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My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

mattlakeman.org

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Re: My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

#121

Post by Sebb767 »

skyechurch wrote: post #110
wespiser_2018 wrote: post #24

Good write up. The US is really grappling with diseases of despair, and heroin/fentanyl addition is on of the biggest ones impacting the wellbeing of our society. A massive slice of talent and raw human resource is just dying every year, but the solutions that have worked in other countries are just impossible to implement here due because the the methods that are known to work are politically dead on arrival. I'm a…

>A massive slice of talent and raw human resource is just dying every year, but the solutions that have worked in other countries are just impossible to implement here due because the the methods that are known to work are politically dead on arrival. From the essay, it sounds like Jack was not possessed of any great "talent", or of any particular value as a "raw human resource". He was just a dude, probably easily r…

> From the essay, it sounds like Jack was not possessed of any great "talent", or of any particular value as a "raw human resource". He was just a dude, probably easily replaceable from a HR perspective,

I've seen a lot of smart people fall to drugs. Sure, if they get in too deep too early, they won't have a degree when they die, but they could have had one.

And yes, as an HR person in a comparatively small company, this person is easily replaceable. On a country scale, however, you can't simply replace him - you need the numbers of highly educated smart people and you can't simply "hire" them back from another country. Look at the stereotype of the asian genius - disregarding the other factors, China simply has 3-5 times [0] the population, so they will statistically have 5 times the geniuses to start with. You can't compete when your best bets have a 5% chance to whither away due to drugs.

> If you want to know what kinds of sacrifices are required to win a war on opiates, Mao is the "best" recent example.

How so? I don't know what specifically you're pointing to, but given that other countries handle the situation better with less "sacrifices", I don't think they're necessary.

[0] Depending on US or EU perspective.

Re: My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

#122

Post by Multiplayer »

s5300 wrote: post #68
nwienert wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to throw in my 2c, I’ve had dilaudid a few times for an injury and other opiates for various reasons, and while they feel great, they really never cross my mind much and I don’t hold them close to many sober experiences. Not even as good as other drugs, of which I could list 3-4 I’d consider as or more enjoyable. The above comment feels like a really dramatic description of opiates. I don’t think most anyone wit…

> feels like a really dramatic description of opiates. I don’t think most anyone with a moderately stable life is at risk of addiction trying them. A few years back, perhaps close to a decade ago, there was a fairly well known reporter/journalist who said this same thing. Of course, he was cocky enough to test his presumptions & tried either some form of opiate or heroin, can't recall exactly which. He by all means h…

This took place in real time on reddit, pretty much. If not this exact case - very close to it. You can search for it.

Re: My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

#123

Post by fortran77 »

I've had two very close friends die of heroin and opiod overdose. Both were very popular people. The type of person you looked up to; wanted to be around. Very different from the person that mattlakman described. I had no idea they were abusing drugs to the point that their lives were endangered until it was too late.

Re: My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

#124

Post by stef25 »

wespiser_2018 wrote: post #24

Good write up. The US is really grappling with diseases of despair, and heroin/fentanyl addition is on of the biggest ones impacting the wellbeing of our society. A massive slice of talent and raw human resource is just dying every year, but the solutions that have worked in other countries are just impossible to implement here due because the the methods that are known to work are politically dead on arrival. I'm a…

It's a really complicated problem but one thing that just stands out to me is the role the doctors play: It's not normal to send people home with these massive prescriptions for opiates.

Here in Europe doctors are very, very conservative with that stuff (and meds in general) while it seems to me that in the US if your "medical experience" even entails the slightest bit of discomfort people get all up in arms over it. Doctors are highly educated people who can no longer play the "I didn't know it was addictive" card.

I have a friend in the US who told me they have an app on their phone where they can just tap a button and the next day they can refill their benzo prescription, and it's been like that for years without having seen a doctor again. That's just criminal behavior from the part of the medical establishment.

Re: My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

#125

Post by short12 »

beebmam wrote: post #45
8bitsrule wrote: post #29

My condolences to anyone who's lost a friend or relative to addiction - thanks to the human vultures who reap the rewards. It's possible that by vigorously pursuing and prosecuting the people who can afford to purchase and disseminate hard narcotics - instead of the users and a pusher or two - most of the problem would dry up. I'm not optimistic about that happening. The little guys are easier to catch, and caps are…

It's not popular here on Hacker News due to its libertarian bent, but I'm of the opinion that we should even more brutal to illegal drug production, trafficking, and selling than what we currently are. I've lost 2 friends to fentanyl poisoning in the last 3 years, and I lost my brother 10 years ago to chronic meth use. I'm so utterly sick of this.

