North Carolina Sheriff’s Office Sickeningly Finds Humor in the Opioid Crisis
*UPDATE | June 26th, 2018
After recent feedback on our article, it was brought to our attention that the stock photo we used was of Kansas State Highway Patrol Officers. We want to apologize to the Kansas State Highway Patrol Officers. We did not intend to offend them in any way. This article is about North Carolina Sheriff's Office, and the photo used was a stock photo, not intended to feature specific officers. We have now changed the photo.
As an update for the news story, the Hendersonville Sheriff this article covered has since lost his re-election and is no longer in office.
Again our sincere apology to the Kansas State Highway Patrol Officers.
Some things are funny, and some things are definitely not. There’s a time and place for jokes and when it comes to the opioid crisis, it’s no laughing matter. In our current society, addicts are dying every day due to drug overdoses and thankfully there’s lifesaving measures out there, like Narconon, that can bring our loved ones back from the brink of death and help them avoid absolute disaster. There are few things that truly make my stomach turn, but a recent interoffice email from a North Carolina’s Sheriff’s Office truly made me cringe. Sort of like when a person laughs at a funeral…
Recently, someone leaked an interoffice email from the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office that completely and utterly mocked the opiate problem. It was a picture that was entitled, “Laugh of the Day.” Below the title was a picture of a Narcan syringe spraying the drug out of the top of it. Below the picture it said “Narcan, Robbing Darwin of His Bountiful Harvest since 1971.” Basically, this picture implies that Narcan, an opiate overdose reversal drug, saved the lives of people who weren’t worthy of being saved. The Sheriff became aware of the fact that a subordinate of his made a failed attempt at some dark humor.
The Sheriff issued the following statement in response:
"As Sheriff, I accept the fact that this happened on my watch, in my agency, by one of my employees," he said. "It showed a lapse in judgment and has been appropriately addressed."
Not only was the Sheriff shocked by the actions of one of his employees, but I personally can’t believe how anyone, not to mention any law enforcement agency could find any possible humor in the drug epidemic. These days most people are affected by addiction in one way or another. It’s hard to really find anyone who hasn’t been somehow touched by this crisis. Pretty much everyone knows someone who abuses drugs. Whether it be a friend or family member, most people know someone who has a problem. That being said, how could anyone find anything funny about the fact that parents are losing their children and even some children are losing their parents, every day? Instead of making light of the situation, we all need to come together to solve this thing, not make fun of it. I hope needlessly upsetting the public was worth the couple of laughs gotten by this poor attempt at being funny. I certainly hope whoever made this picture never finds themselves or their loved ones in the grip of addiction.
It wouldn’t be so funny then, would it?
Sources Used:
https://www.hendersonvillelightning.com/m/index.php?page=9&item=6589
