Nowhere near enough people understand, or care, that today’s “Opioid Crisis” is nothing new. There may be a few new twists – after all, Pig Pharma has been busy busy in the last 150 – 200 years, constantly tweaking their game to extract more profits from the misery they create. However, the reality is that nothing significant has changed. Here are just a few of the many comparisons that can be made.

• In 1870 most people addicted to Opium-based “medicines” were originally hooked by medical “professionals” – doctors and pharmacists. In 2018 the same is true.

• In 1870 it was the “patent medicine” industry that addicted most people with tonics and elixirs. In 2018 it is the “pharmaceutical industry” that addicts most people with pain medicine and psycho-drugs.

• Most of today’s “pharmaceutical” giants started in the 1800’s as “patent medicine” companies. They have thrived for centuries on blood money, and in 2018 they are immensely rich and virtually untouchable.

• In 1870 most people who became addicted began using opium-based medicines to deal with some form of painful disease, injury, or emotional state. In 2018 the same is true.

• In 1870 “respectable” society treated Opium addicts as throwaways and criminals, and non-addicts firmly believed that addiction was due to lack of character. This prejudice was drilled into consciousness through endless propaganda coming from society’s “authorities”. The same is true in 2018.

• In 1870 there were millions of addicted children, whose mothers were given Opium and Morphine-laced “tonics” by doctors to control behaviors like crying and colic that upset Moms. In 2018 millions of children are saturated with mind & spirit-numbing medications prescribed by doctors to control behaviors like ADHD that upset Moms.

• In 1870 the “better classes” were able to hide their addiction, and to get confidential treatment when things got too bad. It was everybody else who crashed and burned publicly, allowing the elite to point, smirk and feel smug about their superiority. Nothing has changed in 2018.

• In 1870 there were only two basic approaches to treating addiction. First, total, instant cessation and toughing out the withdrawal symptoms. Special asylums were built to incarcerate addicts while they went through the agony of withdrawal. The second approach was gradual withdrawal, progressively substituting something supposed to be less addictive. This was a less painful approach, but cost a lot more and took a lot longer. Instant withdrawal didn’t work, and progressive withdrawal only worked occasionally, and things haven’t changed in 2018.

• In 1870 Heroin was used to treat Morphine addiction. In 2018 Methadone is used to treat Heroin addiction. Pig Pharma continues to prosper.

• In 1870, very few addicted people were actually addicted to pure opium. Instead, they were addicted to the cheapest dregs of opium production, combined with boosters like Arsenic, Strychnine, Mercury, Lead, Cocaine, Morphine, Belladonna and Datura. In 2018 no Opioid addict is addicted to pure natural opium, but to synthetic substances that mimic Opium boosted with other highly addictive chemicals like Fentanyl.

• In 1870 Draconian prohibition laws featuring the death penalty made Opium a very expensive and profitable commodity worldwide, creating global criminal syndicates shielded by corrupt police forces and politicians. In 2018 some countries still murder addicts outright, while others just lock them away for life. The criminal syndicates and corrupt police and politicians are reincarnations of the same evil souls that plagued 1870.

• In 1870 there were hundreds of treatment programs pushed by social entrepreneurs and religious moralists promising to cure addiction. None worked, and relapse was nearly universal. Same in 2018.

• In 1870 the true causes of addiction were well known. They were invariably some combination of pain, misery, poverty, hopelessness, isolation, loneliness, ignorance, and exploitation. In 2018 the true causes of addiction are the same.