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And what do you think drives people to the less expensive heroin?
Its because they could no longer get narcotic painkillers from the doctor or hospital, street heroin was their only other alternative. before the big crackdown, it was fairly easy to get a week or monthly prescription for Vicodin or Percocet, just go complain about some back pain and they would give you a script!
Insurance companies loved this too, as most opiate prescriptions were the cheapest form of treatment.
Obviously though, this wasnt good business for the drug cartels, when addicts were getting their fix from another source, not good for law enforcement either, cannot arrest someone who has legally obtained the drug, the crackdown was a WIN-WIN for the cartels and law enforcement, the only loosers were the pharma companies and the addicts (Id imagine the pharma companies lost BILLIONS due to these tough new laws).
Lots of things. I had friends that were heroin addicts and not one did pills, but they ALL started with Pot. That's for another thread though...
I bet at least some of them started with booze. And those that did really start with pot got their harder drugs from their pot dealer or someone their pot dealer referred them to. That might imply it wasn't the drug itself that led them down the path, it was the black market they were forced to go through in order to get the drug that opened the door for them.
The typical heroin addict is a white male in his early 20’s with a history of recreational drug use.
So long as there is an insatiable demand for drugs, drugs will find their way into the US.
Treatment does not cure addiction. It tends to be the pause that refreshes. Most relapse.
I have volunteered on and off at a hospital detox/ treatment facility for years. It’s a revolving door.
Drugs rewire the brain to protect and sustain addiction.
Thank you for being a voice of reason here. Relapse rates are as high as 50% even with suboxone and methadone therapy. The relapse rate for NA/AA is reported to be as high as 95%. To make it worse, relapse is considered a failure and the addict is called weak or accused of not wanting to get better and as a result they are further marginalized and even less likely to seek treatment.
Prohibition doesn't work and it never will, it just pushes addicts underground into a far more dangerous world than they would face if they were able to obtain their drug of choice from a physician and use it in a clean safe environment under the supervision of medical personnel.
Lots of things. I had friends that were heroin addicts and not one did pills, but they ALL started with Pot. That's for another thread though...
Quote:
Marijuana use is positively correlated with alcohol use and cigarette use, as well as illegal drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine. This does not mean that everyone who uses marijuana will transition to using heroin or other drugs, but it does mean that people who use marijuana also consume more, not less, legal and illegal drugs than do people who do not use marijuana. https://www.vox.com/2016/4/29/115284...ay-drug-theory
So indeed there is a correlation but correlation =/= causation
The volume of heroin we have in the country is the result of filing the gap left for addicts when prescription opiates were put under stricter control. Before that it was a near free for all and the pills were everywhere.
Now are people going directly to it because it's so easy to find and cheap? Yes. But make no mistake, this epidemic is in large part the blame of Purdue Pharmaceuticals. The timeline is there for anyone who wants to research it.
I live in a small town with a population of about 7,500 in a rural coastal area. Hardly a day goes by that there is not a opioid OD. Almost every week some one dies of opioid OD, sometimes, 2 or 3.
I doubt the issue is 'overstated' at all.
As a nurse/paramedic I see it first hand on a regular basis.
I would bet that you also live in a state where cannabis is still highly illegal.
I live in a small rural town also, in Colorado. Sure we have our drug problems here, just like everywhere else, but NOTHING like the scale you have described.
Define "Opioid". Are you talking pills,heroin or do you even know? Did you or anyone actually prove it was a prescription med? I'm certainly not saying it's the street cop that's the issue as they are not chemists or doctors, the issue seems to be taking a reported "Opioid" death and automatically assuming or classifying it as it was pills for whatever reason or agenda. I wonder out of the many deaths how many were forensically shown to be prescribed medications. I'd bet little to none. Opioids were to blame, that's all we need to know.
I guess I'm confused. An opioid is an opioid, I given them Narcan, they wake up, most of the time. Is it heroin or codeine or fentanyl? With few exceptions it don't really matter.
Interesting article on the "opioids" crisis from the NIH and CDC. Certainly NOT in line with what we've been led to believe by the MSM and many elected officials.
What's even more interesting is a web search comes up with many articles stating that the deaths attributed to prescription opioids is being overstated by at least half.
This is reportedly due to how LEO's and medical report the deaths. They are reported as "opioid overdose" and rarely is the actual opiate described.
My question is "if the NIH and CDC report are correct what exactly is the agenda behind this hysteria"?
Many times it is a combination of opioids and benzos (Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, etc.), at least 1/3rd and growing.
Many times it is a combination of opioids and benzos (Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, etc.), at least 1/3rd and growing.
Indeed, this is from jimj's link:
Quote:
New Hampshire’s Department of Health data characterizes opioid deaths as attributable to specific legitimate prescription opioids, prescription opioids in combination with other licit and illicit drugs (including benzodiazepines, cocaine, methamphetamine and alcohol; methadone, oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, tramadol, and oxymorphone) (S Watkins, personal communication, September 22, 2017). A total of 59 deaths involving a legitimate prescription opioid were recorded, with 32 involving oxycodone. However, 72% of the deaths involving oxycodone included alcohol, a benzodiazepine (or both alcohol and a benzodiazepine), kratom, methamphetamine, or another prescription opioid (which may or may not have been prescribed concurrently). These data strongly suggest not a “prescription opioid crisis” but rather a “polypharmacy crisis.”
Interesting article on the "opioids" crisis from the NIH and CDC. Certainly NOT in line with what we've been led to believe by the MSM and many elected officials.
What's even more interesting is a web search comes up with many articles stating that the deaths attributed to prescription opioids is being overstated by at least half.
This is reportedly due to how LEO's and medical report the deaths. They are reported as "opioid overdose" and rarely is the actual opiate described.
My question is "if the NIH and CDC report are correct what exactly is the agenda behind this hysteria"?
It's obvious here. Big Pharma providing cover for itself. "Overdose" is hardly the sole issue here. Yes, that is many times the end result but it starts with the over proscribing of Opioids and when they are cut off, going to the cheaper stuff like heroin.
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That's for another thread though...
