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While some areas are worse than others, these are common issues going on throughout much of the country. With a lack of available loans, high barriers to entry in many businesses, and tightened regulations to the point of destroying many small businesses. Which has resulted in plenty of job losses and a hopelessness spreading throughout the country. In a lot of ways many small towns are not really better off than inner city ghettos as sad as that is.
That is the primary reason I am voting for Trump, he promises to at least get rid of some regulations, and that will go further to help these towns than any thing that Hillary has mentioned such as allowing certain small business access to more debt. Whether it happens or not is unknown, but I have to hope he follows through, and I know Hillary has no idea on how to fix the issue.
Most small business owners have no payroll.
Undocumented workers are typically employed by small businesses.
Most new businesses fail and it has a lot more to do with the lack of innovation and/ or inexperience and/ or competence and/ or lousy location choices and/ or energy of the business owner than anything else.
Certainly not an ideal climate to expect to use other people's money on an unsecured basis to create a new business.
Ashtabula is a perfect example of a town destroyed by globalization. I live in a town in upstate NY that has suffered a similar fate.
Neither Trump nor Clinton can (or want to) solve this problem. Clinton's husband approved NAFTA; Trump only knows casinos and real estate speculation. Both parties are pro-Wall Street and pro-Globalization.
I am an on again/ off again volunteer in the detox/ rehab part of a major Chicago metro area healthcare system. I know more about Heroin addiction than I ever wanted to know.
Up to the early 80's first time users of heroin were fairly balanced in terms of race. Now, 90% of first time users are white and live in suburbs and rural areas. Nearly 80% used prescription opioids for recreational purposes before trying Heroin. What has changed substantially over the past decade or so is the number of Heroin related deaths, up 40% year over year. It's a global epidemic.
Global production of Heroin increases substantially every year. Mexico's production is believed to increase 50% year over year to match the voracious appetite for the product in the US. The drug is purer and cheaper than ever before, thus the OD rate.
Increasingly, municipalities are choosing to make sure first responders and Police are armed with Naloxone to counteract opiate/ opioid overdoses. You have not seen anything until you wittnesss someone who has been ejected with Naloxone bolt and return to the daily grind of getting the money and scoring, once again. I am conflicted about the use of Naloxone, although I certainly appreciate how family members feel.
Despite the media's attention, the estimates for those actively addicted to Heroin are relatively small, 1- 1.5 million, nationwide. In contrast, 30 million people have Diabetes and about 80 million are pre- Diabetic. It's the 7th leading cause of death in the US.
States are under pressure to " do something" and are clamoring for federal funding to treat Heroin addiction as if it's a magic bullet. Rehabs do not cure addiction. Best case, a highly motivated addict may learn some tools for recovery. That's all well and good until they are back in the real world. When you see the same people coming through the revolving doors of rebab , 7, 8 or more times, you acquire an appreciation for the power of the drug over the addict and its ability to take down an entire family.
More than one addict has told me they need their next " dose" the way normies need their next breath.
Greetings, neighbor to the west.
I know there is also a percentage of people who turn to heroin either because their prescribed pain meds no longer give them relief, or their doctors stop prescribing them, leaving them in pain, addicted, and desperate.
Given the bolded text above, I have to wonder about the wisdom of passing Lali's Law. (named for Alex Laliberte, one of many Stevenson H.S. students who died from a drug overdose) With anyone being able to go to a pharmacy to get Naloxone without a prescription, many will choose to do that instead of just dialing 911 and letting the experts handle it. Then again, I suppose it's aimed at those who would be too afraid to call 911, which is just beyond belief, in my mind.
Because one of the manufacturer's of the antidote gave the family 6,000 free doses for distribution at centers they created, much criticism has been leveled by parents paying $300 for an EpiPen, to save their own children 'from something that isn't even a result of a choice they made'.
Drug use is a symptom, and until we tackle the issues leading to drug use, this is only going to get worse.
Sad situation for this people. I'm sure when Bernie Sanders famously said, "When you're white you don't know what it's like to be living in a ghetto. You don't know what it's like to be poor" these people and other impoverished white people were angry. There are many white people living in poverty, in addiction, in education black holes. They must resent being called "privileged" while ignored and forgotten by politicians. I doubt either of the candidates visited this town and had a meal with the residents and pressed the flesh.....
Politicians tend to make broad generalizations. Bernie was no exception. Guess he never travelled though Appalachia or the rust belt or the rural south.
Regardless of race or ethnicity the people living in urban, suburban and rural ghettos often have more in common they they may be willing to acknowledge:
Do not value education and blame the schools
Do not value marketable skills and blame corporations, banks and governments for their lots in life
Tend to live in emotionally chaotic household enviornments.
