4 ms·

They shut down the pill mills and the pain clinics, which were the one reliable source of safe opiates, and now people are dying left and right. Go figure.

yrLS1 11y ago
Except, of course, that people were also overdosing "left and right" due to the pill mills and illegitimate pain clinics... Edit for source: http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2015/pill-mill-crackdown-linked-to-fewer-painkiller-overdose-deaths-in-florida.html http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2015/pill-mill-crack...
- armenarmen 11y ago
  Interesting, "researchers also found substantially fewer deaths in Florida from overdoses involving either prescription painkillers or heroin during 2011 and 2012" Thanks for the article. "with less access to prescription painkillers, fewer people may be developing an addiction" So we are seeing less people getting hooked on opiates. This is of course a good thing. But I still worry about those who got hooked in "the good old days" and now no longer have access to opiates in standardized doses.
  - yrLS1 11y ago
    Yeah, that part really caught my eye too. Anecdotally, many heroin addicts seem to start off with prescription painkillers and then move on to heroin once their preferred pills become unavailable (crack down on scripts, price, whatever). It would seem to make sense that by preventing some amount of painkiller addiction, you could prevent some amount of heroin addiction. I'm curious to see the full study once it's released.
  - Alex3917 11y ago
    > So we are seeing less people getting hooked on opiates. This is of course a good thing. Not necessarily. You want people in pain to be able to access opiates. And some of those are going to die from them. So the ideal number of people dying probably isn't zero.
    - yrLS1 11y ago
      Ideally the number IS zero. :) The realistic number on the other hand will probably be higher, as you identify. I'd also argue there's a difference between being 'hooked' on opiates and using them regularly for legitimate pain management.
md224 11y ago
Great point. People also turn to heroin because it's simply more affordable than a pill habit. It's an economic calculation. There are so many things wrong with drug policy right now and we're paying the price. We could use more supervised injection sites, better access to Buprenorphine[1], etc. [1] See: http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/02/02/practically-a-book-review-dying-to-be-free/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/02/02/practically-a-book-revi...
trhway 11y ago
among the main drivers to increase street heroin consumption (and thus deaths, etc) was the change in OxyContin formulation so that it became much harder to abuse. It would be ironic if it wasn't that tragic. http://www.unodc.org/wdr2015/en/opiates.html http://www.unodc.org/wdr2015/en/opiates.html

yrLS1 11y ago

Except, of course, that people were also overdosing "left and right" due to the pill mills and illegitimate pain clinics... Edit for source: http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2015/pill-mill-crackdown-linked-to-fewer-painkiller-overdose-deaths-in-florida.html http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2015/pill-mill-crack...

armenarmen 11y ago
Interesting, "researchers also found substantially fewer deaths in Florida from overdoses involving either prescription painkillers or heroin during 2011 and 2012" Thanks for the article. "with less access to prescription painkillers, fewer people may be developing an addiction" So we are seeing less people getting hooked on opiates. This is of course a good thing. But I still worry about those who got hooked in "the good old days" and now no longer have access to opiates in standardized doses.
- yrLS1 11y ago
  Yeah, that part really caught my eye too. Anecdotally, many heroin addicts seem to start off with prescription painkillers and then move on to heroin once their preferred pills become unavailable (crack down on scripts, price, whatever). It would seem to make sense that by preventing some amount of painkiller addiction, you could prevent some amount of heroin addiction. I'm curious to see the full study once it's released.
- Alex3917 11y ago
  > So we are seeing less people getting hooked on opiates. This is of course a good thing. Not necessarily. You want people in pain to be able to access opiates. And some of those are going to die from them. So the ideal number of people dying probably isn't zero.
  - yrLS1 11y ago
    Ideally the number IS zero. :) The realistic number on the other hand will probably be higher, as you identify. I'd also argue there's a difference between being 'hooked' on opiates and using them regularly for legitimate pain management.

md224 11y ago

Great point. People also turn to heroin because it's simply more affordable than a pill habit. It's an economic calculation. There are so many things wrong with drug policy right now and we're paying the price. We could use more supervised injection sites, better access to Buprenorphine[1], etc. [1] See: http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/02/02/practically-a-book-review-dying-to-be-free/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/02/02/practically-a-book-revi...

trhway 11y ago

among the main drivers to increase street heroin consumption (and thus deaths, etc) was the change in OxyContin formulation so that it became much harder to abuse. It would be ironic if it wasn't that tragic. http://www.unodc.org/wdr2015/en/opiates.html http://www.unodc.org/wdr2015/en/opiates.html