How To End The Heroin Epidemic

[Syriusly]

I know it is stupid to bring sanity to a Silhouette thread but according to pretty much every article, the reason for the surge of heroin deaths and addictions is due to prescription opiod over prescription/addiction.

People get hooked on pain killers- often after being hurt- and when they can't get them anymore they look for illegal alternatives- and heroin is cheaper than black market opiods.

That is the dual problem that needs to be addressed.

 

[Montrovant]

The heroin problem in this country is not because of marijuana or Mexico...or Colombia, or any other producer in Central America. It's based out of our very own U.S. pharmaceutical industry. Rolling your eyes? Think again.

Twenty or so years ago Big Pharma came out with a "safe and non-addictive" pain killer for post-surgery patients and patients with chronic pain. It was called oxycodone, in case all you Rush Limbaugh fans have forgotten.

Big Pharma reps ASSURED the doctors in this country that it was not addictive, so docs started prescribing it for all kinds of pain problems. Then Big Pharma made an announcement: Guess what, docs? IT IS addictive! (How A Big Drug Company Inadvertently Got Americans Hooked On Heroin | Huffington Post) So physicians started cutting back on prescribing and cutting off their patients. But too late. So our neighbors to the south started filling in that gap:

"""The heroin scourge has been driven largely by a law-enforcement crackdown on illicit use of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone and drug-company reformulations that make the pills harder to crush and snort, drug officials say. That has pushed those who were addicted to the pills to turn to heroin, which is cheaper and more plentiful. "Basically, you have a generation of ready-made heroin addicts," said Matthew Barnes,special agent in charge of the DEA's Seattle division.""" Heroin Makes a Comeback

I'm pretty sure you are thinking of the brand name drug OxyContin. Oxycodone was created in 1916 in Germany. OxyContin was first manufactured in 1996 as an extended release opioid derived from oxycodone.

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

You cannot stop drug addicts. These people's fate is the predictable outcome!

People don't know they're drug addicts until they use. Relaxing laws and decriminalization drugs only encourages use.

You are not an addict util you use enough to get addicted. Behavior recedes addiction

Which, often times for addicts, is only once.

 

[MikeK]

If the US decriminalize heroin the Mexican Cartel AKA Government would synthesize some other highly addictive substance to sell to the 'gringo's' children.

Without US dollars the Mexican Government would collapse in a week.

It would not be a good idea to just legalize heroin without first implementing a carefully structured public information program, such as the effort which has reduced cigarette smoking by more than 50% (without arresting anyone). If government spent ten percent of the money it wastes on the drug war on a well crafted anti drug-abuse informational program I believe the results would be dramatic.

In the example of heroin, I would recommend enlisting some scabby, slobbering, nodding-out junkies and taking them around to schools. Let the kids actually see what can happen if they use heroin and let the junkies tell them why it's a bad idea.

Horses's mouth is a thousand times more effective than pictures and some clean-shaven D.A.R.E. cop's programmed rhetoric. Let the kids see the infected injection sites, the filthy clothes and thoroughly degraded persons.

 

[MikeK]

Your answer is to turn the whole country into one big colony of stoners? Really? You want to rethink that?

What happens when the non addicted decides that packs of stray stoners should be treated like stray dogs?

If marijuana were legalized tomorrow would you run right out and buy an ounce and a pipe? Or do you think only others would do that while special people like you stand by and criticize them?

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Your answer is to turn the whole country into one big colony of stoners? Really? You want to rethink that?

What happens when the non addicted decides that packs of stray stoners should be treated like stray dogs?

If marijuana were legalized tomorrow would you run right out and buy an ounce and a pipe? Or do you think only others would do that while special people like you stand by and criticize them?

I think that most people would run out and try to buy a pound and a pipe. The Special people who choose not to be addicts will stop taking care of them.

The only person I have met other than you who fought so hard for addiction was a heroin addict who believed heroin was an organ preservative. A fountain of youth. People who use heroin would just never age.

The only way to deal with drug addicts is to let them or help them die and leave the rotting bodies in public. This is what happens to addicts. Use and this is your future

 

[Maryland Patriot]

^^ dannyboys...when you get a minute, go visit the 1,000s of miles the Wall would cover and notice the terrain. Get a contractor to come out and quote you a price to build 10' of it as high and thick (and deep, Mexicans love to dig tunnels) it would have to be. Then multiply that figure by a mile. A mile is 5280 feet. So 1 mile would be 528 times more expensive than the price your contractor quoted you. Then multiply THAT figure by say 1,500. That's just the beginning. Then the manpower needed to patrol this vastly expensive wall, around the clock, forever, would likely quadruple that YUGE figure for just the cost. Then there's the constant maintenance of the wall; which from the damage the Mexicans would do to it on a daily basis, just for fun if not to breach it, would be that manpower figure again.

