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How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

theguardian.com

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Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#311

Post by johncolanduoni »

_acme wrote: post #240
rhizome wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really sure this is some sort of miracle drug that the establishment just doesn't want us to know about The thing is, it doesn't matter if you're "sure" or not, because while it's on Schedule I there can be no federal funds used for research into whatever degree it may be a "miracle" (nirvana fallacy) drug. I hope we can agree that therapeutic substances have been derived from harmful ones.

Can't research be done on other countries? Has research anywhere, of any kind, determined ibogaine to be useful in the treatment of addiction?

It can be done in the US with proper licensing, "just" if you get the funds from elsewhere. Not a small hurdle by any means, but it's not like you'll be blackballed (you can see plenty of studies of schedule 1 substances on PubMed, which is run by the US government).

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#312

Post by cookiecaper »

vinhboy wrote: post #29
zeep wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/r/politics is similar to /r/the_donald but it is the exact opposite (it could have been called /r/the_hillary)

No it's not. This exactly the kinda of propaganda you should be aware of. /r/the_donald specifically exists to spread false information, and to dox and harass people. /r/politics is opinionated because of it's user base. It's not intentionally a propaganda machine.

Communities that run against reddit's primary demographic base (college-aged, democrat-leaning male atheists with an interest in computers) must be liberal with the banhammer or they will be overrun. There is no other coherent way to hold a discussion contrary to the site's zeitgeist; you get too many trolls, invaders, and impostors. Many subs that try to run contrary to reddit's narrow primary demographic end up having to go entirely private; most serious conservative and religious subs have done this.

Point being liberal application of the banhammer should not be interpreted as proof of the mod's intent to run a "propaganda machine" as much as a necessity of holding a discussion within parameters that presume certain reddit-unfriendly positions.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#313

Post by ryanmerket »

eplanit wrote: post #246
traverseda wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/r/the_donald is a subreddit devoted to donald trump. Reddit didn't ban it. It follows the "safe-space" "you're not allowed to dissent" model pioneered by some "leftist" subs, and will ban people for having perfectly legitimate dissent. It managed to exploit some loopholes in how reddit works to take-over the front page. The most interesting one was "stickying" new posts so they were shown on their front page. They d…

It follows the "safe-space" "you're not allowed to dissent" model pioneered by some "leftist" subs, and will ban people for having perfectly legitimate dissent. Exactly -- and why I lasted only a week on Reddit. It's nothing but a collection of echo chambers. No matter how sincere and thorough I would try and make arguments, if they're weren't in line with the herd I'd get downvoted to oblivion (no counter argument e…

Every subreddit is different. You can't judge the whole site based on one subreddit's rules...

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#314

Post by cookiecaper »

bduerst wrote: post #166
vkou wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I agree with you and think the hubbub around r/the_donald is amusing. In my opinion, r/the_donald is a "beautiful" example of mob trolling. If a subreddit doesn't interest you, just unfollow it. The problem with having something r/the_donald on reddit is that its posters don't stay in r/the_donald. They go out to other reddits, and post hateful shit. It's like having a shared space for clubs, that also includes a l…

Yep, I agree. The users that infiltrate other subs don't announce they're from the_donald, but their rhetoric is still the same. Someone wrote a script that would res tag the_donald posters in other subs, and it's very noticeable how they're the ones derailing discussions that just involve a keyword like immigration, Islam, Europe, race, healthcare, or other hot button issues for them.

Are they derailing the discussion, or simply offering a different perspective?

Like it or not, Trump won, so there is obviously a large quantity of people who subscribe to the positions you've labeled "hateful". Why should your interpretation of their opinion override their ability to share their thoughts on the topic? Subreddit mods have the ability to constrain the discussion within their own parameters. What else is needed?

I particularly dislike the attitude of "Let's tag people who post in this sub". How are you supposed to know if you have common ground if you can't even post in that sub without getting labeled or banned?