Make lousy decisions on how to spend their incomes.
Procreate without regard for their inability to take financial responsibility for their offspring
More likely to engage in substance abuse
They are angry.
I am not voting for either nominee. Both have unprecedented conflicts of interest. If you held a gun to my head and made me choose I would likely vote Trump. I prefer the country not go through another attempt to impeach a president.
The vast majority of campaign promises and intentions require Congress to act and fund. Regardless of who wins, neither will have a mandate.
Other than government deficit spending I have no idea how Trump expects to put people back to work in well paying jobs. It does not compute. Wage does not matter. What matters is what the wage will buy in the local economy. If uneducated, unskilled / low skill people make $100/ hr, does it matter if that's the price of a Big Mac Meal?
What country is going to buy Made in the USA if a compariable product can be bought from another country for a fraction of the US price?
Why would a manufacturer cease investing in industrial robotics to hire ore costly, less productive humans?
Employment in coal mines peaked in the 1920's. It's beyond time for people to get over it.
Employment in steel mills peaked 50 years ago, before global competition. Competition aside, 2 workers today are as productive as 12 workers used to be at peak. Time to get over it.
Union membership peaked 60 years ago. Time to get over it.
Ohio has been the addiction capital of the US for decades and the epicenter for the Heroin epidemic for 15 years.
Back in 2008, a Lisa Ling documentary focused on the Hawk family of 5. Mom, dad and 2 young teen sons were all addicted to heroin. An infant had been born addicted to heroin and routinely was exposed to family's addiction. They were separated and agreed to privately funded recovery addiction treatment facilities in the NE.
A 2014 follow up with the family revealed mom and dad had lost custody of all children and were homeless in NYC. Mom died of OD.
The rust belt historically attracted under educated, low skiled people from Appalachia and the rural south.
Generations of undereducated people without marketable skills who do not value the time and effort to get an education and skills are more likely to live in and perpetuate chaos within the family and community.
When you grow up surrounded by alcoholics and/ or people addicted to recreational substances who believe they have gotten the short end of the stick, it's probably easier to follow suit than break away. In other words, it's all one knows.
( I am not implying all or a majority of people in Ohio are like this)
On this, wanted to ask where you got the information that Ohio has always been the epicenter of heroin addiction or drug addiction period.
FWIW, I do think that it is at an all time high but I don't think Ohio is "epicenter" of addiction in the country nor do I believe there are more addicts here than other places. I do think it is a top 10 state though for addiction, but not the most addicted and information I found via CDC and other sites say it is #5 and not the most heavily addicted.
In regards to families from Appalachia, not sure how that has anything to do with the current heroin epidemic, nor the poverty of families. Most of the people today who are addicted to heroin are working to middle class families and above.
I personally know a couple families who have had their family members, one a child of theirs, die from drug addiction and all of them are white professionals (educated) who are middle class and live in nice neighborhoods and are not from Appalachia.
On this, wanted to note, I live in NW Ohio and Democrats always do well here because we are a very pro-union area. Toledo is the 4th largest city in Ohio and Dems usually do well there, and in Cleveland, Columbus and in more liberal college areas of the state.
On this, I'm surprised that this surprised you!!
Heroin is an epidemic all over the country. As stated, I live in NW Ohio, it is an epidemic here. I remember a few months ago 20 people over one weekend died of drug overdoses related to heroin.
I also lived in metro Atlanta for almost 2 decades before moving back to Ohio. They also have issues with heroin down south. I have friends in the NE in Maine and Mass. and both of those states as well have issues with heroin.
In regards to users, I agree with Mightyqueen below:
The bold is where you are seeing this epidemic occur. I personally feel that it gets a lot of media coverage, at least in my area it does and it did in Atlanta as well. It is because it is heavily affecting white working class and middle class and even wealthy white areas to a high degree.
It is interesting, IMO the way that the drug epidemic is framed, considering I grew up during the crack epidemic and remember a lot more negative programs focused on crack. Now a days, media focuses more on trying to "help" addicts of heroin instead of locking them up and I do believe that that has more to do with the class of people being affected by this epidemic versus those in the past who were mostly poor and poverty stricken.
90% of first time heroin users are white and tend to live in suburbs and small towns which is why we are hearing more about it.
75% of first time users used prescription opioids before trying Heroin for the first time.
The junk is more potent than ever before which is why there are more Heroin related deaths.
It is not possible to help someone in the depths of addiction. Help tends to be the pause that refreshes.
90% of first time heroin users are white and tend to live in suburbs and small towns which is why we are hearing more about it.
