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The Heroin Business Is Booming in America

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Re: The Heroin Business Is Booming in America

#121

Post by base698 »

pm90 wrote: post #42
shmolyneaux wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skydiving is actually fairly safe, see http://www.uspa.org/facts-faqs/safety for stats. There were 0.0061 fatalities per 1000 jumps in 2015 .

Yeah and there is very little risk of getting addicted to skydiving :). At least for most people.

The people that get into it usually lose years of their life to skydiving. Many quit their other hobbies and stop hanging around friends from their old life and even quit their jobs.

More similar than you'd think :)

Re: The Heroin Business Is Booming in America

#122

Post by koolba »

jjawssd wrote: post #113
koolba wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't recall any incidents of junkies robbing people to buy a pack of Marlboros.

Junkies wouldn't need to rob people of as many things if these drugs were cheap as dirt

They'd still rob people. Heroin is already very cheap. That's one of the drivers of people moving to it from prescription opiates.

Dropping the price further isn't going to make much difference.

Re: The Heroin Business Is Booming in America

#123

Post by wavefunction »

koolba wrote: post #108
chris_7 wrote: post #104

Heroin, LSD, etc. use really doesn't affect me. I don't care if people use it, and don't want the government to waste money fighting it or whatever they do. I don't care if people manufacture it, as long as they follow all the usual regulations for dangerous chemical plants (like, don't have one in an apartment building). Anyone should be able to grow weed wherever they'd grow lettuce or whatever, no danger there. I…

I don't recall any incidents of junkies robbing people to buy a pack of Marlboros.

Would you count people shoplifting them as that?

Re: The Heroin Business Is Booming in America

#124

Post by wavefunction »

lowmagnet wrote: post #74
Fricken wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opium production was virtually eliminated in Afghanistan before we invaded, by the Taliban, whom we thanked for doing such great work. We also granted Afghanistan $43 million to help farmers no longer profiting off poppy fields through a drought. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/20/world/taliban-s-ban-on-pop...

I'm guessing it just moved to somewhere else in a big game of whack-a-poppy.

The cartels are growing it in Mexico now because they can't sell as much cannabis.

Re: The Heroin Business Is Booming in America

#125

Post by mgce »

krapp wrote: post #71
ada1981 wrote: post #31

Legalize and tax/regulate production, purity, etc. Outlaw all marketing. Invest all profits in the following: 1) Ensuring all children have an attuned attachment figure / parents have free (or even incentivized) training to learn how to attune emotionally. 2) Psychedelic therapy centers to help heal the underlying addiction along with support and integration. 3) Community gardens / organic food production & affordabl…

> Legalize and tax/regulate production, purity, etc. Outlaw all marketing. Why outlaw marketing? If all drugs are legal and regulated, there should be no issue with advertising them like any other legal and regulated product. The US already allows advertising for pharmaceuticals, it should allow advertising for every other drug. And why should drug companies have to invest their profits in the programs you describe?…

I firmly believe alcohol marketing is a major contributor toward alcohol continuing to be one of the most destructive drugs in our society. It's glamorized in a a savvy and well-funded way that puts an incessant haze in our understanding of it as a a powerful, poisonous, and potentially debilitating substance.

You can find billboards that make bottles of liquor look like royal treasure passed down from the gods. It's ultimately poison in a bottle. This kind of glorification of it hurts people who don't have the ability to enjoy it without consequence (i.e. millions of people in the U.S.).

Re: The Heroin Business Is Booming in America

#127

Post by DeBraid »

throwaway2016a wrote: post #44

This is probably pop psychology but it always struck me that if you legalize marijuana you go a long way to solving the problem. My thoughts are... 1. It is reportedly a better pain killer in some cases than opioids so it keeps people off of the prescription opioids 2. It is nowhere near as addictive (possibly not addictive at all) 3. When people are already criminals (because they smoke weed) I think they are more l…

> ... between 1999 and 2010, states that permitted medical marijuana had an average of almost 25 percent fewer opioid overdose deaths each year than states where cannabis remained illegal.

Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-medical-can...

Re: The Heroin Business Is Booming in America

#128

Post by base698 »

jostmey wrote: post #112

Isn't it possible to create poison genes using CRISPR that are always dominant and will lead to a species extinction? Why not apply this technology to completely eliminate Opioid plants? P.S. I am sure there are many reasons why this won't work, but let's think big, okay?

I like the idea of having poppies when doctors are fishing around in my body with scalpels or after I break a femur.

Eliminating would just punish those who don't make questionable life decisions.

Re: The Heroin Business Is Booming in America

#129

Post by logfromblammo »

kogepathic wrote: post #58
eberkund wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Who do you expect will fund these treatment programs? I seriously doubt most addicts are equipped to pay for it. Taxes on the drugs themselves would probably more than cover it.

> Taxes on the drugs themselves would probably more than cover it. And you seriously think politicians will use this new revenue source for the treatment of addicts? I predict they'll push another tax cut that benefits their major donors.

Perhaps we require that our legislators eat a cannabis cookie before opening any session of congress?

I have no idea what they would spent the tax revenues on, other than a Strategic Doritos Stockpile, but it couldn't be any worse than the budget they are likely to pass this year.

Re: The Heroin Business Is Booming in America

#130

Post by kazagistar »

mgce wrote: post #101
mmjaa wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legalization doesn't fix addiction. It fixes the sub-culture, the underground, the dark layers in society where addicts lurk in order to be able to continue their addiction. Legalization brings these people into society, by removing the stigma associated with drug use, and makes it less of a problem to be swept under the rug. It makes it easier to contact addicts and get them into effective treatment programs. Right…

I want to agree with you, and I think I mostly do. Unfortunately your comment also reminds me how enormous the barriers remain toward people recognizing alcoholism and having the will to treat it. There's an enormous amount of shame, stigma, and denial toward alcoholism, to the point that most who suffer from it still choose to hide that reality as much as they possibly can. Even worse, the legality of it promotes a…

We've done work on tobacco. Sure there is still a culture around smoking and whatnot, but its generally accepted to be unhealthy and something that is a problem.
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