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As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

nytimes.com

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Re: As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

#11

Post by yostrovs »

jdietrich wrote: post #3

Not mentioned in the article: The Scottish heroin epidemic started in Edinburgh, the more prosperous of Scotland's two largest cities. This was largely due to the presence of MacFarlan Smith, which was at one point the world's largest producer of pharmaceutical opiates. That initial cohort of heroin users in the 1980s predominantly used drugs that were diverted from the legitimate pharmaceutical supply rather than sm…

Redheads are known to have greater pain tolerance. Perhaps there's a relationship to that phenomenon here.

Re: As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

#12

Post by anm89 »

wallace_f wrote: post #6
_Understated_ wrote: post #4

My late brother used to talk about an area outside Glasgow called Springburn and how it is consistently listed as one of the poorest/deprived places in Europe (not sure if that was the correct term but it gets the point across). Yet each election term they voted in either the same politicians or politicians with the same manifestos. Nothing will change!

I think we deserve it. 70,000 yearly people die from Big Pharma's opioid crisis in the US, Jeff Bezos and his companies barely pay taxes and his newspapers run non-stop spam about how we should disarm the peasants because 20-100 per year die in mass shootings, and people actually agree with it. Face it, we're opiated masses of worthless idiots.

This is just a list of unrelated facts. Totally incoherent.

Re: As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

#13

Post by jlangenauer »

arethuza wrote: post #2

Scotland is a tiny country but it never ceases to horrify me at the depth of the social and health divisions between different parts of the country, Scotland is often described as the "sick man of Europe" and Glasgow in particular has a remarkably bad life expectancy - the "Glasgow Effect": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_effect I can strongly recommend Darren McGarvey's Poverty Safari a personal account of a d…

I’ll add my recommendation for “Poverty Safari”, it’s an eye-opening read.

Re: As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

#14

Post by smcl »

_Understated_ wrote: post #4

My late brother used to talk about an area outside Glasgow called Springburn and how it is consistently listed as one of the poorest/deprived places in Europe (not sure if that was the correct term but it gets the point across). Yet each election term they voted in either the same politicians or politicians with the same manifestos. Nothing will change!

Arethuza posted a link to map visualisation of data on various factors around deprivation in Scotland. Here is Springburn on that map in case you are curious: https://simd.scot/2016/#/simd2016/BTTTTTT/14/-4.2336/55.8776...

Re: As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

#15

Post by _Understated_ »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #7
_Understated_ wrote: post #4

My late brother used to talk about an area outside Glasgow called Springburn and how it is consistently listed as one of the poorest/deprived places in Europe (not sure if that was the correct term but it gets the point across). Yet each election term they voted in either the same politicians or politicians with the same manifestos. Nothing will change!

Well, it's more complex than that. In a country that has for many years only had a broadly two-party system, there was little effect to be had by voting for someone else. And given Glasgow's historical politics, that was always going to be the lefty party. Things have changed, though. The devolved Scottish Parliament has now been in operation for 20 years; in Westminster, Glasgow North-East (which is the parliamentar…

My issue with drug policy revolves around two key points: 1. The war on drugs is an utter failure (by that I mean, it hasn't halted drug use but there are likely those in power who benefit from this) 2. None of their policies tackles root causes, e.g. putting ex-drug users back into their old habitats will likely guarantee they'll just do it again.

I'm from Glasgow (Kirkintilloch), live in Ayrshire now, and I saw it first hand: I had two friends die of OD's years ago.

I only visit Glasgow city centre on occasion and each time I do it appears to get worse but I live near Irvine now and you can tell a mile away who's had their methodone so it's no better down here.

Re: As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

#16

Post by otabdeveloper4 »

anm89 wrote: post #12
wallace_f wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we deserve it. 70,000 yearly people die from Big Pharma's opioid crisis in the US, Jeff Bezos and his companies barely pay taxes and his newspapers run non-stop spam about how we should disarm the peasants because 20-100 per year die in mass shootings, and people actually agree with it. Face it, we're opiated masses of worthless idiots.

This is just a list of unrelated facts. Totally incoherent.

It was crystal-clear to me. Maybe your judgement is clouded because of bias?

Re: As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

#17

Post by smcl »

arethuza wrote: post #2

Scotland is a tiny country but it never ceases to horrify me at the depth of the social and health divisions between different parts of the country, Scotland is often described as the "sick man of Europe" and Glasgow in particular has a remarkably bad life expectancy - the "Glasgow Effect": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_effect I can strongly recommend Darren McGarvey's Poverty Safari a personal account of a d…

Thanks for sharing that map it's fascinating. Quite eery that knife-shaped area of orange/red in the west of Edinburgh from Sighthill into Haymarket - it is so pronounced and so contained between the train lines. I used to take the bus out from the city to Heriot-Watt University and both 25 and 34 routes zig-zag through that area and it's a bit grim. Playing 5-aside in the pitches at Sighthill was also a fun adventure.

Re: As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

#18

Post by Theodores »

jdietrich wrote: post #3

Not mentioned in the article: The Scottish heroin epidemic started in Edinburgh, the more prosperous of Scotland's two largest cities. This was largely due to the presence of MacFarlan Smith, which was at one point the world's largest producer of pharmaceutical opiates. That initial cohort of heroin users in the 1980s predominantly used drugs that were diverted from the legitimate pharmaceutical supply rather than sm…

That is rare information. Never heard of MacFarlan Smith before.

To add to the cocktail of drugs there is also glue sniffing. South of the border you will never see anyone sniffing glue and I doubt there are many people in England who wake up in the morning with a burning desire to sit in the street sniffing glue. But this goes on in Glasgow. I found this shocking to see.

There is also 'Bucky' that alcohol that is not sold south of the border.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckfast_Tonic_Wine

15% alcohol in what is effectively an energy drink. Happy times.

Re: As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

#19

Post by C1sc0cat »

jdietrich wrote: post #3

Not mentioned in the article: The Scottish heroin epidemic started in Edinburgh, the more prosperous of Scotland's two largest cities. This was largely due to the presence of MacFarlan Smith, which was at one point the world's largest producer of pharmaceutical opiates. That initial cohort of heroin users in the 1980s predominantly used drugs that were diverted from the legitimate pharmaceutical supply rather than sm…

The schemes on the outskirts are pretty grim as where parts of Leith

Re: As Scotland's 'Trainspotting' Generation Ages, the Dead Pile Up

#20

Post by arethuza »

smcl wrote: post #17
arethuza wrote: post #2

Scotland is a tiny country but it never ceases to horrify me at the depth of the social and health divisions between different parts of the country, Scotland is often described as the "sick man of Europe" and Glasgow in particular has a remarkably bad life expectancy - the "Glasgow Effect": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_effect I can strongly recommend Darren McGarvey's Poverty Safari a personal account of a d…

Thanks for sharing that map it's fascinating. Quite eery that knife-shaped area of orange/red in the west of Edinburgh from Sighthill into Haymarket - it is so pronounced and so contained between the train lines. I used to take the bus out from the city to Heriot-Watt University and both 25 and 34 routes zig-zag through that area and it's a bit grim. Playing 5-aside in the pitches at Sighthill was also a fun adventur…

I worked at Riccarton for a few years and cycled from Leith - had a few late night "adventures" including someone throwing a brick at my head, which fortunately missed.
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