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#315

Post by jtmcmc »

gsdfg4gsdg wrote: post #258
Chardok wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly believe drug addiction is a symptom of a greater issue in someone's life. There is no person who wakes up and says "I think I'll get addicted to heroin today"; it becomes a means of escape and relief from something that gradually turns into its own monster and creates a terrible cycle of dependence. By cutting out the time and money needed to "feed the beast" while providing professional help, they can bre…

The vast majority of heroin addicts today started with prescription painkillers. Many of them went into a doctor's office and took the pill that was prescribed to them by a trusted community member with a diploma on the wall. The problem was that these doctors were frequently either directly corrupt or under the unwitting influence of false advertising from Purdue Pharmaceuticals. When I had my wisdom teeth pulled an…

Why do you think they kept taking them after they ran out?

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#316

Post by cookiecaper »

bri3d wrote: post #42
pat_space wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think of Reddit as a single entity, but as a platform for communities(subreddits). The differences between subreddit communities are vast, ranging from 100% toxic to 100% positive.

I started thinking of Reddit that way, but once you start thinking about it that way, it's a pretty crappy software solution. A platform for diverse communities with a single SSO solution and frictionless cross-community posting combined with limited moderation features, poor ban capabilities, and easy discovery? That's not a good software recipe for a community to become empowered or build their own space at all.

I think this is a core issue with reddit. They're trying to be a self-hosted platform at the same time that they're trying to be a single coherent community of "redditors" with a default, universally-applicable front page.

This leads to conflict when one person feels their identity as a "redditor" is under attack by the success of a sub that is diametrically opposed to their political or religious perspective, which leads to invasions, trolling, doxxing, harassment, and lots of other types of nastiness.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#317

Post by averagewall »

In the HN-popular utopian future where automation has made most people unemployed and living on UBI, we're supposed to be able to pursue our dreams without the pressure to feed ourselves. But in reality, many people don't have dreams or the motivation to pursue them and end up as drug addicts/alcoholics/gangsters which is just easier.

I used to laugh at the idea that people need jobs to feel fulfilled. I thought those must be quite helpless people who can't even make their own hobbies. But from personal experience, I found that dreams are for young people and people with demanding jobs. They're a grass-is-greener fantasy when they're out of reach but deteriorate into boring unrewarding work when you actually do them. Working for a company is especially fulfilling because you more productive than you can be on your own. You feel more useful. You feel important and needed.

So I think the idea of widespread happy unemployment isn't going to work. It might still happen but I think it'll be a tragedy, not a paradise unless we can find something else that takes the place of work.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#318

Post by averagewall »

awkwarddaturtle wrote: post #224
gooseus wrote: post #62

What I find fascinating and disappointing is how much the opioid crisis isn't being talked about or addressed proportional to other societal issues. Billions of dollars of private research being poured into self-driving cars by our greatest minds and millions of dollars in lobbying against gun laws all in the name of preventing unnecessary human deaths... yet according to Ben Bernanke (and his references), opioid ove…

> What I find fascinating and disappointing is how much the opioid crisis isn't being talked about or addressed proportional to other societal issues. Actually, it is the opposite. Gun violence, opioid crisis, etc are given too much attention. The deaths of opioid crisis and gun deaths are minuscule compared to the deaths cause by obesity, sedentary lifestyle, cancer, heart disease, etc. Take the top two killers in a…

Everybody dies from something so there'll always be a top cause of death. I think we accept diseases of old age like heart disease and cancer as an inevitable part of being human. Sure it'd be nice to cure them. It'd also be nice to have immortality.

You could go further and say brain death is the leading cause of death, affecting 100% of Americans. Let's put more effort into transferring our consciousness into computers so we can survive it! Again, it would be nice but seems tolerable to carry on as we are.

Re: How a Reddit forum has become a lifeline to opioid addicts in the US

#319

Post by rdtsc »

vinhboy wrote: post #29
zeep wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/r/politics is similar to /r/the_donald but it is the exact opposite (it could have been called /r/the_hillary)

No it's not. This exactly the kinda of propaganda you should be aware of. /r/the_donald specifically exists to spread false information, and to dox and harass people. /r/politics is opinionated because of it's user base. It's not intentionally a propaganda machine.

> /r/the_donald specifically exists to spread false information, and to dox and harass people.

Can you substantiate that? I went there a few times after election and didn't see any doxing or harassing. There were gays, trans, immigrants people of all walks of life all seemingly having fun with their frog image or whatever they call it, and don't remember seeing a lot of harassment. I didn't follow but maybe you're saying it is hidden somewhere or they are subversive and just pretend to be nice?

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