Ohio drug epidemic... (Campbell, Congress: apartment, refrigerator, movies)

[SWOH]

Front page of CNN:

Ohio city's morgues are full, thanks to opioid crisis - CNN

Dayton, OH seems to be the primary transportation center for the drug.

[Natural510]

Originally Posted by 313 TUxedo

Another problem is that able-bodied people who are unable to find legitimate work look to the drug trade as a source of self-employment.

Eh, unemployment is under 5% these days...this isn't 2009. Employers are having difficulty finding people looking to work for low wages and/or who can pass a drug screen. The biggest problem is heroin becoming a relatively acceptable drug in many social circles the area (i.e. poor whites) whereas 10-20 years ago you were considered crazy to even consider it.

[WO2Phl]

Originally Posted by Natural510

Eh, unemployment is under 5% these days...this isn't 2009. Employers are having difficulty finding people looking to work for low wages and/or who can pass a drug screen. The biggest problem is heroin becoming a relatively acceptable drug in many social circles the area (i.e. poor whites) whereas 10-20 years ago you were considered crazy to even consider it.

There is plenty of work to be had in construction, homebuilding, agriculture and food services (especially in vacation destinations). Trump's immigration policy has really kept a lot of seasonal workers coming in to work in those industries. Changes in seasonal visas have pinched those numbers, too.

There are jobs to be had. Employers are raising wages to pay.

It's just that:

A) As you said, drugs have ravaged so many communities that it's hard to find anyone who can pass a pee test in a lot of the country.

B) Wall Street Journal just had a story. Americans are way less willing to move for work than we were years ago. Certain types of workers will move -- tech heads to San Francisco/finance people to New York. But, overall, more blue collar type of workers aren't willing to move from, say, Ohio to the Pacific Northwest.

[CookieSkoon]

Originally Posted by WO2Phl

There is plenty of work to be had in construction, homebuilding, agriculture and food services (especially in vacation destinations). Trump's immigration policy has really kept a lot of seasonal workers coming in to work in those industries. Changes in seasonal visas have pinched those numbers, too.

There are jobs to be had. Employers are raising wages to pay.

It's just that:

A) As you said, drugs have ravaged so many communities that it's hard to find anyone who can pass a pee test in a lot of the country.

B) Wall Street Journal just had a story. Americans are way less willing to move for work than we were years ago. Certain types of workers will move -- tech heads to San Francisco/finance people to New York. But, overall, more blue collar type of workers aren't willing to move from, say, Ohio to the Pacific Northwest.

Part of the issue there is how expensive it is to move now for most people my age (30 somethings) and a bit younger.

We just barely get ahead where we're from.

[MyGoldenLife]

Originally Posted by Natural510

Eh, unemployment is under 5% these days...this isn't 2009. Employers are having difficulty finding people looking to work for low wages and/or who can pass a drug screen. The biggest problem is heroin becoming a relatively acceptable drug in many social circles the area (i.e. poor whites) whereas 10-20 years ago you were considered crazy to even consider it.

I must disagree. Heroin is no more acceptable in 2017 than it was in 1970.

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by CookieSkoon

Part of the issue there is how expensive it is to move now for most people my age (30 somethings) and a bit younger.

On the other hand, middle-aged people (ages say 40 to 60) are reluctant to move, for family reasons, or cultural reasons. Though this is admittedly anecdotal, I’ve come across multiple cases, where the person in question is quite willing to relocate while still young, but then becomes more reluctant to relocate yet again, later in life.

Originally Posted by MyGoldenLife

I must disagree. Heroin is no more acceptable in 2017 than it was in 1970.

And I must disagree with the disagreement. 40 years ago, or even 20 years ago, heroin was something that blighted either the folks who, ahem, lived on the west side of the river… or the rebellious youth desperately seeking to make a statement. Today it affects the sons and daughters of buttoned-downed middle-class white families – the sort who say grace before dinner, and expect for all of their children to complete college.

[Natural510]

Originally Posted by MyGoldenLife

Your theory is flawed.

This particular drug epidemic has not discriminated based on social, economic or educational status.

Well, 98% of the heroin/fentanyl addicts who come my hospital are poor whites, so only telling what I see. And you must be living in some kind of bubble if you don't think it's become more acceptable among this population. I'm guessing you don't actually deal with any of this first-hand and are speaking theoretically.

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by ohio_peasant

On the other hand, middle-aged people (ages say 40 to 60) are reluctant to move, for family reasons, or cultural reasons. Though this is admittedly anecdotal, I’ve come across multiple cases, where the person in question is quite willing to relocate while still young, but then becomes more reluctant to relocate yet again, later in life.



And I must disagree with the disagreement. 40 years ago, or even 20 years ago, heroin was something that blighted either the folks who, ahem, lived on the west side of the river… or the rebellious youth desperately seeking to make a statement. Today it affects the sons and daughters of buttoned-downed middle-class white families – the sort who say grace before dinner, and expect for all of their children to complete college.

I'll also add that the "middle class" is a whole new definition, at least nowadays.

What you described above I'd call upper middle class, but in these parts lower middle class is a lot more prevalent. And as much as white people like to think there's a difference between lower class white and lower class minorities, there is not.

I think that's the real reason why there's so much more attention on the heroin epidemic than the crack epidemic of the past.

This is the wake-up card that shows poor white people are just that - poor people. No different than poor people of any other race. It just hits a lot closer to home for the upper middle class people you mentioned, because their brother or sister that didn't end up achieving the security they did in life went down the heroin, and dare I say white trash route.

[1watertiger]

Opioid over-doses are thinning the herd.

[ms12345]

Also, I don't think schools do the early drug interdiction programs like they did years ago. I recall growing-up even in lower elementary school grades they beat it into your head that drugs = bad and heroin was the worst of the worst. That message influenced entire generations of kids' thinking on heroin. Now they don't even discuss smoking until the 6th grade.