Canada and the United States are in the middle of an opioid epidemic. Every year now, more Americans will lose their lives to overdose than to car crashes. The peak years of the opioid epidemic have killed more American men than died during the Vietnam War – the entire Vietnam War. So severe has the impact of this public health crisis been, that it has caused a decline in the life expectancy of white men in America. And yet what has been most glaring about this crisis is how little public commentary it has occasioned, how little impact it has had on politics or political campaigning.

It’s time to take a closer look at male pain, to speak directly about the mental health problems men face, and how these manifest in their lives – in drug, alcohol and food addictions, in epidemic male loneliness, and a retreat into the virtual world.

What social factors have changed to make these addictions more prevalent? And more importantly – why do we have so much trouble talking about male pain?

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