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Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

#71

Post by eezurr »

If anyone here is "losing it" from your routine being destroyed and your city being shut down, I highly, highly recommend you take a week (preferably 2) off and do as much outdoor activity as possible. You should not return home during this period. This will reset your brain because it will break your new covid19 routine with new activities and new location.

When you come back, use this new state of mind to change your routine before you settle back into the state you were in before you left.

Re: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

#72

Post by Mirioron »

chongli wrote: post #62
copperx wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your friend must be hilarious. I don't think anyone would say something like that seriously.

I also knew someone who built an app to try to help depressed people. She was pretty serious about it. As a person who has battled depression off and on, I also found it difficult to believe someone would take such an app seriously.

It depends on what the app does though. One of the ways people cope with things like that is escapism. If your app can provide that then it can help some people. Eg a game or an app for stories, jokes etc.

Another thing that can help with depression is exercise. But it's difficult to exercise while depressed. If you can somehow build an app that tricks people into exercising (like Pokémon Go "tricked" people into going outside) then that could help too.

It's not as weird as it sounds.

Re: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

#73

Post by refurb »

elchief wrote: post #52

For Vancouverites, you can get free take-home drug testing kits, here: http://www.vch.ca/public-health/harm-reduction/overdose-prev... There's not a whole lotta point, since everything has Fentanyl in it these days, except pot (probably) And free Naloxone (Narcan) kits at Shopper's Drug Mart, London Drugs, and other places: https://towardtheheart.com/site-finder They only ask your age and whether this is your first k…

It’s only a matter of time before hard drugs are legalized, similar to marijuana. It’ll probably take 20 years, but we will get there.

I know Vancouver setup a legal opioid vending machine as a test run. Doctor checks you out, prescribes a legal opioid (hydromorphone in this case). You scan your badge and your dose pops out.

No more stealing, prostituing, robbing, or other “hustle”. You just take your dose. Much lower risk of overdose and far fewer complications from shooting street drugs.

I’ve read about addicts in these types of programs and suddenly they don’t have to hustle for 12 hours a day. They can get a job. Or, they just have the time to stop and think about their life and what direction they want it to go in.

Not claiming it’s a panacea at all. But it’s better than the situation we’re in now.

Re: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

#74

Post by fzeroracer »

kukx wrote: post #68
fzeroracer wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Texas is rapidly running out of capacity to treat patients. You're saying it's a good idea to 'open back the economy' knowing this? [1] https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/01/coronavirus-texas-ho...

In the same article: "Even as new cases and hospitalizations soar, the number of daily deaths in Texas has remained relatively low.". There may or may not be an increase of cases when the economy opens. While the former is more likely the latter is not out of the question, depending on whether the community will take precautions like wearing masks. However, if the economy stays closed, without a doubt, many lives wil…

Also from the same article: "But experts caution that rising hospitalizations today will likely result in a spike in deaths in the coming weeks, and those who require ICU care for COVID-19 but recover often leave the hospital with lasting health problems."

Why did you ignore the line right after the statement you quoted? What we've seen over and over in each wave of the coronavirus is that the deaths lag behind the number of cases by a few weeks [1]. What you're arguing for is irrational and against the facts of the situation because the reason why we've seen an increase in cases is because our state opened up too early and too recklessly!

How can you honestly argue that there won't be an increase of cases when the economy opens when we're facing down exactly that situation?

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-deaths-can-still...

Re: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

#75

Post by mtgp1000 »

Tiktaalik wrote: post #69

Gotta love how everyone is applauding the wisdom of Dr. Bonnie Henry in her success in keeping the coronavirus under control in British Columbia and that of the government for following all her recommendations, and yet when Dr. Henry suggests that to tackle the opioid overdose epidemic, that BC needs to decriminalize drugs and create a safe supply of drugs for the addicted, suddenly everyone stops listening to her. D…

People are stuck at home now, unemployed, fearful about the present and future, and if opioids were legalized now I have no doubt that dependence and overdoses would surge. Most people fundamentally don't understand drugs or addiction.

Granted I personally believe drugs should be at least decriminalized but I'm well aware that there will be a cost and people have a right to be opposed.

If the last few months have taught me anything, it's that the average person really isn't capable of avoiding decisions that harm themselves and those around them with any consistency. Obviously we already have laws for murder and such but drugs also as it happens have a [lesser] external cost.

