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What Science Says to Do If Your Loved One Has an Opioid Addiction

fivethirtyeight.com

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Re: What Science Says to Do If Your Loved One Has an Opioid Addiction

#21

Post by intopieces »

flachsechs wrote: post #17
intopieces wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't the fact that the "not even once" ads existed in the public consciousness saliently enough to have a meme show that people did really seem to care?

well you could say the same thing about 'this is your brain on drugs' when crack was going around. that was also a PSA that entered into the public consciousness and then turned into a joke.

Sure, but one of these was paired with mass incarceration of a certain group of people, associated with laws that were struck down because of their disparity in sentencing. The other, not.

Re: What Science Says to Do If Your Loved One Has an Opioid Addiction

#22

Post by kchoudhu »

flachsechs wrote: post #9
kchoudhu wrote: post #2

Now that the opioid crisis is a problem for white people, science makes an appearance in the policy discussion. Contrast to the crack epidemic in the 80s: fuck'em, throw them all in prison. Edit to add: I wish the best of luck to those who have been caught up in this crisis: I'm rooting for you, and I hope every last one of you find the treatment you need. For those of us who aren't affected, it's time for some deep…

to be fair when meth was ravaging poor/rural white people nobody really seemed to care much either. in fact it was something of a joke i.e. the "not even once" memes etc. i think the real issue is opiates seem to be heavily affecting affluent suburban and urban people, who are predominantly white, and make up a huge amount of the tax base.

Yeah, I think my initial comment missed that part of the equation. It isn't straight racism that's driving the differential response as it is indirect racism by way of inequality. The net effect ends up amounting to the same thing though, and ultimately that's what bothers me so much about it.

Re: What Science Says to Do If Your Loved One Has an Opioid Addiction

#23

Post by CodeCube »

anythingnonidin wrote: post #18

OP here. An interesting takeaway I had was the importance of community. Does anyone know any non-profits or startups working to increase people's sense of community at a mass scale? It seems this is missing from large parts of the western world and has many consequences.

the cynical amongst us would respond that this need is being "filled" by FB and social media ... I for one hope that doesn't turn out to be true in the long term.

Re: What Science Says to Do If Your Loved One Has an Opioid Addiction

#24

Post by gozur88 »

kchoudhu wrote: post #2

Now that the opioid crisis is a problem for white people, science makes an appearance in the policy discussion. Contrast to the crack epidemic in the 80s: fuck'em, throw them all in prison. Edit to add: I wish the best of luck to those who have been caught up in this crisis: I'm rooting for you, and I hope every last one of you find the treatment you need. For those of us who aren't affected, it's time for some deep…

>Contrast to the crack cocaine epidemic in the 80s: fuck'em, throw them all in prison.

That's overly reductive to the point of being wrong. There was never a particularly strong feeling that crack addicts should be thrown in prison any more than other types of addicts. People were strongly in favor of throwing crack dealers in prison because they were turning neighborhoods into war zones as they fought for lucrative turf.

And it wasn't just white people, either. The strongest advocates you'll find of drug criminalization are black people who lived through the crack epidemic in the '80s.

Re: What Science Says to Do If Your Loved One Has an Opioid Addiction

#26

Post by betenoire »

sharpercoder wrote: post #25

An addiction tries to replace a void in someone's life. Chances are big the environment of the addicted played a role in cerating the void.

That's not helpful at all. Yes, addiction is "filling" "something" "broken". Now what?

Re: What Science Says to Do If Your Loved One Has an Opioid Addiction

#27

Post by otakucode »

Great article, but if your loved one has an opioid addiction and wants to quit without suffering the devastating withdrawal, I would strongly recommend investigating kratom. It is a non-opiate tree which grows primarily in Thailand and similar regions. It contains an alkaloid called mitragynine. This alkaloid is a selective opioid receptor agonist. Specifically, research shows that it is an agonist to several opioid receptors but particularly an antagonist of the receptor which causes respiratory system depression, and is thought responsible for the primary addictive nature of most opiates and synthetic opioids.

