Sesame Street puts America's Opiod Crisis Into Perspective

Article by Paris Dozier. Photo courtesy of euronews.com

NOV. 21, 2019: Do you remember when you were little and used to sit in front of the TV for hours just watching your favorite Sesame Street characters? Chances are that you don’t, but either way, it was probably nothing compared to what Sesame Street has decided to tackle this time. 

According to drugabuse.gov “Roughly 21 to 29 percent of patients prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them.” And apparently, the creators of Sesame Street were not going to just take this lying down, because they decided to make an entire episode about “helping kids navigate the harder parts of life in America”. According to Newsela, this episode follows a bright green and yellow puppet named Karli whose mother is suffering from addiction.

Whether or not you think that this is a severe topic for a show for three-year-olds to cover, you have to admit that it’s really sad that this even had to be thought about. It’s sad that any child would have to go through having a family member suffering from addiction at such a young age. But I am only one person out of over seven billion people on Earth. So just take a moment to think about all this.

Paris Dozier is a 5th grade scholar Friendship Woodridge International School.