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America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

economist.com

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Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#131

Post by jliptzin »

kilroy123 wrote: post #125

My sister is a heroin addict. To say this has devastated her life is an understatement. Her body is wrecked. She looks way older than she is, she has a pacemaker / defibrillator installed in her chest. And doctors keep saying she will die soon if she doesn't stop. Here is the most frustrating part. She has wanted to go to rehab a few times, but since she is poor and unemployed, she has no health insurance for rehab.…

Very sorry to hear this story, it must be difficult for your family and for her. Do you know about how much rehab would cost for her?

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#132

Post by rwmj »

DanBC wrote: post #94
rwmj wrote: post #21

In the UK it appears that there's a Spice epidemic. It's often called "synthetic cannabis" or "(formerly) legal highs", but it in reality it's all kinds of research chemicals sprayed onto leaves to be smoked. It has some pretty hideous side effects, and seems very addictive ( https://video.vice.com/en_uk/video/the-hard-lives-of-britain... ) Oh, and the government just handed the whole market over to illegal drug deal…

The spice epidemic is mostly prison related though. Prisons should stop testing for cannabis; and should consider prescribing cannabis of known strengths (and higher CBD rather than THC content). (Also, they need to start providing a lot more mental health support and meaningful activity).

I don't have figures so this is pure anecdote, but I was wandering around Watford last weekend and seeing people who looked like they were in the VICE documentary I linked to above.

But yes, you're of course right that our whole approach is wrong.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#133

Post by interfixus »

dsmithatx wrote: post #67
jbooth wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you give them free H, they'll be a lot less desperate and a lot less violent, presumably. And.. why not? I've got multiple friends in my age group prematurely dead from overdose. It's not like prohibition is accomplishing anything.

Checkout Denmark. They had a huge problem with robberies and started giving legal pure Heroin shots to users. They also helped them find jobs. No more deaths and no more black market for Heroin. Hence burglaries also went away. It looks like our current President is looking at cracking down on pot again though so, I don't imagine we'll have a sensible drug policy anytime soon. Only one motivated by profits.

Which Denmark is this? Doesn't resemble the one I live in. Neither the robberies problem nor the legal pure heroin, and most certainly not the disappearance of burglaries - not statistically, not anecdotally, and not according to the several people of my acquaintance who have had it happen to them.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#134

Post by devopsproject »

johan_larson wrote: post #122
devopsproject wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are some alternative facts. Red means bad: https://www.brighthearthealth.com/wp-content/uploads/OpioidA...

Wonder why the northern great plains are so resistant to this problem?

population density? Maybe the pill mills only located in certain areas.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#135

Post by maxerickson »

kilroy123 wrote: post #125

My sister is a heroin addict. To say this has devastated her life is an understatement. Her body is wrecked. She looks way older than she is, she has a pacemaker / defibrillator installed in her chest. And doctors keep saying she will die soon if she doesn't stop. Here is the most frustrating part. She has wanted to go to rehab a few times, but since she is poor and unemployed, she has no health insurance for rehab.…

Is Medicaid an option?

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#136

Post by goatsi »

DougN7 wrote: post #95
mmanfrin wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The root cause was the never-allow-pain mantra of the 90s when it came to proscribing painkillers like Oxy; this was followed years later by a later tightening of prescription policy that led many to look to Heroin as an alternative.

Is that true? (serious question) I can't believe that many more people, especially (and coincidentally?) in the inner cities, need pain meds. This seems like something bigger in my mind. But I also don't have any data to back it up.

Often companies find that people don't "need" their products. When this happens they turn to advertising and sales people to correct the problem.

https://theweek.com/articles/541564/how-american-opiate-epid...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/chasing-heroin/

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#137

Post by tptacek »

jessaustin wrote: post #128
tptacek wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I was arguing that opiate addicts are violent when they're high . I'm not making a moral argument about legalization or even (as is being repeatedly suggested on this thread) subsidization of opiates. I'm saying that if the cause of the epidemic is prescription opioids, and the ultimate problem is "too many people are non-functional opioid addicts", then deregulation won't fix the problem .