You cannot stop drug addicts. These people's fate is the predictable outcome!

Yes, but you could stop the flow of easy heroin into the country. An addict would be much better off smoking pot than not waking up at all for his 7 year old to find him dead in the morning after shooting up.

The heroin addict started on pot, but it didn't have enough kick to it.

completely different "kick" pot does not by itself lead to heroin

 

[Maryland Patriot]

You cannot stop drug addicts. These people's fate is the predictable outcome!

People don't know they're drug addicts until they use. Relaxing laws and decriminalization drugs only encourages use.

You are not an addict util you use enough to get addicted. Behavior recedes addiction

Which, often times for addicts, is only once.

I know of nobody that became an addict with just one experimental trial of heroin.
Drugs dont actually work that way.

 

[WillowTree]

I know it is stupid to bring sanity to a Silhouette thread but according to pretty much every article, the reason for the surge of heroin deaths and addictions is due to prescription opiod over prescription/addiction.

People get hooked on pain killers- often after being hurt- and when they can't get them anymore they look for illegal alternatives- and heroin is cheaper than black market opiods.

That is the dual problem that needs to be addressed.

Horseshit. Normal people with dr's supervision are prescribed pain medication for injuries and post op care. Your junkie types were probably addicts before they were prescribed pain pills from a droctor.

 

[Maryland Patriot]

I know it is stupid to bring sanity to a Silhouette thread but according to pretty much every article, the reason for the surge of heroin deaths and addictions is due to prescription opiod over prescription/addiction.

People get hooked on pain killers- often after being hurt- and when they can't get them anymore they look for illegal alternatives- and heroin is cheaper than black market opiods.

That is the dual problem that needs to be addressed.

Horseshit. Normal people with dr's supervision are prescribed pain medication for injuries and post op care. Your junkie types were probably addicts before they were prescribed pain pills from a droctor.

not true.
Many started off with prescription opiods.

 

[WillowTree]

I know it is stupid to bring sanity to a Silhouette thread but according to pretty much every article, the reason for the surge of heroin deaths and addictions is due to prescription opiod over prescription/addiction.

People get hooked on pain killers- often after being hurt- and when they can't get them anymore they look for illegal alternatives- and heroin is cheaper than black market opiods.

That is the dual problem that needs to be addressed.

Horseshit. Normal people with dr's supervision are prescribed pain medication for injuries and post op care. Your junkie types were probably addicts before they were prescribed pain pills from a droctor.

not true.
Many started off with prescription opiods.

Then they chose to be addicts!

 

[Maryland Patriot]

I know it is stupid to bring sanity to a Silhouette thread but according to pretty much every article, the reason for the surge of heroin deaths and addictions is due to prescription opiod over prescription/addiction.

People get hooked on pain killers- often after being hurt- and when they can't get them anymore they look for illegal alternatives- and heroin is cheaper than black market opiods.

That is the dual problem that needs to be addressed.

Horseshit. Normal people with dr's supervision are prescribed pain medication for injuries and post op care. Your junkie types were probably addicts before they were prescribed pain pills from a droctor.

not true.
Many started off with prescription opiods.

Then they chose to be addicts!

its not really that simple.

 

[Montrovant]

I know it is stupid to bring sanity to a Silhouette thread but according to pretty much every article, the reason for the surge of heroin deaths and addictions is due to prescription opiod over prescription/addiction.

People get hooked on pain killers- often after being hurt- and when they can't get them anymore they look for illegal alternatives- and heroin is cheaper than black market opiods.

That is the dual problem that needs to be addressed.

Horseshit. Normal people with dr's supervision are prescribed pain medication for injuries and post op care. Your junkie types were probably addicts before they were prescribed pain pills from a droctor.

not true.
Many started off with prescription opiods.

Then they chose to be addicts!

Wait, did you really just say that people who become addicted to prescription medications chose to be addicts?

 

[MikeK]

So you're saying that if our culture has become opiate-infatuated; it's definitely NOT from MDs overprescribing highly addictive pain pills

[...]

No. I did not say that.

