Breaking the Silence and Other Prevention Lessons From the Opioid Epidemic

The goal of this editorial is to equip readers with opioid education resources that enable you to role model what it looks like to speak out about addiction. How are we doing as a profession speaking up about addiction? Stigma is commanded by a deep irony: where peer pressure is what likely keeps us quiet, peer support is what enables us to speak up. The "#MeToo" movement is an extraordinary example of the inertia needed to break open a taboo topic. From Hollywood celebrities to US women's gymnastics stars, it was clear that as more women spoke up about sexual harassment, well, the more women spoke out. As unnatural as it felt to talk about being harassed or abused, many simply acknowledged that it was the courage of their peers that helped them find their courage. Workplace supervisors have a front row seat for watching the epidemic and our role relates to what I consider the most straightforward definition of addiction: It is when "it" (i.e., alcohol, opioids, gambling) begins to cause problems.