is downplayed, people are going to continue being statistics.
It’s time to stop beating around the bush about drugs and drug education. It’s ridiculous how many people fall victim to drug overdoses because of cultural misconceptions, ignorance, or plain ol’ big pharma drug packing.
Thoughts and prayers with the family of Lil Peep, and of families affected by a drug overdose.
*all media courtesy of Photopin.com