Doctors, Dealers & Users: Who’s Responsible in the Opioid Crisis?

Erick Allen (EA) is a certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor dedicated to helping individuals and families navigate addiction and recovery. With a wealth of experience and a passion for education, EA provides guidance on personal responsibility, treatment strategies, and the role of community in overcoming addiction.

In this follow-up discussion, host Kaliu and Erick Allen revisit the complexities of addiction, accountability, and the legal implications surrounding drug-related deaths. The conversation expands on the Matthew Perry case, exploring who should be held responsible—the user, the doctor, or the dealer. EA shares expert insights into the disease model of addiction, personal accountability, and whether criminalizing doctors and drug dealers is an effective solution.

Key Topics:

• Is Addiction a Choice? Exploring the fine line between personal responsibility and addiction as a disease.
• Doctors, Dealers & Accountability: Should medical professionals face legal consequences for prescribing addictive substances?
• Drug-Related Deaths & The Law: Would holding drug dealers accountable reduce overdose fatalities?
• Overcoming Shame in Recovery: The role of connection, therapy, and spiritual guidance in addiction recovery.
• Seeking Help: Practical advice for those struggling with addiction or supporting a loved one through recovery.

Potential Listener Questions:

1. Should doctors face legal consequences for prescribing addictive substances?
2. Can criminalizing drug dealers actually reduce overdose deaths?
3. How does shame and stigma prevent people from seeking addiction treatment?
4. What are the first steps someone should take if they need help with addiction?

References and Links:

• Connect with Erick Allen for counseling services: ErickAllenRecovery.shop

Final Thoughts:

EA leaves listeners with a powerful message: Addiction is the opposite of connection. Seek help, find support, and don’t let shame hold you back.

