4 ms·

I know legal protections apply to criminals, but it is hard to win a political battle against the cops who busted a big time dealer of life-destroying drugs (h

by tamana 10y ago

I know legal protections apply to criminals, but it is hard to win a political battle against the cops who busted a big time dealer of life-destroying drugs (heroin)

Gibbon1 10y ago
Among the friends I knew the body count is Prescription Drugs: 2 Alcohol: 3 Heroin: 0 Methamphetamine: 0 Cannabis: 0 Two people I know. Their brothers both died from Oxycontin(tm). Specifically pulmonary talcosis. You get pulmonary talcosis from the talc government made the manufacturer add specifically to kill junkies.
- Crito 10y ago
  Heroin: 4 Alcohol: 3 Just because you don't know anyone that heroin has killed, doesn't mean it isn't a problem.
- Unklejoe 10y ago
  I personally knew 5 people who have died from a drug overdose, and that drug was heroin in all 5 cases. They all actually started off by abusing prescription opiates, but moved to heroin after they ran out of money. However, my area is known for being a heroin hot spot. I live in a decent middle class town about 15 minutes away from Camden, NJ. My high school was known as "heroin high". The problem with heroin is that there's very poor quality control. Overdoses seem to occur under one of the two following circumstances: 1. The person just gets released from rehab and relapses. Their tolerance isn't what it used to be, so their body gets shocked. 2. There's a sudden spike in the strength of the heroin that is "going around". The person may be used to a certain strength, so the more powerful batch can be enough to send them over the edge. Just figured I'd add my own personal data points since it seemed like you were trying to deemphasize the danger of heroin by pointing out that you don't know anyone who died from it. Maybe, that wasn't your intention, so forgive me if so.
  - freditup 10y ago
    I was in downtown Camden, NJ once a couple years ago, being given a tour by a black pastor who's focus was on helping the poor of Camden turn away from drug addictions. (Point being, he knew the city very well, and knew its drug problem very well.) It was an absolutely astonishing time. Camden literally felt like it had just been through a war: desolate buildings, so many people homeless on the streets, people desperate for food. It's hard to describe just how bad this city was. I can't diagnose all the root causes behind why Camden is so messed-up, but this pastor pointed to the heroin epidemic primarily.
    - arca_vorago 10y ago
      If you haven't seen any of his work, Chris Hedges has written and spoken pretty extensively on Camden and Camdenesque cities. Heartbreaking stuff. You know, it always stuck in my craw that so much of the heroin in the new epidemic came/comes from Afghanistan... Shades of Vietnam.
      - freditup 10y ago
        I'm not familiar with his work, I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the suggestion!
- voidz 10y ago
  Mhm. I'll bite. Got a source? Government wants kill people who use a lot of Oxycontin to kill the people who snort it or something?
  - thaumasiotes 10y ago
    I could not verify this particular claim in under an hour of online searching. Relevant facts: Oxycontin used to contain talc, and this came with prominent health warnings. Shooting up dissolved oxycontin pills containing talc is dangerous. See http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2008/020553s059lbl.pdf http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2008/020... ("with parenteral abuse, the [inactive ingredients], especially talc, can be expected to result in [many bad things]"). As of some time in 2014, oxycontin no longer contains talc -- it has been replaced by magnesium stearate. However, that health warning that parenteral abuse causes many bad things has not been altered except to remove the phrase "especially talc". Pulmonary granulomas are still specifically called out as something bad that will happen to you if you inject oxycontin. See the current usage information at http://app.purduepharma.com/xmlpublishing/pi.aspx?id=o http://app.purduepharma.com/xmlpublishing/pi.aspx?id=o . SPECULATIVELY: this means that while talc is no longer present, oxycontin might still contain legally-mandated adulteration. I found no evidence for a legal mandate, but this was not a comprehensive investigation. It has long been the explicit policy of the United States that people who abuse otherwise legal chemicals deserve to be poisoned to death, and we have had and do have laws to this effect. See http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2010/02/the_chemists_war.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa... . It's that last point that makes me hesitate to slam your parent comment for fearmongering.
    - Atwood 10y ago
      It was not simply the consolidation of our petroleum interests we were after, no? Hamid Karzai (our man) afforded us unprecedented access to humans favorite narcotic. Poof! An unprecedented alkaloid epidemic.
  - sokoloff 10y ago
    Acetaminophen is added to many prescription opiates in part to prevent abuse. (There's some question as to whether it aids in pain reduction beyond what the opiate would provide, but it certainly has near term implications for severe abuse.)
- drewgross 10y ago
  How about the friends who died of the drug as a fraction of the friends who used the drug? If you don't know anyone who uses heroin, this post is meaningless.

by tamana 10y ago

I know legal protections apply to criminals, but it is hard to win a political battle against the cops who busted a big time dealer of life-destroying drugs (heroin)

Gibbon1 10y ago

Among the friends I knew the body count is Prescription Drugs: 2 Alcohol: 3 Heroin: 0 Methamphetamine: 0 Cannabis: 0 Two people I know. Their brothers both died from Oxycontin(tm). Specifically pulmonary talcosis. You get pulmonary talcosis from the talc government made the manufacturer add specifically to kill junkies.

