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Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

richmond.com

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Re: Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

#31

Post by snuxoll »

PatientTrades wrote: post #7

Most of this stems from the overprescription of opioids. I remember when I had surgery for a broken leg the amount of drugs I received after the surgery was astounding. It was almost as if the hospital wanted me to become hooked. I didn't need or ask for the opioids, they were just prescribed for pain killing. A regular Tylenol or Advil would have done the job. Not saying hospitals want people on drugs, but at some p…

It's incredibly easy to get hooked when taking prescription opiates even if you're fully aware of the situation. I had a wisdom tooth extracted last year, and by the time the pain was finally down to the level I could manage with OTC pain relievers I realized I had developed a mild physical addiction to the hydrocodone.

I had no desire to get high off the pain killers, hell, they didn't even do anything for me in that regard - but I could feel the need to take them. I can easily see how someone without the awareness, willpower and a number of other factors could give in and start down the path of self-destruction. It was a terrifying place for me to be in, and as someone who has responsibly taken prescription opiates for multiple other oral surgeries as well as a septoplasty it was one I never thought possible.

Re: Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

#32

Post by sillysaurus3 »

ghrifter wrote: post #29
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[removed]

what the fuck are you on about? wrong thread?

Actually, I'm trying to have a nuanced conversation on a sensitive topic with an open mind.

I get the feeling this is one of the things that no one wants to discuss, or at least it's a bad idea to try to discuss it.

Note how violent and immediate the reaction was, right when I tried to point to a segment of people who are the most likely to be in the target segment of the original article. I don't feel like martyring myself, so I won't push it further. But suffice to say, it does not seem like we as a society are ready to have hard conversations about why people turn to drugs.

Re: Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

#33

Post by iambateman »

Serious questions...if you’ve used an opioid more than once for recreational purposes, I’d like to hear (1) what prompted you to try it (2) how old you were (3) cost (4) where did you get them (5) why did you stop

Treat me like an idiot, I don’t understand this stuff and I’d like to know more.

* obviously feel free to use a burner account if you’d rather not speak publicly.

Re: Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

#34

Post by [deleted] »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #26
jrowley wrote: post #9

Just the other morning I got off of bart in downtown Oakland, 12th street and there was a guy just laid out, unresponsive right on the steps outside the station. He had smoked something out of a can. I stuck with the guy while the paramedics came, but the most tragic part was that he had a plastic "No Allergies" bracelet on. When the paramedics took off his shirt he still had adhesive on his skin from the EKG straps…

[removed]

[deleted]

Re: Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

#35

Post by miguelrochefort »

iambateman wrote: post #33

Serious questions...if you’ve used an opioid more than once for recreational purposes, I’d like to hear (1) what prompted you to try it (2) how old you were (3) cost (4) where did you get them (5) why did you stop Treat me like an idiot, I don’t understand this stuff and I’d like to know more. * obviously feel free to use a burner account if you’d rather not speak publicly.

It's mostly people that started medicating for chronic pain.

Re: Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

#36

Post by nkrisc »

jcmoscon wrote: post #19

Maybe all these drugs being dumped in USA is really part of an evil plan from an enemy nation to destroy this country by destroying its people. Check out this book "Red Cocaine" to see how cocaine traffic started in America.

Even if that was true, they're only supplying the match; we built the bonfire.

Re: Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

#37

Post by dragontamer »

ransom1538 wrote: post #10
mschuster91 wrote: post #3

> Local jails have been overrun with people locked up and in need of treatment Why. Do. People. End. Up. In. Jail. Seriously this one is beyond my comprehension - they need treatment, not jails filled with hardened criminals, rapists and probably more (and nastier) drugs than on the street.

Like my uncle says, a cop, "what would we do then". Drug & alcohol related arrests are 99% of their work.

Its not a cop's job. Its a social worker's job.

I do recognize that cops are just "trying to help", and that no one cares about social workers. Cops are in an advantaged position in the USA because they are relatively well respected by most mainstream members of the population. So the fact that they want to help is good.

But Cops aren't given the right training to deal with medical problems or other problems (ie: Fire hazards. In theory, cops could be the ones to inspect Fire Hazards in buildings, but realistically, its better for Firemen to do it).

There are lots of social work jobs in America. A big problem, a seriously big one... is that we expect Cops to do any job. Erm... no. Have drug specialists deal with the drug problem. Cops really shouldn't shoulder the burden of everything in the country.

-------

Cops should focus on the distribution of drugs. Not on the users of the drugs. The users need treatment, mental treatment that cops do not have the abilities to give.

These drug abusers need nurses and social workers to check up on them every few hours. Not cops.

Re: Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

#38

Post by spaceseaman »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #26
jrowley wrote: post #9

Just the other morning I got off of bart in downtown Oakland, 12th street and there was a guy just laid out, unresponsive right on the steps outside the station. He had smoked something out of a can. I stuck with the guy while the paramedics came, but the most tragic part was that he had a plastic "No Allergies" bracelet on. When the paramedics took off his shirt he still had adhesive on his skin from the EKG straps…

[removed]

You're implying the opioid epidemic is in part due to Reddit banning subreddits filled with hateful speech?* Or what? You're also making some odd as hell "both sides"-ish argument somewhere in there that I can't even parse.

I'm sorry, but we don't have to give spaces for people to be hateful - Reddit banning those assholes was the highlight of my week. I'm not trying to claim that these people should just be ignored, but you're conflating very separate problems.

More importantly, the people being affected by the opioid crisis are predominantly not members of these hateful groups, and I'm pretty frustrated you would conflate them in such a way just so you can have an excuse to talk about the loss of a safe space for hateful rhetoric.

*EDIT: After rereading what the poster wrote a few times, I believe they were attempting to claim that the subreddit bans would encourage more people to head to drug use, rather than vice-versa as I originally interpreted it - it's still pretty off-topic though, and again I'm not very sympathetic to people being sad they no longer have a place to be hateful.

Re: Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

#39

Post by daxorid »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #32
ghrifter wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what the fuck are you on about? wrong thread?

Actually, I'm trying to have a nuanced conversation on a sensitive topic with an open mind. I get the feeling this is one of the things that no one wants to discuss, or at least it's a bad idea to try to discuss it. Note how violent and immediate the reaction was, right when I tried to point to a segment of people who are the most likely to be in the target segment of the original article. I don't feel like martyring…

When the status gap is large enough, high status people don't see low status people as human.

Very few people on HN will care about incels killing themselves. Suicide hotlines and rehab clinics are for their status peers fallen on hard times, not the filthy incel underclass who dare act above their station.

Re: Nineteen people a week overdose in Richmond, dozens are dying, hundreds revived

#40

Post by linuxps2 »

iambateman wrote: post #33

Serious questions...if you’ve used an opioid more than once for recreational purposes, I’d like to hear (1) what prompted you to try it (2) how old you were (3) cost (4) where did you get them (5) why did you stop Treat me like an idiot, I don’t understand this stuff and I’d like to know more. * obviously feel free to use a burner account if you’d rather not speak publicly.

1) Because they're fun and I was bored 2) Most of my pill days were when I was in high school. I haven't sought out pills since but have been prescribed them when I've had surgery 3) It was just recreational (a hydro or oxy here or there) so the cost was low ~$1/mg for oxy. Obviously if you're addicted then $30+/day is crazy, but once in a blue moon it's no different than going to the movies or grabbing a cheap dinner 4) My friends/neighbors who sold drugs or from the good ole medicine cabinet 5) I'm not really a big fan of the feeling.
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