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How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US

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11–20 of 103 posts

Re: How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US

#11
post #10

Non US person here, so feel free to call me out on BS. IMHO people who do fentanyl already have pretty serious mental and/or existential issues going on, like who tf would play russian roulette like that? Sounds more like a societal problem than a mere drug distribution regulation problem to me.

From what I understand - people who got addicted to legal opiates now can't access them and fentanyl is somewhat accessible and gives same effect with lower dose. So it's not necessarily your stereotypical junkies that are using it, it's normal people who were given opiates to deal with pain and now got addicted.

Re: How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US

#12

Fentanyl needs to be made legal and sold at grocery stores. In 2-for-1 packs, fentanly+narcan, at affordable prices. Even better, subsidized prices for poor people which can't afford it. That would solve the fentanyl problem, which is solely due to it being illegal and impure. More generally, all drugs need to be decriminalized and sold at affordable prices and pharma-grade quality.

> all drugs need to be decriminalized and sold at affordable prices and pharma-grade quality.

Sure, fuck the 20%-30% of the population who can't control their addiction and ruin the country in the process.

Re: How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US

#13
post #10

Non US person here, so feel free to call me out on BS. IMHO people who do fentanyl already have pretty serious mental and/or existential issues going on, like who tf would play russian roulette like that? Sounds more like a societal problem than a mere drug distribution regulation problem to me.

it's very very rare that somebody would intentionally seek out fentanyl without a pre-existing opiate addiction, probably from over prescribed pain meds that turned into black market pain meds then heroin

Re: How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US

#15
post #10

Non US person here, so feel free to call me out on BS. IMHO people who do fentanyl already have pretty serious mental and/or existential issues going on, like who tf would play russian roulette like that? Sounds more like a societal problem than a mere drug distribution regulation problem to me.

Presumably you start with other drugs and especially weaker opiates. E.g. painkillers in pill form might be relatively harmless (compared to Fentanyl of course) but are more expensive and harder to get especially after the crackdown on prescriptions.

Fentanyl OTH seems to have a great cost/“value” ratio so when you’re already addicted and can’t afford anything else you don’t really have much of a choice. At that point your description of Fentanyl users is probably accurate but there is a long road to get there for most.

Also let’s be fair, it’s not like some European countries don’t have serious problems with drug related deaths (even if on a much smaller scale overall). Scandinavian countries all especially bad in that regard (Sweden has the highest number of deaths per capita though Finland and Norway are not that far behind). They are just much better at sweeping these problems under the rug because it’s not as visible (no homeless people).

Re: How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US

#16

Fentanyl needs to be made legal and sold at grocery stores. In 2-for-1 packs, fentanly+narcan, at affordable prices. Even better, subsidized prices for poor people which can't afford it. That would solve the fentanyl problem, which is solely due to it being illegal and impure. More generally, all drugs need to be decriminalized and sold at affordable prices and pharma-grade quality.

I used to share a similar position until I realized: drugs are bad, actually, and there should be substantial friction in making them available to people. Disincentivizing drug consumption is a good thing. The war on drugs obviously leads to some absurdities - e.g. drug cartels, unnecessary incarceration - and I much prefer the Portuguese model. But making fentanyl in particular available in the grocery store would b…

Even the Portuguese model has had mixed success at best

Re: How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US

#17

On a micro level, I live in the US and I don't know anyone who takes fentanyl. "Every corner" is likely journalistic hyperbole.

Brown heroin doesn’t exist anymore. It’s all fent, they’re even cutting coke with fent which makes absolutely no sense to me.

It started with oxys until the gov cracked down then everyone went to brown heroin until fent arrived.

Report of Fentanyl in coke circa 2018.

https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-07/BUL-039-18.p...

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/05/1013203805/party-drugs-are-be...

Re: How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US

#18
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is the opposite. People are looking for fentanyl free drugs.

I don't disagree. At your local grocery store you should have a drug aisle with cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, MDMA, mushrooms, all pharma-grade quality. So you would know exactly what you are getting.

Maybe we could also have Futurama style euthanasia booths just outside the entrance?

Re: How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US

#19
post #12

Fentanyl needs to be made legal and sold at grocery stores. In 2-for-1 packs, fentanly+narcan, at affordable prices. Even better, subsidized prices for poor people which can't afford it. That would solve the fentanyl problem, which is solely due to it being illegal and impure. More generally, all drugs need to be decriminalized and sold at affordable prices and pharma-grade quality.

> all drugs need to be decriminalized and sold at affordable prices and pharma-grade quality. Sure, fuck the 20%-30% of the population who can't control their addiction and ruin the country in the process.

Makes it a lot easier to increase the government dependency pool by 20-30%.

Re: How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US

#20
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree. At your local grocery store you should have a drug aisle with cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, MDMA, mushrooms, all pharma-grade quality. So you would know exactly what you are getting.

Maybe we could also have Futurama style euthanasia booths just outside the entrance?

Not a booth per se but you sign a few papers and you can be suicided within 30 days in Canada.
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