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> I thought we dealt with that sh. long ago? In what way do you think it was dealt with? As far as I know for actions like 'The War on Drugs' it's at least deb

by stinos 11y ago

> I thought we dealt with that sh. long ago? In what way do you think it was dealt with? As far as I know for actions like 'The War on Drugs' it's at least debatble whether they actually did reduce the amount of use of illigeal substances (let alone amount of related crime etc)?

aikah 11y ago
I was thinking about pop culture + education more than "war on drugs", since I live in Europe. I mean since when taking heroin is cool again ? it destroyed or killed so many people i knew 20 years ago ...
- DanBC 11y ago
  The article is mostly talking about people who are wrongly prescribed opioid meds for long term pain. They don't start taking those meds because it's cool. They start taking those meds because they don't have access to pain clinics; they don't understand that exercise is effective for many forms of pain (especially musculo-skeletal); that opioids should not be used for long term pain, etc. The meds become less effective if they're used for a long time, so people increase their dose. They become addicted to the meds, and need higher doses. A couple of things happen here. 1) Doctors restrict the meds. People then either buy illicit meds, which are stronger than they're expecting; or they buy heroin because it's easy enough to get. 2) People die from liver damage caused by the paracetamol that these pain meds are often mixed with. Partly we used to think that combining paracetamol and opioids meant we could use less of each (but that turns out to be untrue), and partly some people thought that mixing a poisonous substance in with the opioid would reduce abuse. (It sort of does, by killing the user.)
  - venomsnake 11y ago
    Paracetamol is may "favorite" medical substance. The damaging and helpful dose are absurdly close. And that stuff is sold over the counter.
    - Gibbon1 11y ago
      My grandmother started drinking after my grandfather died. And died herself ten years later of liver failure. I remember emptying out the medicine cabinet and tossing a half empty 500 pill bottle of Tylenol in the trash. And then finding two more unopened in the cabinet under the sink. My thought then was, 'this and the booze is what killed her.' That was 35 years ago.
DanBC 11y ago
Drugs come into and go out of fashion, and there are changes in availability as various precursor chemicals are made harder to get. With things like MDMA this control over precursor chemicals does harm, because people use "research chemicals" or bath-salts instead, and there's not much evidence of safety for those. And there's some environmental impact as illegal loggers cut down trees in rain forest to get safrole oil.

by stinos 11y ago

aikah 11y ago

I was thinking about pop culture + education more than "war on drugs", since I live in Europe. I mean since when taking heroin is cool again ? it destroyed or killed so many people i knew 20 years ago ...

DanBC 11y ago
The article is mostly talking about people who are wrongly prescribed opioid meds for long term pain. They don't start taking those meds because it's cool. They start taking those meds because they don't have access to pain clinics; they don't understand that exercise is effective for many forms of pain (especially musculo-skeletal); that opioids should not be used for long term pain, etc. The meds become less effective if they're used for a long time, so people increase their dose. They become addicted to the meds, and need higher doses. A couple of things happen here. 1) Doctors restrict the meds. People then either buy illicit meds, which are stronger than they're expecting; or they buy heroin because it's easy enough to get. 2) People die from liver damage caused by the paracetamol that these pain meds are often mixed with. Partly we used to think that combining paracetamol and opioids meant we could use less of each (but that turns out to be untrue), and partly some people thought that mixing a poisonous substance in with the opioid would reduce abuse. (It sort of does, by killing the user.)
- venomsnake 11y ago
  Paracetamol is may "favorite" medical substance. The damaging and helpful dose are absurdly close. And that stuff is sold over the counter.
  - Gibbon1 11y ago
    My grandmother started drinking after my grandfather died. And died herself ten years later of liver failure. I remember emptying out the medicine cabinet and tossing a half empty 500 pill bottle of Tylenol in the trash. And then finding two more unopened in the cabinet under the sink. My thought then was, 'this and the booze is what killed her.' That was 35 years ago.

DanBC 11y ago

Drugs come into and go out of fashion, and there are changes in availability as various precursor chemicals are made harder to get. With things like MDMA this control over precursor chemicals does harm, because people use "research chemicals" or bath-salts instead, and there's not much evidence of safety for those. And there's some environmental impact as illegal loggers cut down trees in rain forest to get safrole oil.