Crito 10y ago
Heroin: 4 Alcohol: 3 Just because you don't know anyone that heroin has killed, doesn't mean it isn't a problem.
Unklejoe 10y ago
I personally knew 5 people who have died from a drug overdose, and that drug was heroin in all 5 cases. They all actually started off by abusing prescription opiates, but moved to heroin after they ran out of money. However, my area is known for being a heroin hot spot. I live in a decent middle class town about 15 minutes away from Camden, NJ. My high school was known as "heroin high". The problem with heroin is that there's very poor quality control. Overdoses seem to occur under one of the two following circumstances: 1. The person just gets released from rehab and relapses. Their tolerance isn't what it used to be, so their body gets shocked. 2. There's a sudden spike in the strength of the heroin that is "going around". The person may be used to a certain strength, so the more powerful batch can be enough to send them over the edge. Just figured I'd add my own personal data points since it seemed like you were trying to deemphasize the danger of heroin by pointing out that you don't know anyone who died from it. Maybe, that wasn't your intention, so forgive me if so.
- freditup 10y ago
  I was in downtown Camden, NJ once a couple years ago, being given a tour by a black pastor who's focus was on helping the poor of Camden turn away from drug addictions. (Point being, he knew the city very well, and knew its drug problem very well.) It was an absolutely astonishing time. Camden literally felt like it had just been through a war: desolate buildings, so many people homeless on the streets, people desperate for food. It's hard to describe just how bad this city was. I can't diagnose all the root causes behind why Camden is so messed-up, but this pastor pointed to the heroin epidemic primarily.
  - arca_vorago 10y ago
    If you haven't seen any of his work, Chris Hedges has written and spoken pretty extensively on Camden and Camdenesque cities. Heartbreaking stuff. You know, it always stuck in my craw that so much of the heroin in the new epidemic came/comes from Afghanistan... Shades of Vietnam.
    - freditup 10y ago
      I'm not familiar with his work, I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the suggestion!
voidz 10y ago
Mhm. I'll bite. Got a source? Government wants kill people who use a lot of Oxycontin to kill the people who snort it or something?
- thaumasiotes 10y ago
  I could not verify this particular claim in under an hour of online searching. Relevant facts: Oxycontin used to contain talc, and this came with prominent health warnings. Shooting up dissolved oxycontin pills containing talc is dangerous. See http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2008/020553s059lbl.pdf http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2008/020... ("with parenteral abuse, the [inactive ingredients], especially talc, can be expected to result in [many bad things]"). As of some time in 2014, oxycontin no longer contains talc -- it has been replaced by magnesium stearate. However, that health warning that parenteral abuse causes many bad things has not been altered except to remove the phrase "especially talc". Pulmonary granulomas are still specifically called out as something bad that will happen to you if you inject oxycontin. See the current usage information at http://app.purduepharma.com/xmlpublishing/pi.aspx?id=o http://app.purduepharma.com/xmlpublishing/pi.aspx?id=o . SPECULATIVELY: this means that while talc is no longer present, oxycontin might still contain legally-mandated adulteration. I found no evidence for a legal mandate, but this was not a comprehensive investigation. It has long been the explicit policy of the United States that people who abuse otherwise legal chemicals deserve to be poisoned to death, and we have had and do have laws to this effect. See http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2010/02/the_chemists_war.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_exa... . It's that last point that makes me hesitate to slam your parent comment for fearmongering.
  - Atwood 10y ago
    It was not simply the consolidation of our petroleum interests we were after, no? Hamid Karzai (our man) afforded us unprecedented access to humans favorite narcotic. Poof! An unprecedented alkaloid epidemic.
- sokoloff 10y ago
  Acetaminophen is added to many prescription opiates in part to prevent abuse. (There's some question as to whether it aids in pain reduction beyond what the opiate would provide, but it certainly has near term implications for severe abuse.)
drewgross 10y ago
How about the friends who died of the drug as a fraction of the friends who used the drug? If you don't know anyone who uses heroin, this post is meaningless.