It is legal in most of the US (I believe there are 1 or 2 states which have banned it, it has a long history by now in US law. A year or so ago the DEA announced to Congress the intention to schedule it (ban it) under their 'emergency' powers (which is bullshit since there are no deaths from it, and it remains mostly unknown, those 'emergency' powers are simply abused). After that announcement, they were required to consult research and doctors, along with opening a public comment period. Afterward they withdrew their intent to schedule it. So, for now, it remains legal.

Its effect upon a person with no opioid dependence is at low doses similar to caffeine without the 'jittery' part and without the crash afterward. In larger doses it has mild analgesic and sedative properties. I've taken Vicodin after I had my wisdom teeth removed, and have also tried kratom, and not even in large amounts have I ever experienced it giving any sort of similar 'high'. It is mildly habit-forming of itself, but very mildly compared to opiates. Withdrawal after extensive use might consist of having the sniffles and feeling a bit restless for a day or two. With tapering dosages down rather than sudden cessation, nothing is likely to be noticed.

Reportedly, kratom ameliorates most, if not all, withdrawal symptoms from things like Oxycontin, heroin, etc. Expecting people to go through withdrawal is inhumane and stupid. We can deal with it without the suffering. Kratom can be gotten online from multitudes of vendors. Please steer clear of the "legal high" and 'weed shop' variety of places. In addition to being radically overpriced, their association does active harm to the community of people who use kratom reasonably. Stay away from extracts and concentrated forms (although those seem to have mostly gone away from most outlets, they were big for awhile and were bordering on dangerous) and just get simple crushed leaves. If you or a loved one wants to quit, kratom will let you do so without ruining your life.

If your loved one does not want to quit, because doing so would expose them to the full pain (emotional, physical, OR psychological) of a life they hate and which they feel traps them... your problem and theirs is not the drug.

Re: What Science Says to Do If Your Loved One Has an Opioid Addiction

#28

Post by DougN7 »

anythingnonidin wrote: post #18

OP here. An interesting takeaway I had was the importance of community. Does anyone know any non-profits or startups working to increase people's sense of community at a mass scale? It seems this is missing from large parts of the western world and has many consequences.

> any non-profits ... working to increase people's sense of community at a mass scale

You're describing most religions that I'm aware of. Say what you will about their beliefs, but most of them (definitely not all) work hard to have an inclusive and supportive community.

Re: What Science Says to Do If Your Loved One Has an Opioid Addiction

#29

Post by sndean »

Justsignedup wrote: post #3

Interesting question: The replacing opioid addiction with maintenance drugs... I could understand that drug being an okay interim solution, but in the end the person still needs to go through withdrawal, the drug just replaces withdrawal with another drug. Withdrawal is hard. Yes. But at least the person is in the right mindset to go through it once they are off the compulsory addiction, even if it takes a year to ge…

> Withdrawal is hard.

Just to emphasize that:

Before my SO started working in a hospital, I had no idea that people going through alcohol withdrawal can end up in the ICU. They're ending up in an ICU because of the withdrawal, not the alcohol... That was really surprising to me.

Re: What Science Says to Do If Your Loved One Has an Opioid Addiction

#30

Post by otakucode »

flachsechs wrote: post #17
intopieces wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't the fact that the "not even once" ads existed in the public consciousness saliently enough to have a meme show that people did really seem to care?

well you could say the same thing about 'this is your brain on drugs' when crack was going around. that was also a PSA that entered into the public consciousness and then turned into a joke.

That 'this is your brain on drugs' thing with the egg and the skillet was heroin, not crack. I believe they did do a crack update later where the woman took the skillet afterward and destroyed the kitchen with it. To conflate humor and lampooning of those PSAs as not taking the actual drug issue seriously is not wise, though. Many people simply realize how useless, hyperbolic, and ultimately insulting those PSAs were.

If something is scary, you show the thing. You don't make up metaphors. Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream most likely prevented more people from ever trying heroin than any government-sponsored PSA ever did.

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