Find out more about Kali and the show HERE: https://humanityoffame.com/

Transcript

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) It's going to always happen. She's going to keep happening, especially when you add man to the equation. Hi, you guys. Welcome to humanity of fame. I'm your girl, Callie, and I am back with EA. We are coming back, spinning the block a little bit to talk about this situation involving unfortunate overdoses opinions online, um, they're mixed, right? Some people believe that the user should take full responsibilities. Other believe that the user, as well as those who are street pharmacists and also doctors, they should also be held accountable. EA, he is a certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor. All right. Welcome back EA. What's up? What's up? Good to be back. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for joining me. The episode was so good and I was like, you know what, there's some questions we didn't get to get to, and I want to make sure we're able to talk about and dig into some of the things we didn't touch based on the last time. I'm feeling you. I'm feeling you. That's exactly right. All right. All right. So let's just jump in. Okay. Yo talking about addiction, right? Does addiction impair a person's ability to make free choices or does personal responsibility outweigh that? When you think about addiction, the actual bare bones of it, the drug is, it's a disease. I think I said that in the first episode, right? It's definitely a disease. So I would, I would blame, I would blame it. I would blame it on the, I would blame it on alcohol. I would blame it on the substance at first. And then you go with the accountability, you know, the accountability always falls on the person. Always falls on the person, but the addiction, I definitely give, I give sympathy, empathy, the whole nine yards to the actual addiction. Right. And when we're talking about accountability, let me not jump. Let me just, let me just go to the next question. Cause we're going to do you, do you? That's part of doing, I just wanted to, cause I'm like, you know, we're talking about the accountability of the user, right? But there is accountability that should be discussed, especially with these doctors. We know street pharmacists, we have an opinion about that, but these doctors that took the oath that took the cold and all of that, like, where is their accountability, right? Cause Matthew Perry, he went to his doctor to get it. Now, although his doctor told him, no, he went somewhere else, but there are also doctors who will prescribe that. That's why his doctor is being charged. So, you know, what about the accountability for them? He got convicted. I don't know if you read the news. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. But a lot of people feel like he shouldn't have, is what I'm saying. I'm a little, I'm a little thrown off. I think it's, Ooh, I think it's in the person, you know, I'm gonna let everybody have theirs. For me, for me, I think he does play. You know, a small role in it. I don't know if it's worth prison time, maybe his license license. I don't think he's definitely worthy of being able to do that anymore. He abused his power, but to, but to put him in jail, I think that's a little, that's the far reach only because anybody, you know, you have a certain level of accountability of your own. Like if you're pushing a narrative to get it, you know what I'm saying? Like you, you have to be responsible. I can't. I, you know, I can, I can take some responsibility, but it's, you know, ultimately it's only, it's, it's on the user. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. So let's talk about these fatalities. Do you think holding drug dealers accountable for the overdose deaths will help reduce the fatalities? Absolutely. It, cause it'll go, you know, ultimately, you know, drug dealing with, with, with, with actually decrease, but death still, you know, death is still part of life. So, you know, that's still going to happen. That's, that's just part of the, that's just part of the landscape. So, so yeah, do you think that that would basically though, really shift the blame and say, you know what, it's the dealer's fault? Not the users? No. What it would do is it would add some regulation to this shit. You know what I'm saying? Cause this shit needs to be regulated better. That's all, that's all this. That's all that shows you is like, you know, for me, I look at things as a learning experience. It's going to always happen. Shit's going to keep happening, especially when you add man to the equation, all you can do is adjust, pivot, you know, keep, keep making laws, adjust the laws, do, you know, scale back, move forward. All those things come to my mind when I think about, you know, drug abuse and just the laws, everything that goes with it, it's just one of those things. There's no ultimate quick fix. There's no one sentence fixes at all. It's not, it's, it's, it's constant work nonstop every day, all day. Cause that's, that's the, that's how you got to have it. Okay. Okay. So, yeah. And is that what you kind of relate to? You know, your clients and things, you know, people that come to you for their, for your services? Yep. Yep. No, kinda it's, it's all the way in. That's, that's what I do. I, you know, I use life experiences, real life experiences, and I use the degree and I mix them all together and I cook and I serve it like a meal. Okay. My clients love it. I give rave reviews. I get tips. I get big tips from people. Okay. Let me, let me put your, let me put your information up here. Keep going. Yeah. So that's, so that's kind of how it works. I use like real life, you know, to really help people get to where they're going. So I don't think, you know, it's anybody's responsibility. I don't think, I don't think that, you know, just to circle back to the questions, right, I don't think the doctor should go to jail. Okay. I think, I think, you know, that's something between them and God. And then after that, it's the licensing board. So their practice, you know, it's a wrap, you know, you get caught doing it. You know, you get caught slipping in prescriptions, you know, for money. Cause that's kind of what that is. You know what I mean? That's all it is at the end of the day, he would just kind of like calling love, ask my partner, he got his license. He, he, he can write a prescription. So, you know, here's 50,000, make sure I got my prescription that definitely we don't need you as a doctor, brother or sister, but to go to jail. I mean, I don't know, I don't know. I don't know. Everybody got an opinion. Let let's, let's wrap it up right quick. Let's wrap it up. All right. So as a counselor, right. Is there any advice that you can offer someone who may be listening or struggling with addiction or empathy for those who are addicted? Like what's something that you can say as a, as advice? Pray, pray, prayer is everything, you know, and if you don't believe in prayer, then I would say go seek help. That would be the first thing I would tell that person, if you, cause there's people that don't believe in God, they don't believe in spirituality, religion, and all that, so if you don't, if that's not you go talk to a professional, not just anybody talk to a professional, find that somebody, well, what about somebody who there's a sense of shame? Even, you know, even admitting it, going to someone professional, even, you know, there are people who need therapy, who still refuse it because there's still a sense of shame and pride involved. Absolutely. And that's where prayer comes in. I would, I would go with prayer first, you know, and then, and then if those people, if I'm talking to those people that don't believe in prayer and then they still got the shame, you know, I'm, you know, you still got to talk to somebody, somebody at some point, that's, you know, that's the therapy that you need because holding it in, all that does is kill you, like, especially, just get it out, just go ahead and get it out. That's why we abuse things, the drugs. I was just getting ready to say holding in is just going to lead further into the addiction. As you said in the episode, addiction is the opposite of connection, right? Yeah, right. Connection, right? She's, she listens too. I do very well. Yes, she's organized, she's listened. Where you live, girl? I'm about to come pull her up. I'm in Cali, I'm in Cali, I'm in Cali. Okay, yeah, I'm about to come, I'm right up the street. Girl, I am right up the street, okay? Nah, but, um, that's real. I appreciate you coming back for this little short, you know, spin the block type, type situation. You know, just to cover again, what we didn't get to discuss, you know, a little bit more informal than the episode, you know, and, um, for those of you who would like to receive services, you can contact him at ericallinrecovery.shop. All right. Those of you who are listening on the podcast, that is E R I C K A double L E N recovery.shop. All right. Again, y'all I'm Cali with humanity and fame. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you EA for joining me again. Peace and blessings y'all. Bye.