111–120 of 193 posts
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I know a high-functioning heroin addict who's a programmer by day. It's surprising to discover seemingly-normal people who have this monkey on their backs, given the popular perception of addicts.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge had an opium addiction too. We should legalize drugs and help people who get addicted, not just ban substances that some people use responsibly.
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On Facebook here in the middle to upper class suburbs of Baltimore I see friends of friends OD and dying once a month. I don't understand why as growing up I dont recall such an epidemic, yet I do recall a ton of don't do drugs type of education. Has all those type PSAs & education in schools cease to exist and or not as well funded as back in the 80s and 90s?
Rise in overdoses can be attributed to dealers adding fentanyl (an extrememly strong synthetic opiate) to their product. If a particular salesman has a product which people have reportedly overdosed on will flock to them as they must be selling a stronger product. Another scenario is where the chemical isn't there in the first place and the dealer is simply mixing fentanyl with a filler, due to it's extreme potency (…
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It works in some countries > Heroin assisted treatment is fully a part of the national health system in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin-assisted_treatment
There's about 200 chronic addicts doing a heroin treatment study in Vancouver too http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vancouv... They found using pharma grade heroin worked better than methadone in weening addicts off heroin but it is difficult to get from Europe, so they did another study to see if hydromorphone worked just as well and it did, effectively cutting costs for any prescribed opiate trea…
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> I literally cannot understand why this is being downvoted. Because it's off topic? You can't seriously think HN is not anti-prohibition? To move forward we need to be practical. One city in the entire US is getting an injection room. Why start talking about the legalisation of heroin? If it works but it can't be implemented why discuss at this point when we are discussing something that does greatly help and is bei…
Why do you feel this is off-topic?
These are different approaches, not necessarily mutually exclusive but by changing the topic you devaluing the important discussion of injecting rooms.
This article is about injecting rooms not ending prohibition I think it is off-topic?
There are plenty of articles on decriminalisation and legalisation out there to have that discussion.
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Rise in overdoses can be attributed to dealers adding fentanyl (an extrememly strong synthetic opiate) to their product. If a particular salesman has a product which people have reportedly overdosed on will flock to them as they must be selling a stronger product. Another scenario is where the chemical isn't there in the first place and the dealer is simply mixing fentanyl with a filler, due to it's extreme potency (…
Fentanyl is actually being synthesized by the Mexican cartels now and added to the heroin before it even makes it to the street dealers. It's getting really crazy.
I don't believe a wall is needed, but it should be used a hammer to get Mexico to clean up it's act for it's people. Canadians are not flooding into the US ... why are Mexicans then ... why isn't Mexico a place where it's citizens want to remain? Why are Mexicans as a whole not coming to the US high skilled like Indians are? Is their education system non-existent ... it's so corrupt your just struggling to live day to day? IF that's the case as Americans we shouldn't be angry about Mexico's lack of care for it's people due to those in power who are all about themselves/corrupt?
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Why do you feel this is off-topic?
Injecting rooms ≠ safe access to drugs? These are different approaches, not necessarily mutually exclusive but by changing the topic you devaluing the important discussion of injecting rooms. This article is about injecting rooms not ending prohibition I think it is off-topic? There are plenty of articles on decriminalisation and legalisation out there to have that discussion.
If you think it's inappropriate for HN, feel free to flag the submission and move on.
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As a resident of Capitol Hill, I want this right near me. And I want to see another one in Belltown. And another near the waterfront. And another on Aurora. And then another twenty throughout the city. There are junkies shooting up around me every day. They deserve safety and dignity, just like everyone else.
As an adult, you have to make tradeoffs. Given that the supply of money is finite (unless you're Bernie Sanders who believes that money grows on trees), you have to decide whether to spend the money on this, or on, perhaps, kindergartens, schools, public transportation, and the like. TBH, I'd rather the junkies got a different kind of help: forced rehab. Got caught with heroin in your blood? Off to rehab you go. That…
Also, where do you think the money for emergency response to drug overdoses comes from, exactly? Do you expect that having a trained professional on hand to administer Naloxone in event of an OD would be more or less expensive than a 911 response?
Here's a great editorial from the Seattle Times's op-ed page, which isn't exactly known for being liberal: http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/bring-heroin-...
And a great quote:
The [safe injection] model has worked in Vancouver, B.C.
One study estimated the Insite facility in Vancouver’s
Downtown Eastside prevented 83 HIV infections, saving
the government at least $17 million. Others document a
reduction in overdoses.
Check out the Conclusions and Recommendations section for more. Here's a quote: "There is strong support for the role of internal motivation as a predictor of program retention and positive treatment outcomes."
I used to work at a retail pharmacy and we would have addicts come in to buy needles all the time. On the one hand I felt bad about supplying these people with what they needed to feed their habit, on the other hand I felt good that they were coming to us instead of sharing needles with their buddies.
I was not good at feeding my good old cat, so I had to give her insulin injections for a while. Much later, I found the used and unused syringes in a bottom cabinet where I put them after she died. I used to work in a hospital and know you need to dispose of this stuff properly. I brought them back to the neighborhood Walgreens where I'd purchased them. The people in the pharmacy were just like "yeah right, your cat"…
I was at a law enforcement armorer class with some police officers from various agencies in the Northeast recently. The most impactful thing I heard "People who get narcanned multiple times should just be killed" -- maybe not his literal belief, but the problem seems to be out of control. He had stories of "frequent customers" who kept coming to hospitals/police stations/fire departments to shoot up in the bathrooms,…
As a resident of Capitol Hill, I want this right near me. And I want to see another one in Belltown. And another near the waterfront. And another on Aurora. And then another twenty throughout the city. There are junkies shooting up around me every day. They deserve safety and dignity, just like everyone else.
Yes, finally people are starting to see drugs addicts as the valuable people they are and not as disposable felons. Addiction is a sickness that affects people not a failure of morals that needs a jail sentence.
Living in a community with heroin addicts that see every opportunity to rob someone for a fix, sorry addicts are criminals first. There is no excuse for their behavior.