Live data from Hacker News

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

theguardian.com

371–380 of 396 posts

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

#371
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Here's a relatively recent roundup of the state of research: http://psychedelictimes.com/iboga/the-evidence-for-ibogaine-...

I'm not inclined to trust the Psychedelic Times to be particularly neutral on the topic or scientific.

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

#372
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The United States alone holds over 45 percent of the global pharmaceutical market [1]. And less then 5 percent of earths population. Welcome to the society of pharmaceutical addiction. [1] https://www.statista.com/topics/1719/pharmaceutical-industry...

You're comparing a measure in dollars with a measure in people. Yes, per capita expenditure on prescription medication is high in the US. Most other countries have a national health care system which negotiates the price for the whole country. The US market is where pharmaceutical companies expect to recoup their R&D costs, which makes drugs more expensive in the US than anywhere else. This effectively means that the…

I would restate that to the "US market is where pharmaceutical companies like recoup their executive officer costs, which makes drugs more expensive in the US than anywhere else. The US subsidizes executive salaries for the rest of the world..." http://www.ibtimes.com/healthcare-pharma-ceos-paid-more-top-...

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

#373
post #51

Kratom saves lives.

It's amusing that they describe kratom replacement of opiates as days sober, though. Or maybe I'm misreading it -- maybe he used kratom to wean off opiates, and then stopped using kratom as well. My experience of kratom did not feel like being sober (and in fact felt a lot like opiates).

If someone is struggling with opioid addiction and switch to kratom, they don't get that same fuzzy feeling, they just feel... better.

Granted, people can switch to Kratom and take a huge dose to try and catch a buzz but most people that want to use Kratom to actually stop will take a maintenance dose. No different from using Suboxone to taper down.

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

#375
post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you just described sounds to me like an authoritarian court versus a democratic forum. That is, excepting the "shill" name-calling -- it leads me to believe that you are in fact speaking on behalf of r/the_donald. If that's true, then I know why the term was used. If not, what leads you to believe that anybody involved in discussion in r/politics are "shills".

> If not, what leads you to believe that anybody involved in discussion in r/politics are "shills". Because Hillary had hired people to do exactly that: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-clinton-digital-trolli... http://www.thedailybeast.com/hillary-pac-spends-dollar1-mill... Remember someone leaked a private Slack chat of Reddit admins where one was boasting of receiving their CTR check.

I think you're reaching a little here. The parent comment stated that r/politics uses shill comments and down votes as a control measure to align with a narrative.

If that is true, supported by the articles you referenced:

-- r/politics has over 3 million subscribers, with an average of 30 - 40 active users during the daytime. -- if every one of those users was a "shill" commenter then every single one would have earned $0.30 for their efforts. That's not counting other forms of social media.

I have to admit some skepticism toward the assertion that the entire subreddit is a controlled narrative. Instead, it seems that there will be those who adamantly support the people they're paid to support, and that those users are in the minimum. Instead I think it's just a general consensus what the popular ideals are in there vs. r/t_d. Besides, not sure if you've been around there much but I certainly don't see much love lost for HC.

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

#376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reminded of this Twitter exchange, in which Alan Kay graffiti'd YCombinator's "Make something people want" poster to say "Make something people need " and Paul Graham retorted that "making something people need but don't want kills startups". https://twitter.com/sama/status/656892679817527296 The point of business is to create a customer. For that to happen, there has to be someone out there who has voluntarily d…

> making something people need but don't want kills startups. And this is what government and regulation are for in my view.

Except in the case of opioids, government and regular ARE the problem. If they were legal and available through a regulated supply, most of the OD's would never happen. They happen because someone gets a dose of the drug that's 10-100 times stronger than the one they had yesterday.

That's no different than people going blind/dying from wood alcohol during prohibition.

The solution is to legalize and regulate, but I'm not holding my breath.

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

#377
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"things like /r/gamingsuggestions and local city subreddits still make the site worthwhile to me." Local city subreddits are one of the best things about reddit. National politics sometimes leak in, which is when they're at their worst, but, overall, it's probably my favorite thing there.

Maybe for the smaller cities it is different but I've stopped visiting /r/boston because every single thread someone brings up politics and it becomes a flamewar between left/right.

Yes, you're right, I think. I am active on /r/stlouis and /r/nyc and the former is a far better community.

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

#378
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're subbed to the wrong subreddits. You could be getting a lot more out of reddit than you are. The comments here make it sound like 95% of all conversations are about race and politics, but if that's what you're seeing, then that's really just a reflection of what you're reading. There are subreddits about everything . Most of them don't include conversations about police shootings or Islam.

Yes, the guys wearing white hoods will probably not collectively crap all over the knitting club. That doesn't make the overall situation any better, nor is it a good idea to have them make up a large part of the site's userbase. (And the only reason it seems that they aren't a problem is because moderators of more specialized reddits have to delete their posts, and ban the posters.) Some customers aren't worth keepi…

You seem to concede my point, but then proceed with your argument that it's still a problem, anyway. I don't know how to respond to that except to say that I hope nobody actually listens to you. Reddit has some great communities and people shouldn't be scared to participate in them.

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

#379
post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a relatively recent roundup of the state of research: http://psychedelictimes.com/iboga/the-evidence-for-ibogaine-...

I'm not inclined to trust the Psychedelic Times to be particularly neutral on the topic or scientific.

The yellow words are hyperlinks. Many of them go to outside websites.

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

#380
post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but the point I'm making is that we can't know if he was taking some potent opiate along with his kratom. Kratom is used by many specifically because of its quick and mild withdrawal symptoms, which is why people on strong opiates use kratom to come off of their hard opiates. That's why it's suspect when people talk about lengthy, strong withdrawals, which are very uncharacteristic of unadulterated kratom. And b…

What vendor knowingly sold adulterated kratom? Just curious.

I made a promise to myself that I would not mention specific vendors in my posts here -- for good or for bad, in order not to take away from my message -- but it was one of the two most talked-about and recommended vendors that you hear about in r/kratom. And it makes sense that people would recommend a vendor whose product contains stronger opiates or potentiators, because the effects are stronger. The thing about kratom is that the vast majority of consumers are new to it, because they only just heard about it from the publicity it received when the DEA tried scheduling it. So you have a ton of people that have no experience with kratom whatsoever, gauging the "quality" of a vendor's products based on how it makes them feel, and ignoring some of the warning signs, or flatly not researching it beforehand. Only a significant minority of kratom consumers are using it to come off of hard opiates. Most people (like me) are taking it for its pain-relieving and mood-stabilizing effects. I suppose some minority of users are trying kratom to test the "high", too. But kratom doesn't get you "high" (unless it's adulterated). And unfortunately, some consumers are landing on a kratom vendor that's unknowingly or knowingly selling kratom with something extra thrown in. It's a sticky situation, because testing is not the norm. Thankfully, kratom is cheap enough that it often doesn't make economic sense to adulterate kratom. But in the ever-increasingly competitive market for Indonesian distributors, more and more are willing to take those extra steps to have kratom that stands out from the crowd, and let there be no mistake: There are some cheap adulterants, especially with China next door. The fairly new, explosive growth of the kratom industry is completely changing some of the poorest regions of Indonesia for the better. But as with anything like this, there are scumbags getting into it, looking for a golden ticket. We've been very lucky so far that adulteration is not the norm, but those days may be coming to an end, as demand starts to skyrocket. That's why I'm so big on testing, because gambling that "chances are, it won't be adulterated" is not a viable option.
Post reply on HN