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/25/colombia-dairo...

Also see el Chapo. Did either of those high profile busts make one iota of difference? Did the price of cocaine change (hint, it did not) and I all but guarantee the same can be said for meth, heroin and fentanyl. They all cheap to produce and extremely easy to obtain while still being pretty cheap when it hits the streets

Re: My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

#126

Post by s-lambert »

SkittyDog wrote: post #30
ipnon wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems a little insensitive given the original is about a friend dying from drug overdose and video games aren't deadly.

Can I assume you've never had the privilege of knowing a hardcore gambling addict? I'm not taking about weekend poker players, here... I mean people who've lost their wife, kids, house, and job to a gambling habit. They have zero savings, mountains of debt, and if you lend them $20 to get groceries, they'll go hungry after gambling it away? Modern video games are designed by highly paid, PHd-level behavioral scientis…

You are talking about a very specific niche of video games though. Gambling based video games are addictive because of gambling, which you can do without the video game part of it.

Video game addiction still exists and can be bad but it's probably nowhere near as detrimental as gambling addiction.

Re: My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

#127

Post by bamboozled »

stef25 wrote: post #124
wespiser_2018 wrote: post #24

Good write up. The US is really grappling with diseases of despair, and heroin/fentanyl addition is on of the biggest ones impacting the wellbeing of our society. A massive slice of talent and raw human resource is just dying every year, but the solutions that have worked in other countries are just impossible to implement here due because the the methods that are known to work are politically dead on arrival. I'm a…

It's a really complicated problem but one thing that just stands out to me is the role the doctors play: It's not normal to send people home with these massive prescriptions for opiates. Here in Europe doctors are very, very conservative with that stuff (and meds in general) while it seems to me that in the US if your "medical experience" even entails the slightest bit of discomfort people get all up in arms over it.…

I don't think it's a really complicated problem, other countries have tried different things that have worked.

It's complicated for some people to admit the 'war on drugs' has failed maybe, but that's a different issues all together.

Re: My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

#128

Post by fenderbluesjr »

skyechurch wrote: post #110
wespiser_2018 wrote: post #24

Good write up. The US is really grappling with diseases of despair, and heroin/fentanyl addition is on of the biggest ones impacting the wellbeing of our society. A massive slice of talent and raw human resource is just dying every year, but the solutions that have worked in other countries are just impossible to implement here due because the the methods that are known to work are politically dead on arrival. I'm a…

>A massive slice of talent and raw human resource is just dying every year, but the solutions that have worked in other countries are just impossible to implement here due because the the methods that are known to work are politically dead on arrival. From the essay, it sounds like Jack was not possessed of any great "talent", or of any particular value as a "raw human resource". He was just a dude, probably easily r…

Do you have any good sources for info about Mao's approach? Very interested to learn more about this. The wikipedia article seems to corroborate what you have said but provides no sources either :(

Re: My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

#129

Post by phist_mcgee »

For anyone who wants to read the story of Jason Mewes (from Jay and Silent Bob fame) heroin addiction, told by his best friend Kevin Smith, I would encourage you to read his blog post about it. It's truly heart-wrenching, and filled with some of the saddest stuff you could imagine happening to a person.

http://kevinsmithstory.blogspot.com/2011/02/me-and-my-shadow...

Re: My experience of losing a friend to heroin (2020)

#130

Post by Clubber »

wespiser_2018 wrote: post #24

Good write up. The US is really grappling with diseases of despair, and heroin/fentanyl addition is on of the biggest ones impacting the wellbeing of our society. A massive slice of talent and raw human resource is just dying every year, but the solutions that have worked in other countries are just impossible to implement here due because the the methods that are known to work are politically dead on arrival. I'm a…

>It would be extraordinarily expensive

I mean we spent $300 million a day for 20 years on Afghanistan, it can't be that expensive.

>the Sacklers just walked with no criminal liability

In fact, the media firestorm and the political response made heroin overdoses much worse because they "clamped down" on pills that at least had a dosage on it. Addicts then turned to heroin, which now has fentanyl in it.

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