75% of first time users used prescription opioids before trying Heroin for the first time.
The junk is more potent than ever before which is why there are more Heroin related deaths.
It is not possible to help someone in the depths of addiction. Help tends to be the pause that refreshes.
I agree with all the above. I have been personally affected by drug addiction due to my father being a recovering addict (almost 30 years clean). He was addicted to crack during the crack epidemic and that period, growing up with so many deaths and craziness around me due to drugs is what caused me to never do any drugs at all.
Today, unfortunately, this is a middle class epidemic. Just wanted to point out though that those primarily effected here in Ohio, at least in my area, are not descendants of Appalachains who particpated in their own Great Migration. Most of them have ancestry from Poland and Germany and their families have been here since the 1800s, at least the ones I personally know.
The epidemic is not connected with poverty today whereas in the 1980s and 1990s it was mostly a poor people's epidemic.
On this, wanted to ask where you got the information that Ohio has always been the epicenter of heroin addiction or drug addiction period.
FWIW, I do think that it is at an all time high but I don't think Ohio is "epicenter" of addiction in the country nor do I believe there are more addicts here than other places. I do think it is a top 10 state though for addiction, but not the most addicted and information I found via CDC and other sites say it is #5 and not the most heavily addicted.
In regards to families from Appalachia, not sure how that has anything to do with the current heroin epidemic, nor the poverty of families. Most of the people today who are addicted to heroin are working to middle class families and above.
I personally know a couple families who have had their family members, one a child of theirs, die from drug addiction and all of them are white professionals (educated) who are middle class and live in nice neighborhoods and are not from Appalachia.
Just google " Ohio epicenter heroin addiction". There are thousands of hits over the years, most by Ohio media.
There are documentaries about hero in epidemic in Ohio. The auto manufacturers have long acknowledged that addiction is a problem with their employees.
Appalachian people resettled in Ohio in great numbers. These were the people who got out of Appelachia and sought employment elsewhere. You can take people out of Appalachia easier than you can take the Appalachian culture out of the people. And I am not saying this applies to all people who are descendents of these economic migrants. My father's side of the family were economic migrants from Appelachia.I know first hand from his blood relatives, "hillbilly" is another species. There is a strong distrust of government despite a high propensity to rely on government for income. Substance abuse , a propensity towards hysteria and drunken violence is very much a part of every day life for many. It's what they know.
Appelachia has been known as the epiIcenter for OxyContin addiction since the early 90's There used to be multiple daily shuttles to/ from the greater Palm Beach area of Florida where roads contained back to back pain walks in pain clinics who prescribed massive quantities of Oxy. At the time, Florida did not have a database and one was able to hit multiple doctors in a single morning. Many made a living off of reselling, back home. Heroin is a better bang for the $.
Heroin is an equal opportunity destroyer. For that matter so are opioids used for recreational purposes. I have never met an addict who intended to become addicted. They all believed they would be able to control it and truth be told, many in the depths of addiction continue to believe they can control it. There's a pecking order. I'm It's always, " not so bad " comparatively speaking, despite it being all consuming. The pill heads think they are somehow better off than heroin addicts. The smokers percieve they are less addicted than the shooters and the shooters compare themselves by where they inject and how good/ bad their veins are. Then there are the packers.
All roads lead to institutionalization ( prison and/ or court- ordered rehab) and/ or death.
Last edited by middle-aged mom; 11-04-2016 at 04:32 PM..
I agree with all the above. I have been personally affected by drug addiction due to my father being a recovering addict (almost 30 years clean). He was addicted to crack during the crack epidemic and that period, growing up with so many deaths and craziness around me due to drugs is what caused me to never do any drugs at all.
Today, unfortunately, this is a middle class epidemic. Just wanted to point out though that those primarily effected here in Ohio, at least in my area, are not descendants of Appalachains who particpated in their own Great Migration. Most of them have ancestry from Poland and Germany and their families have been here since the 1800s, at least the ones I personally know.
The epidemic is not connected with poverty today whereas in the 1980s and 1990s it was mostly a poor people's epidemic.
30 years off the pipe is an incredible life accomplishment.
I was a teen in the 70's in the inner city. Nearly everyone I knew was into drugs, pot, LSD, Speed, downers and the holy grail, Heroin. Shared an apartment with a few friends after high school. I hated going home after work because it had become a flop house for druggies. Stuff was always missing. Friend's BF, addicted to Heroin, blew his brains out in our LR.
I walked away from everyone I knew. Most were dead within 5 years.
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There is a strong distrust of government despite a high propensity to rely on government for income. Substance abuse , a propensity towards hysteria and drunken violence is very much a part of every day life for many. It's what they know. 
