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The problem is you have a large addicted population. Helping them get off opiates is expensive and time consuming (although orders of magnitude less than the wa

The problem is you have a large addicted population. Helping them get off opiates is expensive and time consuming (although orders of magnitude less than the war on drugs). Also, depending on the level of addiction that may just be no hope for some. As another commenter said, in Holland they have had legal heroin dispensaries for 30 years, with medical staff and clean rooms for injecting. The addicts can be monitored, I believe they have general health and mental health workers available as well. The addicts get live a "normal" as possible, knowing when and where they can get their fix. The whole day is not spent worrying where the money will come from Due to this, the average age of addict has steadily rose for years and years and, as the other commenter also stated, they die off

pnathan 10y ago
I'm kind of interested in the funnel prior to the addiction. How to make heroin etc uninteresting...
- goatsi 10y ago
  Heroin clinics can be very helpful for that. By providing the heroin and requiring that it be used on site they take it out of the community. Nobody sees their friends using and gets offered a bit to try. Starting drug use is often a very social phenomenon, generally people are introduced to them by friends. From a study on the Swiss clinics [0] >*New Use Rates: Slightly lower than expected. 1) As reported in the Lancet June 3, 2006, the medicalisation of using heroin has tarnished the image of heroin and made it unattractive to young people. 2) Most new users are introduced to heroin by members of their social group and 50% of users also deal to support their habit. Therefore, with so many users/sellers in treatment, non-users have fewer opportunities to be exposed to heroin, especially in the rural areas. This is only helpful for people starting from heroin though, the problem of people getting addicted to opioids from taking pharmaceutical drugs [1] is an entirely different matter to address. [0] http://www.citizensopposingprohibition.org/resources/swiss-heroin-assisted-treatment-1994-2009-summary/ http://www.citizensopposingprohibition.org/resources/swiss-h... [1] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/chasing-heroin/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/chasing-heroin/
  - senorjazz 10y ago
    I think this is mostly it. There are no new drug users coming up. Those you are addicted are maintained, those who are not too far gone are helped to reduce (most at this stage probably want off and they can see how it has destroyed / is destroying their life but don't know how) As the market is disrupted, dealers move onto other drugs as there is no profit there, so is not so easy to find any more on the illicit market. The situation is different to the US, whose current problems seem to be mostly from over prescription of pain pills, then when that was closed the flooding of the country with heroin and fentanyl to an already addicted population. Purely anecdotally, the US does / did seem to prescribed lots more pain meds than any other country. When I used to use drugs (recreationally) and frequent drug forums in the early 2000s pain pills were regularly mentioned by those who used drugs recreationally for parties and were mentioned the same as party drugs, whereas in Europe they did not exist (outside the heroin scene). Now, I live in tropical South Amercia, ,where quite a few US based expats move to each year, one of the biggest problems they have is getting their medication here. A large percentage are on a huge amount of strong medication. The expats from Europe are not. I don't think the lifestyle back home was that different, I don't think US people feel pain more than others, just that the Drs prescribe lots and lots of medication. Or perhaps European Drs just under prescribe due to public health systems and not wanting to fund the medication. Or perhaps the counter, there is more profit for the US Drs to prescribe more. Whatever the cause, there is a vast difference between the two

pnathan 10y ago

I'm kind of interested in the funnel prior to the addiction. How to make heroin etc uninteresting...

goatsi 10y ago
Heroin clinics can be very helpful for that. By providing the heroin and requiring that it be used on site they take it out of the community. Nobody sees their friends using and gets offered a bit to try. Starting drug use is often a very social phenomenon, generally people are introduced to them by friends. From a study on the Swiss clinics [0] >*New Use Rates: Slightly lower than expected. 1) As reported in the Lancet June 3, 2006, the medicalisation of using heroin has tarnished the image of heroin and made it unattractive to young people. 2) Most new users are introduced to heroin by members of their social group and 50% of users also deal to support their habit. Therefore, with so many users/sellers in treatment, non-users have fewer opportunities to be exposed to heroin, especially in the rural areas. This is only helpful for people starting from heroin though, the problem of people getting addicted to opioids from taking pharmaceutical drugs [1] is an entirely different matter to address. [0] http://www.citizensopposingprohibition.org/resources/swiss-heroin-assisted-treatment-1994-2009-summary/ http://www.citizensopposingprohibition.org/resources/swiss-h... [1] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/chasing-heroin/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/chasing-heroin/
- senorjazz 10y ago
  I think this is mostly it. There are no new drug users coming up. Those you are addicted are maintained, those who are not too far gone are helped to reduce (most at this stage probably want off and they can see how it has destroyed / is destroying their life but don't know how) As the market is disrupted, dealers move onto other drugs as there is no profit there, so is not so easy to find any more on the illicit market. The situation is different to the US, whose current problems seem to be mostly from over prescription of pain pills, then when that was closed the flooding of the country with heroin and fentanyl to an already addicted population. Purely anecdotally, the US does / did seem to prescribed lots more pain meds than any other country. When I used to use drugs (recreationally) and frequent drug forums in the early 2000s pain pills were regularly mentioned by those who used drugs recreationally for parties and were mentioned the same as party drugs, whereas in Europe they did not exist (outside the heroin scene). Now, I live in tropical South Amercia, ,where quite a few US based expats move to each year, one of the biggest problems they have is getting their medication here. A large percentage are on a huge amount of strong medication. The expats from Europe are not. I don't think the lifestyle back home was that different, I don't think US people feel pain more than others, just that the Drs prescribe lots and lots of medication. Or perhaps European Drs just under prescribe due to public health systems and not wanting to fund the medication. Or perhaps the counter, there is more profit for the US Drs to prescribe more. Whatever the cause, there is a vast difference between the two