We Americans don’t necessarily need foreign terrorists to do us in. We’ve got that sufficiently covered right here in our own back yards. It’s called dope. More specifically the (our) opioids crises. These 21 Century drugs (Fentanal, Codeine, Hydrocodone, Methane, etc., etc., etc.) are exponentially more powerful than the simple heroin of old. Especially so when mixed because an unsuspecting partaker knows not what poisons they ingest. Mixing these illegal substances is akin to mixing alcohol and drugs–but with greater potential for a quick death.

And partaking of such substances is like playing Russian Roulette–except all the gun chambers are full except one. My painting depicts a one armed bandit slot machine–Vegas style. Pick your poison right out of a vending machine. It’s almost that prevalent in America. There’s definitely more that enough to go around. Especially in America where money’s no object–right? But like most good American entrepreneurs, the drug lords have brought the price of doing death down to a respectable low, low price. Now, death is affordable to everyone. Enjoy it while you last!

You can easily legally get opioids for your pain. But getting off them is another story. I’ve known many a pro footballer who has gotten “hooked” on them–unintentionally, of course. The drugs dealers will set you up basically free just to get you hooked. Really, it’s not to dissimilar than the opioids drug manufactures who have flooded the American markets for their own profit.

Interestingly enough, this one armed (cowboy) bandit reminds me of the fate of most of our domestic terrorists. In the process of committing their horrendous acts and consequently being cornered by the police, they usually resort to committing suicide–which really only requires one arm to do so. He’s obviously donning a (bad) black hat to represent the taking of his own life, which if he’s a Christian, puts his salvation in questionable jeopardy.

I’m empathetic to those who absolutely have to have pain medication. I was there once. Lower back pain radiating into my hip area put me into a wheel chair for almost two weeks until my scheduled appointment with a pain management specialist. If it wasn’t for the taking of OxyContin, I seriously don’t know what I would have done. God blessed me with wife, Doris, in my plight! She literally had to push me from the bedroom to the bathroom in an office chair! And she didn’t complain–too much.

My painting title reflects the loss (really theft through drugs) of loved ones that parents in particular will be experiencing for the rest of their lives. It’s one thing for an adult to lose a parent. Quite another for a parent to outlive their child that they could, apparently, do little or nothing to save. My heart goes out to them.