>I think opioid addiction is a symptom and not the cause. If the Rat Park study's conclusions [1] can be extended to humans, all addictions are symptoms of a d

>I think opioid addiction is a symptom and not the cause. If the Rat Park study's conclusions [1] can be extended to humans, all addictions are symptoms of a deeper cause: Your life sucks. From what I've read, there's a feeling that the fundamental way of life that many of these people grew up with is really being threatened. Combine that with a complete lack of ability to support your family, and a sense that tons of people in cities (which are an anathema to their value structure) are getting ahead while they fall behind... Yeah, their lives suck, and they see no way out. Sorry to be depressing here. Hillary actually had some policies that could have helped, and still more if she'd had a friendly Congress to pass supporting legislation. Trump, on the other hand, wants to help people through an application of trickle-down economics ... sigh ... [1] https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addiction_is_wrong?language=en https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_y...