If we believe that some addicts can be helped to deal more productively with their addiction (personally I think that's true), and we observe that prohibition tactics don't help addicts get that help (see TFA and basically every other serious examination of this), then ending prohibition will certainly help some addicts. One might argue that more people would start using without prohibition, but that would be pretty…

I understand that it's difficult to avoid litigation of decriminalization (or, apparently, subsidization) in discussions about illegal drugs. I'm generally receptive to decriminalization.

But I'm not making a point about decriminalization. In the same way that it's counterproductive to spend a lot of time talking about prohibition in mass incarceration discussions (significant reduction in incarceration --- which is absolutely necessary --- will require us to adjust sentencing and policies surrounding violent crime among offenders who have never been convicted of drug offenses), spending a lot of time talking about free heroin isn't going to help us if the problem underlying the opiate crisis isn't heroin prohibition, but instead overprescription and negligent formulation of opiate painkillers.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#138

Post by tim333 »

everybodyknows wrote: post #118
tim333 wrote: post #69

A potential solution: >Legal Heroin Prescriptions: The ‘British System’ You Never Knew Existed Basically prescribe heroin for the addicts so they don't need to deal / steal and the thing dies out. You could link getting the prescription to doing something useful work wise if you want to be moralistic. Been done since the 1920s - tried and tested. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/heroin-prescription-di...

How does the "British system" work out long-term, for the addicts as individuals -- resistance accumulation, vein damage, constipation? Do any live on to old age? Or does it "work" for the rest of society because they die peacefully, at home?

I'm not sure but I believe prescribed heroin has limited side effects and is fairly safe and many come off it eventually and live to an old age. I've not seen the data though.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#139

Post by alva »

oxide wrote: post #117
DanBC wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you want to keep drugs out of the hands of kids, make them all legal and watch the usage numbers fall. Doesn't the UK experience with alcohol counter this? (I am strongly in favour of legalisation of all drugs).

Amphetamine will be abused by college students. Alcohol will be abused by highschool kids. It's a given. The allure of stuff like cocaine, with the "what else was I lied to about, what am I missing out on" mindset goes out the window when you stop lying and start letting people make their own choices.

You can't stop all the drug abuse but the extent of use is not a given. Amphetamine use of UK students appears to be extremely rare compared to the US, its never really been a cultural thing here.

I suspect it is due to very few amphetamine drugs being prescribed, especially to children. It seems to common to hear about people selling their legitimate ADHD/ADD prescriptions to friends in the US. "Speed Paste" is the only amphetamine properly in circulation and its use is mostly restricted to the hardcore "junkie" groups, very much frowned upon from the casual drug community.

None of the above is a solution, just to note the degree to which groups will gravitate towards and use a drug is not a given. Culture and availability probably affect use massively.

Re: America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

#140

Post by digler999 »

microtherion wrote: post #127
tptacek wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I was arguing that opiate addicts are violent when they're high . I'm not making a moral argument about legalization or even (as is being repeatedly suggested on this thread) subsidization of opiates. I'm saying that if the cause of the epidemic is prescription opioids, and the ultimate problem is "too many people are non-functional opioid addicts", then deregulation won't fix the problem .

> too many people are non-functional opioid addicts Experience here in Switzerland would suggest that if the state takes dirty needles, expensive supply, and highly variable purity out of the equation, opioid addicts can lead a life that is, while far from ideal, considerably more functional than before. My impression is that drugs like Heroin, taken in correct dosage, do not inherently cause massive health damage. I…

> Heroin, taken in correct dosage

by what ROA ? You smoke it, and you're good until your dependence increases. Then you must smoke it to feel normal. But if you slam it, you'll get high again. Do that a while and your dependence increases just as before, now you have to slam it just to feel normal. But if you just got someone to give you their dose, then you could slam 2 doses and get high again...and now you're in overdose territory

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