What I said is I absolutely reject the notion that the rise in heroin use is the result of Mexican cartels pushing heroin to compensate for the loss in revenue due to legalization in Colorado, et al. If it were possible to increase revenue by simply pushing heroin the cartels would be doing that whether or not their marijuana revenue is diminished.

The simple truth is persons who are inclined to risk using a powerful narcotic like heroin will do so, but those who are not so inclined will not. The vast majority of marijuana users are content with the effects of THC and do not use any other recreational drug. But Reefer Madness propagandists like to focus on the exception while ignoring the rule.

The fact is I do believe the rise in heroin use is very likely the result of the recent crackdown on MDs over-prescribing opiates such as Oxycodone, Oxycontin, etc.

 

[MikeK]

Oh hell no! No money for rehab. You wanna be a drug addict then be a drug addict. Don't make the rest of us fix you up when it is not fun anymore. Be a man.

The alternative to paying the relatively minor cost of a rehabilitation program is the major cost of the street crime drug addicts engage in to support their habits.

Does that make a difference in your thinking?

 

[WillowTree]

Oh hell no! No money for rehab. You wanna be a drug addict then be a drug addict. Don't make the rest of us fix you up when it is not fun anymore. Be a man.

The alternative to paying the relatively minor cost of a rehabilitation program is the major cost of the street crime drug addicts engage in to support their habits.

Does that make a difference in your thinking?

Relatively minor cost my ass. If it's minor then ewe pay it.

 

[Maryland Patriot]

Oh hell no! No money for rehab. You wanna be a drug addict then be a drug addict. Don't make the rest of us fix you up when it is not fun anymore. Be a man.

The alternative to paying the relatively minor cost of a rehabilitation program is the major cost of the street crime drug addicts engage in to support their habits.

Does that make a difference in your thinking?

Relatively minor cost my ass. If it's minor then ewe pay it.

same thing I say about most social programs, if it such a small percentage of ones tax dollars, the democrats should be the only ones paying it.
As far as the rehab, most are 29 day programs, they will cost anywhere from 500 a day to 1000 a day. (some of the private country club ones for the rich are a bit more)
Since the success rate of these programs is relatively low, 50% or so, figure the cost to get someone clean to be roughly 58,000. ( their cost plus the cost of the one that relapsed)
Now, what is the cost to keep just one illegal for a couple years? but thats not an issue.

 

[TooTall]

Oh hell no! No money for rehab. You wanna be a drug addict then be a drug addict. Don't make the rest of us fix you up when it is not fun anymore. Be a man.

The alternative to paying the relatively minor cost of a rehabilitation program is the major cost of the street crime drug addicts engage in to support their habits.

Does that make a difference in your thinking?

How many times does an addict go through rehab and go right back to using when they finish. I personally know three young people who were addicts and sold to support their habit. One served two years for dealing and after the second time in rehab he found a Church program that worked. That was three years ago and he now has a position at the Church to interview and select who gets to join the program. We celebrated his 30th birthday last month and he gives all the credit for staying clean to God.

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

You cannot stop drug addicts. These people's fate is the predictable outcome!

People don't know they're drug addicts until they use. Relaxing laws and decriminalization drugs only encourages use.

You are not an addict util you use enough to get addicted. Behavior recedes addiction

Which, often times for addicts, is only once.

I know of nobody that became an addict with just one experimental trial of heroin.
Drugs dont actually work that way.

It's completely dependent upon the individual. Some are more prone to addiction than others. Can't throw a blanket over addiction. That's why drug use has to be taken more seriously.

 

[MikeK]

Relatively minor cost my ass. If it's minor then ewe pay it.

If you would take the time to research the overall cost of the street crime attributed to drug addicts, including the cost of preventive measures (alarm systems, etc.) arrests, prosecution, imprisonment, parole, probation, etc., and compare it with the cost of maintaining addicts in rehab you will be surprised at the difference. The cost of rehab is less than ten percent of the final cost of the crimes addicts commit to satisfy their cravings.

Right now, as you are reading this, dozens of Americans' homes are being burglarized by junkies who wouldn't be doing that if there was a program available to aid their gradual withdrawal.

Do yourself a favor and research the progress being made in Switzerland and The Netherlands in the way of addict rehab. In both examples there have been dramatic reductions in crime.

Heroin Maintenance and More: Switzerland's Great Drug Policy Experiment - Substance.com

Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com

At the bottom line, if your home is burglarized by some junkie, would that affect your thinking about rehab programs?