This profession has a secret substance problem that nobody talks about?

Is this the group of questions where we all find out that most people we interact with daily are on stuff, most of, or all of the time?

Actually, in America, the testing of sanitary sewer water shows that everyone is on way more stuff than they report if you just surveyed them.

And as someone who used to test sanitary

sewer water, I can tell you that everyone who does that job is dosed up to the eyeballs as well.

Once I got into dental school, our eyes were opened by the Well-Being Foundation, an arm of the

Missouri Dental Association. A couple of the guys who were addicts and had been in recovery for years

came in and discussed

substance overuse and how wildly it can spiral. After talking to a friend and mentor who's been

sober from opioids and alcohol, both for 45 years, he talked about how many healthcare professionals

from all disciplines there were just in our little rural area. No names or personal info, of course. It's

crazy to me still that people I would never have suspected, and so many of them were the high-functioning

type A go-getters. Lawyers. Holy frick. Yeah, I've been a lawyer for over 30 years. I can't tell

you how many of them are burned out from the profession by 40 and spiraling into addiction. The practice of law is often both boring

and intensely stressful. It's never glamorous. I imagine the problem begins earlier and is worse

in big law because of the huge billing requirements. But those lawyers have the staff to keep them

from committing malpractice or an ethical

violation. Many lawyers end up broke and some lose their license. My state has a whole office

dedicated to lawyer assistance for these problems. Lawyers are also a top answer for alcoholism.

Many of them have a severe drinking problem. I'm a bartender, a night got out of a pickle when

the judge and prosecutor were regulars.

The judge said to the prosecutor,

...