3 ms·

Heroin in the Midwest: A hydra-headed scourge

20 points by aburan28 11y ago

droopyEyelids 11y ago
While I agree this needs to be treated as a public health issue (rather than treating users as criminals) I think pinning the blame on doctors is myopic. One of the biggest factors that leads people to a life of opiate abuse is when people can't envision a future for themselves. You see it throughout the rust belt- people who worked in manufacturing were left without a job, in a town without prospects, and disability rates skyrocket. Along with the disability wave comes opiate abuse and alcoholism. Doctors could stop prescribing opiates entirely, and the problem will continue. Epidemics like this are the result of a confluence of factors. If increasing amounts of young women are feeling hopeless about the future, if women (and men) are left without a plan for how they want to live, they're going to look to take their minds off it whatever way they can, and drug abuse is a simple pathological way to do it.
- hellbanner 11y ago
  Yes, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park for more. Opiate addicted rats weaned themselves off of opiates when moved from cages to a nice playground. See also, Halfway Houses.
  - jdc 11y ago
    I'd like to believe the conclusions of Rat Park, but I've heard there were problems reproducing their results.
- zzalpha 11y ago
  So you're just going to ignore the statistical correlation between rates of prescription opiate usage and rates of heroine abuae because it doesn't agree with your preconceptions about drug addiction?
joesmo 11y ago
Legalize it or decriminalize it so that people can get help. In the meantime, it seems needle exchanges are legal in Illionis and there are some methadone clinics, though it's hard to gauge the available help in the area just from a few searches. Allow more, easier buprenorphine and methadone prescriptions. Create more methadone clinics and needle exchange programs. It's frustrating to see this kind of shit in America when everyone and their retarded brother knows the simple solutions to this problem. It's even more frustrating when you've seen that these things work and have worked on close family members (though not without it costing a lot and the system putting roadblocks (sometimes literally) at every single step). It's shameful that this country treats its sick addicts like criminals and the people who continue this travesty honestly deserve at least life in jail if not the death penalty. They are truly the ones committing crimes against humanity in our society, filling up the jails, etc., and should be punished accordingly.
- armenarmen 11y ago
  I've lost a couple friends to heroine overdoses, most were people that got hooked to pain pills, and when the "pill mills" were shut down they turned to heroine. With street drugs the potency is unknown and they caught hot shots. Removing the pseudo legal pill mills resulted in my friends dying. This drug and all drugs should be made legally available so that addicts don't die left and right. It's a fucking travesty that any politician who even begins to mention it is considered soft on drugs and gets crucified.
  - mtdewcmu 11y ago
    >> I've lost a couple friends to heroine overdoses, most were people that got hooked to pain pills, and when the "pill mills" were shut down they turned to heroine. The law of unintended consequences...
zeckalpha 11y ago
For two years, I worked down the hall from David Ferguson, mentioned in the article. Small world.

20 points by aburan28 11y ago

While I agree this needs to be treated as a public health issue (rather than treating users as criminals) I think pinning the blame on doctors is myopic. One of the biggest factors that leads people to a life of opiate abuse is when people can't envision a future for themselves. You see it throughout the rust belt- people who worked in manufacturing were left without a job, in a town without prospects, and disability rates skyrocket. Along with the disability wave comes opiate abuse and alcoholism. Doctors could stop prescribing opiates entirely, and the problem will continue. Epidemics like this are the result of a confluence of factors. If increasing amounts of young women are feeling hopeless about the future, if women (and men) are left without a plan for how they want to live, they're going to look to take their minds off it whatever way they can, and drug abuse is a simple pathological way to do it.

hellbanner 11y ago
Yes, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park for more. Opiate addicted rats weaned themselves off of opiates when moved from cages to a nice playground. See also, Halfway Houses.
- jdc 11y ago
  I'd like to believe the conclusions of Rat Park, but I've heard there were problems reproducing their results.
zzalpha 11y ago
So you're just going to ignore the statistical correlation between rates of prescription opiate usage and rates of heroine abuae because it doesn't agree with your preconceptions about drug addiction?

joesmo 11y ago

Legalize it or decriminalize it so that people can get help. In the meantime, it seems needle exchanges are legal in Illionis and there are some methadone clinics, though it's hard to gauge the available help in the area just from a few searches. Allow more, easier buprenorphine and methadone prescriptions. Create more methadone clinics and needle exchange programs. It's frustrating to see this kind of shit in America when everyone and their retarded brother knows the simple solutions to this problem. It's even more frustrating when you've seen that these things work and have worked on close family members (though not without it costing a lot and the system putting roadblocks (sometimes literally) at every single step). It's shameful that this country treats its sick addicts like criminals and the people who continue this travesty honestly deserve at least life in jail if not the death penalty. They are truly the ones committing crimes against humanity in our society, filling up the jails, etc., and should be punished accordingly.

armenarmen 11y ago
I've lost a couple friends to heroine overdoses, most were people that got hooked to pain pills, and when the "pill mills" were shut down they turned to heroine. With street drugs the potency is unknown and they caught hot shots. Removing the pseudo legal pill mills resulted in my friends dying. This drug and all drugs should be made legally available so that addicts don't die left and right. It's a fucking travesty that any politician who even begins to mention it is considered soft on drugs and gets crucified.
- mtdewcmu 11y ago
  >> I've lost a couple friends to heroine overdoses, most were people that got hooked to pain pills, and when the "pill mills" were shut down they turned to heroine. The law of unintended consequences...

zeckalpha 11y ago

For two years, I worked down the hall from David Ferguson, mentioned in the article. Small world.