Re: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

#76

Post by 1996 »

victorhooi wrote: post #54
maerF0x0 wrote: post #18

Back when this started I made the claim that the long term consequences of lock down would exceed the short term benefits . Depression, Drugs overdose, murder (despair), Suicide, extra sedentary issues leading to diabetese/CVD, loss of jobs/meaning et al. I havent seen anyone do the math of the uptick there to talk about the marginal benefit of lockdown or the fact that this, once again, is a form of biased benefit f…

I hear these sorts of sentiments from the USA a lot - where apparently people are actively rioting and protesting against the health lockdown. I'm from Australia - where while we've had some grumblings about the health measures, on the whole, we've been pretty lucky. Our death toll is 104 people - which even though (comparative) low is still a tragedy. Yet the USA death toll is over 130,000 people - that is a terribl…

> To be frank - that seems very selfish.

No, it seems logical: if the elderly are at risk, by all means, let them shelter at home and give them money without destroying the economy (as the elderly as less likely to be employed).

Even better, for old people who need to work, give them full pay every week, and just ask them in return to stay at home and use uber eats.

But we didn't do that. Too bad: it would still have saved a lot of money (and the actual economy)

> I hope that we'll have a vaccine soon

I will be generous enough to not claim my dose, to let you and others test it first, to make sure there are no autoimmune diseases or other bad things it can trigger

Re: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

#77

Post by goatherders »

Tiktaalik wrote: post #69

Gotta love how everyone is applauding the wisdom of Dr. Bonnie Henry in her success in keeping the coronavirus under control in British Columbia and that of the government for following all her recommendations, and yet when Dr. Henry suggests that to tackle the opioid overdose epidemic, that BC needs to decriminalize drugs and create a safe supply of drugs for the addicted, suddenly everyone stops listening to her. D…

I live in Vancouver but am from Texas. I think the way they are dealing with the opiod issue in BC is on point and the right way to deal with the crisis.

Re: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

#78

Post by fragmede »

yingw787 wrote: post #11
drtillberg wrote: post #3

I'm cynical enough at this point to wonder whether the states will add these terrible losses to the COVID-19-related statistics to advocate for stricter and longer lock-downs.

Aren't states prematurely lifting lockdowns to horrific infection increases due to budgetary concerns?

I think so. Individual states don't control federal monetary policy, so the failure to pass additional stimulus packages so far means that state governments are in a precarious financial state, much like many of us are, personally, and any corporations we're involved with. Even in states with with the political will to continue benefits packages that would allow people to continue not working in service of public health, aren't able to afford to do so.

Re: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

#79

Post by AnimalMuppet »

Klinky wrote: post #63
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are medical consequences to the lockdown also. Things like all the cancer screenings that didn't happen because people weren't going to the doctor. And the people who died from heart attacks because they were afraid to go to the ER.

Those aren't consequences of the lockdown they're consequences of a pandemic .

Of the two examples I gave you, I can agree on one. People afraid to go to the ER could be considered a consequence of the pandemic - the lockdown doesn't say "Don't go to the ER if you need to". But lockdown did say "Don't make unnecessary trips to anywhere, not even the grocery store." Many of us interpreted that as avoiding unnecessary trips to the doctor also, which is why I for one have not had an annual physical so far this year.

Re: Drug overdoses are soaring during the coronavirus pandemic

#80

Post by joshspankit »

ideals wrote: post #65
mnm1 wrote: post #31

People are desperate. This is to be expected. Along with unemployment, loneliness, hopelessness, helplessness, stress, fear, and anxiety have all risen greatly. This is how people cope when they are not in control of their lives and especially when they don't see a path to regain that control. I would expect more of this. Drug overdoses were already a huge issue because of societal issues. Now, they will be even more…

This time period also seems to be radicalizing people at an accelerated rate. After that USAF military police sergeant murdered a cop and federal security officer I started investigating some of these communities and they're growing. Not just the right-wing "race war" types either. Both sides of the political spectrum are growing their radicalized bases. The communists and the facists types are both radicalizing arou…

Just please watch out: the polarization you see on the internet (no matter where you see it) is rarely a reflection of the face-to-face reality. There is much more kindness and tolerance when people are face to face. Always has been.

The danger, the reason I point this out, is that when people see too much of it on the internet they start to lose faith in humanity, and they start projecting that world view on to the face to face interactions.

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