Yes, today’s political climate is nasty. Yes, we wring our hands over how progressives and conservatives hate one another so much that no candidate, legal decision, movie, restaurant and bakery is free from partisan controversy.

Yet here is a unifying issue — here is a calamity that can strike any of us like a brick falling from a building. The crisis brings misery and death to all races, parties, genders, classes and religions. Here is a nonpartisan, equal-opportunity killer.

That’s why we have to battle it together. We can still argue over immigration and impeachment, but on this issue we must unify.

There is some hope. The Trump administration has addressed the crisis — and with bipartisan support, I’m happy to add. Some 57 federal programs sponsor nearly $11 billion dedicated to prevention, treatment and recovery, as well as research, criminal justice, health surveillance and supply reduction.

It’s a wonderful start, but there is so much more to do. Let’s not merely react to current suffering. Let’s punish deceitful drug marketers, set up treatment centers and clamp down on prescribing painkillers.

My view is that Americans can band together to go deeper into this crisis, right to the core issue: how we treat pain. Pain is the body’s reaction to injury, chronic problems and disease. Everyone is susceptible to pain of some kind. It’s a unifying human experience.

Let’s redouble our efforts to find pain treatments that don’t risk drug dependency and addiction. Let’s harness the nation’s research and design resources to produce remedies that end pain, not mask it.

As for my pain of loss and grief, I don’t think there ever can be relief for that. I just try to channel my emotions into something positive. I hope that our personal experiences can lead to a shared understanding — and that our divided nation can unite to end the opioid epidemic and save lives.

Eric Bolling (@ericbolling) is a financial analyst, the host of “America This Week” on Sinclair Broadcast and the president of JanOne, a company created to find alternative treatments for pain.

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