the withdrawal of men from the workforce, as they favored leisure over productivity and supported themselves through payments from the government — particularly disability payments.
Additionally, research suggests that half of the men who are outside the labor force are taking pain medication, and nearly 66 percent of those are for a prescription pain med which includes opioids. Doctors who are prone to overprescribing painkillers contribute to the opioid epidemic, especially when they prescribe opioids without comprehensive knowledge of how to curb addiction if it occurs.
In these instances, the real beneficiaries are the pharmaceutical companies. Reports show that Purdue Pharmaceuticals had already earned over $30 billion from OxyContin sales by the middle of 2016. Meanwhile, as working-class white Americans deal with the emotional consequences of a life at odds with their lofty expectations, a cumulative distress gathers. This distress is consistent with dangerous thrill-seeking behavior, including substance abuse, which can lead to accidental overdoses, especially with a drug market that is flooded with potentially deadly opioids, according to the researchers.
But how can the rising mortality rates be effectively combated?
“We need to get to the root causes of the despair,” Case said. “But in the meantime, stopping the over-prescription of opioids for chronic pain is essential.”
